Tag: print

  • Glasgow Print Fair: Bringing Together People Passionate About Print

    Glasgow Print Fair: Bringing Together People Passionate About Print

    Print is still on the rise and the best example is Glasgow Print Fair, a new festival and the first of its kind taking place in Glasgow. Organised by local creatives Jane McDevitt, partner at Maraid Design, and Kaye Symington, co-founder at Paved with Gold, this festival celebrates established and new printmakers, and brings people together for a day of print-based fun.

    Glasgow Print Fair will take place on Saturday 2nd November (10am – 5pm) with free entry at The Lighthouse.  The festival will showcase prints and other products by over 50 makers from the UK and Europe. With work by established studios and artists like Lesley Barnes and Risotto Studio (read our interview with its founder!), collectives and design shops like Yuk Fun Now and Welcome Home, and also some emerging talent from Glasgow School of Art.

    Do not miss this opportunity to support print and take home with you textiles, zines, posters and much more!

    www.glasgowprintfair.co.uk

  • TAMBOURINE: KIOSKO 001

    TAMBOURINE: KIOSKO 001

    TAMBOURINE is an online platform established in Madrid by Sara Arroyo and Silvia Pérez with the objective of researching and supporting the independent magazine scene. Through diverse activities, such as seminars, presentations and a webshop, TAMBOURINE aims to decipher the role of printed matter in contemporary culture, as well as provide its readers with the latest magazine releases, connecting the digital community with the highest quality, printed matter.

    www.playthetambourine.com

    Photos by TAMBOURINE & María Vibot.

    We attended KIOSKO 001, the first in a series of events dedicated to reinterpreting the traditional magazine newsstand (Kiosko in Spanish), through collaborations with different artists and creators, in order to bring new life to this concept and create a space for independent publications.

    This first edition took place last May at photography studio RUGE, in the up-and-coming neighbourhood of Oporto in Madrid. Collaborating with the studio founders, artists Borja Llobregat and Ostap Yashchuk, TAMBOURINE built an installation to showcase the latest issues of national and international, independent magazines.

    If you’re an artist, architect, furniture designer or any other type of creative who wants to collaborate with TAMBOURINE on future editions of KIOSKO you can reach Sara and Silvia on the following e-mail address: info@playthetambourine.com

  • FAIM, a magazine about people, places and food

    FAIM, a magazine about people, places and food

    FAIM is a new independent publication exploring the lives of young creatives from all around the world and discovering a new city in each issue. We chatted with its founders, Axel and Naiara, to find out more about why they decided to start their own magazine, the challenges they’ve faced since they started this project and what readers can find in the latest issue.

    www.faim-magazine.com


    Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little bit about your education and background?

    We are Axel and Naiara, the founders of FAIM. Axel, our art director and graphic designer, is French and studied Fine Arts and Graphic Design, so he is responsible for our beautiful image and general look. Naiara, FAIM’s editor-in-chief, is Spanish but moved to Paris three years ago. She is a journalist and is in charge of the project management and content production.

    What made you start your own magazine? What’s the main idea behind FAIM?

    We both work as freelancers, always looking for new exciting projects to work with. We had this idea of creating something together, launching our own project. And as paper lovers and maniac magazine consumers, the choice was easy. Even if, of course, we have discovered many things involved in the process of creating a magazine we had no idea of, but well, that’s also a part of what makes it so exciting.

    And about the idea, we live and work in Paris, but we both come from smaller cities and had had this conversation many times about how media and social media are often exclusively focused on what happens in big cities. That creates an illusion within our generation that makes young creators looking for an opportunity believe that they’ll only find it by trying their chance in a big capital, and that’s not true! We wanted to shine a light on all those people creating great projects in places other than big capitals and inspire others with their stories.


    Why did you decide to focus on Bristol in the second issue of the magazine?

    To choose our destinations we certainly do a lot of research. The recommendation for Bristol came from different channels, so we created a list with subjects we would like to talk about and we got surprised by how many amazing topics we were able to assemble. So when we compared it to our other options, Bristol just appeared as the logical choice. Then we started working on the content production and wow… It really is an amazing place with loads of amazing people living and working there.

    Can you tell our readers what they can find inside this issue?

