Coverage – May 2015
Our monthly round-up of magazines we’ve received but been unable to feature elsewhere; May’s selection includes mags about mums, coffee, jewellery and insects.
Short Stories About… Mothers #1
Available on eBay, Short Stories About… is a collaborative magazine featuring new writing and original illustration and photography centred on a specific theme. Inside the first ‘maternal’ issue: a story about being a nun, loosing a mother, and a woman about to give birth to twins. The next issue will be Short Stories About Fathers, and future themes will include ‘Madness’ and ‘Animals’.
shortstoriesaboutmothers.blogspot.co.uk
Ponytale #3
The energetic magazine covering ‘girl culture’ is based between New York and Madrid, and it’s dedicated to interdisciplinary coverage of art, music, fashion and design from a post-feminist perspective. The design is deliberately grungy, garish and glittery, and for issue three the magazine commissioned a variety of artists to consider and define the 21st Century girl of the future.
ponytale-stories.com
Brygg #2
Coffee culture magazine Brygg is from Norway, which is apparently ‘one of the most coffee consuming countries in the world’. Inside: coffee cookie recipes, profiles of café owners, and in-depth articles about the different flavours of beans from around the world. The design is clean and pleasingly spacious as to be expected: it’s a magazine that’s sure to be any flat-white lover’s dream.
bryggmagasin.no
So It Goes #5
So It Goes is a lovely magazine produced by a creative film agency of the same name, and it’s dedicated to championing ‘original voices of today’. The publication is divided into seven chapters entitled things like ‘The Directors’ and ‘The Musicians’ and ‘The Places’, and it’s all tied together with a hazy, wind-swept and simple aesthetic. Issue 5 features interviews with the likes of artist Viviane Sassen, actor Norman Reedus and designer/actor Waris Ahluwalia from Wes Anderson fame.
soitgoesmag.com
Inventory #12
Sleek and minimal Inventory has recently re-designed, shifting from a large cover image to a small, central image bordered by a white frame. The new appearance suits its emphasis on craftsmanship, quality design and simplicity. Interviews with architect Arthur Erickson and clothing brand FUCT’s Erik Brunetti attest to the magazine’s strong and stylish curatorial eye.
inventorymagazine.com
Cercle #3
A hefty, themed magazine from France that takes on surprising subjects, in this case insects. Ranging from super-real photography to impressionistic art via taxonomies and infographics, Cercle owes something to Colors but has a lighter approach suiting its looser intentions. Even the art reviews focus on insect-orientated movies and music. Published in French, most of the content is repeated in an English translation at the back of the issue.
cerclemagazine.com
Monitor #11
It’s hard to fully evaluate this Warsaw-based design and craft quarterly as it’s only available in Polish, but the front cover is intriguing and the interior looks smart in a Monocle way. This is it’s eleventh issue so it must be doing something right.
monitor-magazine.com
On the Rocks #1
The first issue of the bi-annual magazine about jewellery explores the contemporary and historic obsession with expensive stones and trinkets from the perspective of ‘art, fashion and ideas’. A shoot by photographer Matthieu Lavanchy captures jewellery designed by famous artists like Yves Klein and Man Ray, and an essay explores Lauren Bacall’s personal collection of rings, bracelets and necklaces. The magazine stands out for its use of geometric graphics that boldly mimic the shape of diamonds and other precious stones.
Rice Paper #1
Subtitled ‘For the love of Soho’ this free newsprint tabloid promotes the old Soho, the disappearing market, independent shops and late night speakeasys that Londoners have long taken for granted but are increasingly threatened by gentrification. It’s a smart little publication, well put together and better than most free papers you see around. Despite minimal mention, it’s published by new Soho restaurant Duck and Rice.
White Fungus #14
White Fungus from Taiwan is a publication that ‘began in the spirit of pure anarchy’, initiated as a ‘protest against corporate interests overriding community values’. The project addresses art, music, history and politics, and it champions localism above all else. The new issue was produced whilst editor Ron Hanson was in San Francisco as part of a magazine residency at Kadist Art Foundation, and it contains coverage of the Bay Area, including a history of the area’s noise music scene. Also in the new issue: interviews with artists Simon Denny and Abraham Cruzvillegas, as well as Flash Arts editor Nicola Trezzi.
whitefungus.com