    We believe that the content in this second issue will give our readers a proper vibe of what happens in the city. Bristol is a very community-focused place, so there are a lot of initiatives and projects that intend to create opportunities and connections within the city and its neighbours. We talk a lot about the ‘consume local’ movement, new ways to use old spaces and fighting to maintaining what makes them special, we offer a sneak peak into the fantastic food scene… And of course, in this issue our readers will find a lot of creativity. It is one of the attributes that stands out most here and, for us, you can see that it’s present in almost every aspect of the daily life: from the most obvious and well known street art scene to the way people work, create and consume.


    How do you see FAIM growing and evolving in the future? What can readers expect in the third issue?

    We see it as growing community. We want to keep on going out there to find those people who share a way of connecting and inspiring each other and tell their stories to the world. We think we all need to hear more of those. That’s why we would like to expand the project, try new formats and involve more people (contributors in different areas, members of our community, participants in each issue…). For now we are going to focus on the paper review and the website, but we have very cool plans for the future.

    And for the third issue, all we can say is that the creation rhythm for these two firsts issues has been a little crazy, so we haven’t chosen a destination yet. However, we think our readers from issue 1 might be able to tell that several things have changed for the better with the second issue, since we keep questioning ourselves and trying to find new ways to convey our message. And this is definitely something that will be found in issue 3. We keep evolving and having fun in the process, and we hope that’s something that is reflected in the magazine.


    What are the main challenges you’ve faced since you started FAIM? What’s the advice you’d give to someone who’s thinking about starting their own magazine?

    People who start their own projects often joke saying that, if they had known everything that they were going to need to do at the beginning, they might have never started. And even if now we don’t see ourselves doing anything else, well, we say that too! Because having your own project is something absolutely great and extremely satisfying, but it also means a lot of work that is not mentioned that often. And that has probably been the most difficult part of the whole process: we all think that creating a magazine is writing some cool content and creating a beautiful layout (we did too, so naive!), but then there’s business models, taxes, marketing and communication work, distribution…

    So if we were to give advice on starting a magazine, we would tell you to get as much information as you can before starting, talk to other people in the sector, read books and websites. And after all that, if you have a concept you’re happy with and an idea of how you want to achieve your objective, just launch it yourself. Assume that you probably won’t be ready enough and that you’ll make mistakes. That’s fine, no one starts being a master. And enjoy the process, it’s really worth it.

    Can you share some of your favourite independent magazines?

    Sure! We are big fans of French magazines Encore and Les Others, Spanish Fuet and Canadian Dinette. Some of our favourites also use this one-city format like Fare, Boat or Hamburger Gentle Rain. There are dozens of super inspiring projects out there, the independent magazine world is living a really interesting moment.

     
     
     

  • Prints for Refugees

    Prints for Refugees

    Photographer Mark Sherratt is behind Prints for Refugees, a project showcasing and selling art donated by photographers to support the work of Doctors of the World so that they can continue to provide medical aid to vulnerable refugees. We chatted with Mark about how the project started, the photographers involved and his future plans.

    www.printsforrefugees.com

    Can you introduce yourself and tell us about what made you start Prints for Refugees?

    I’m Mark Sherratt, I’m a freelance advertising and editorial photographer, I live in London with my wife Hayley and my one month old son Sydney. I initially started Prints for Refugees a couple of years ago during the time that the refugee crisis was in the news much more. After seeing some terrible news stories I felt like I wanted to try to do something to help if I could. I remember sitting at home one Sunday morning reading some things in the paper and this idea popped into my heard. I then emailed a few photographer friends to see if it’s something they would be interested in getting involved in and got a very positive reaction so it all grew from there. Since then we have sold over £20,000 worth of prints from lots of different photographers with all the money going directly to Doctors of the World who are doing amazing work with refugees both in the UK and across Europe.

    I feel like the news cycles have moved on since I first started this project and their isn’t the same public outcry about it all, which is understandable. But unfortunately, the situation for many people is just as desperate and the help is still greatly needed. That’s why I felt like I wanted to reinvigorate the project and once again the response from photographers has been fantastic, with people readily agreeing to donate prints.

    Mark Sherratt portrait

    Why did you decide to focus on photographers and not other type of artists? What was the general response when approached about the project?

    I decided to to focus on photography simply because I am a photographer and a part of that world. I know lots of great photographers either personally or know of their work so it was easy to decide who to contact about possible print donations. I can also feel confident that we can offer some really great art works from interesting artists that will be a good investment for the buyer.

    Having said that, I would love to be able to start something similar for other types of artists. But I feel I would need to work with someone who knows that world better than I do. I am actually in very early talks with someone about this, but we will see how things go.

    I’ve had a wonderful response from photographers. It’s been great how excited people have been about the project and how happy they have been to get involved and offer their work and their time for free. I have also had plenty of other photographers contact me after hearing about the project, offering to donate work. Unfortunately, we can’t always accept everything that’s offered but it’s great that people are so willing to donate. The whole project has restored my faith in humanity.

    Print by David Ryle

    Please tell us about a little about some of the photographers involved and the prints they’ve contributed to the project.

    We have some fantastic photographers involved in the project. All of them have been specifically chosen as I believe they do really interesting and innovative work. I’m happy to say we have a good variety of photographers on the site, from new up and coming talent to much more established artists.

    It’s hard to single anyone out as I love all the work we have, but it’s certainly worth checking out the prints we have by Will Hartley who is fairly young photographer, but making some big waves at the moment. He’s doing some great work and I think it’s a good opportunity to pick up a print by him. We also have work by Peter Dench who is a big name in UK photography, his work has been exhibited all over the place and has made a number of books. I love the humour in his photographs and am pleased that he has decided to donate to us.

    Print by Samuel Hicks

    Can you tell us more about Doctors of the World and their work?

    Doctors of the World are a fantastic charity. They are working both in the UK and abroad to empower excluded people to access healthcare. They have a clinic in London that allows undocumented migrants and refugees to see a doctor, they also offer advocacy work to help defend migrants rights to health access in Britain.

    They are working in the refugee camps in Greece providing much needed psychological help to desperate people who have lost their homes and at the moment seem pretty much abandoned by the rest of the world! They are also working in Bulgaria with unaccompanied child refugees who are often the victims of forced labour or sexual exploitation, providing translators, social workers, medical kits and warm clothing. Also, in Ukraine they are woking on both sides of the conflict providing much needed primary medical care to villages near the contact line.

    Print by Andrew Urwin

    How do you see Prints for Refugees evolving? Do you have any plans for the upcoming months?

    I’m really excited about the plans we have for Prints for Refugees. Of course, we have some really great new photographers lined up to release some prints, which is going to happen before Christmas, so make sure you save some Christmas present money! But we have lots of other plans too. I want to make Prints for Refugees a hub for interesting innovative photography. So it’s not only a place where you can buy an amazing piece of art for your wall, but it’s also somewhere you can come to see what new in UK photography. There are various ways I want to do this, including interviews with photographers, social media takeovers, guest curators etc etc. All this work is done in mine and my fellow PFR worker Nick’s spare time though, so we will see how we get on!

    One other thing I do want to mention though is that we are going to be offering some secret prints that only people on subscribed to our newsletter will be able to access. So make sure you sign up! You can do that here – www.printsforrefugees.com/contact

  • aesthetic/theories magazine

    aesthetic/theories magazine

    Now in its second volume, aesthetic/theories is a biannual print publication focused on featuring artists, designers, intellectuals, and institutions that reflect and shape our cultural and creative patterns. We caught up with its editor, Samine Joudat, to discover more about how the magazine started, the influence of Los Angeles and what we can find in volume 2.

    www.aesthetic-theories.com

    Samine Joudat’s portrait by Bailey Warhol.

    What made you start aesthetic/theories and how did you put together the team behind the publication?

    It started from a point that was the convergence of a few different factors. The idea had been in my head for a long time. Not necessarily that of a publication, but an idea that, in some form or another, would be investigating humanity on a broad scale and linking together big fields that people often treat in silos. Photography, art, philosophy, architecture, design, and even technology and sport are often just different frames of reference expressing similar ideas or solving similar problems at their core. I’ve always been interested in philosophy and theoretical ideas of how humanity takes in experiences and conjures meaning out of them. Hence the name, which is a play on Theodor Adorno’s ‘Aesthetic Theory’, in which he traced the influence of art, music, and aesthetics on culture, and vice versa.

    Timing is the other factor. The impetus to give this thing actual life was me recovering from a serious leg injury that required 9 months of rehab. It changed the trajectory of what I was set on doing following graduate school – working in advertising in New York. My brief experience with the advertising world and the big advertising players was that, here is a field filled with a lot of really cool and bright people, who are being swallowed by their organizations’ antiquated natures. It was like: ‘we want you to be out of the box, but, like, not too out of the box. In fact, can you fit in this oval right here?’

    So, aesthetic/theories was at once both a curiosity to pursue while I was bedridden and, in my own way, a ‘fuck you’ to the advertising industry.

    The team came together very organically; it’s a fluid collection of my friends and my girlfriend, to whom I owe a lot of gratitude for pushing me to pursue this and supporting me throughout. We’re close and all collaborate really well and share complementary creative vibes, so it’s felt like a very natural process. My father and uncle, immigrants from Iran, have also been immensely supportive. Beyond the core team though, there has been so much ideation and collaboration and help from different people that I’ve come to know over the years or have just recently met. People who immediately support my vision for a/t and want to help and support what it stands for. So much so that it’s gotten me thinking of far-fetched ideas like a completely open-sourced magazine with as much of a democratic structure as possible.

    ‘Print magazine as blockchain’.

    Can you tell us about what we can find in volume 2?

    Volume 002 was about taking the broader ideas behind the birth of the magazine, as stated above, and narrowing them. It is, editorially, about exploring the inherent tensions between ‘art’ and ‘creativity’ and ‘profit’. We wanted to explore artists, designers, intellectuals, and institutions that are expressing their creative ethos authentically and resisting the tides of commercialization.

    You’re based in Los Angeles and the city is present in several articles in this volume, can you tell us about how it influences the publication?

    LA, like any great city in our world, embodies and reflects so much of our species – both in its good and bad. What people probably misunderstand about LA, is that it is a city both ethereal and gritty. Not just one or the other. It is a place that promotes endless aspiration alongside terrible but also beautiful urban realities. A lot of cities embody this trait, but LA’s ecology is so diverse, its geography so large, that it creates this on a huge scale – a vast expanse through which you can literally drive for hours for inspiration. Through the sheer scale of skyscrapers in downtown, to the creative hub of the arts district, to the surreal hills and palm trees of Hollywood, to the beaches of Santa Monica and Malibu, to the decrepit poverty of the marginalized, interspersed wherever they haven’t been pushed out yet. There is a lot of fascinating history here and a rapidly burgeoning creative scene that I think will soon rival New York’s best, if it doesn’t already.

    I should also mention that David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive had a big influence on the style and design of volume 002.

    What do you hope people experience when they read aesthetic/theories?

    I hope they think a little bit deeper about the things, people, and rituals they interact with every day and that they appreciate the role of beauty alongside function.

    How do you see aesthetic/theories evolving in the next volumes? Are you planning to experiment with the content and format of the publication?

    I can only speak about the short-term, and I’m really excited about volume 003. I can say that it will be centered around the ideas of ‘complexity theory’ – which is a field dedicated to exploring the rules governing dynamic systems, from architecture to ecosystems to social media and beyond. Like the idea behind aesthetic/theories, it is a very multidisciplinary field that attempts to find the common links present in seemingly disparate phenomena, in hopes of progressing humanity past its most challenging obstacles. The creative possibilities of an issue focusing on complexity theory are wild, so I’m really looking forward to it.

    We do have some cool ideas in the works behind experimenting with both content and format. Stay tuned. But we are dedicated to keeping the core idea of aesthetic/theories as a print publication, forever and always.

    What have been some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced since starting aesthetic/theories? What have you learnt?

    Lots of challenges. All sorts. I’m stressed thinking about them right now haha. Most have to do with the logistical and financial trappings of a creative start-up. But the biggest one of them all, I have ultimately learned, is strategic. In an ideal world, how big does aesthetic/theories scale if it resonates in the hands and eyes of its customer? I’ll keep you posted when we figure it out 😉

    The beginning of the 2010s saw a boom in independent publishing but it seems like it has slowed down over the past couple of years. What are your thoughts on the current state of independent publications?

    It’s tough for me to answer that because we have just recently entered into it, and so it feels like it’s not slowing down at all, with all the publications and events that seem to be popping up. There are extremely bright and talented people creating some incredible works that express incredible ideas right now in independent publishing. So there is no dearth of supply. The real question is the demand, and I think that is also the most interesting aspect. In terms of scale, no print publication will be able to rival digital anymore (probably). But there is a real opportunity to connect with young audiences that are being cluster-bombed with fleeting digital information, all the time. I am one of them. It’s really refreshing, in your downtime, to be able to actually pick up a beautifully designed object and read really good, relevant content inside. It’s something I think young people are hungry for and digital can’t provide.