Never Too Small #9
170 x 240 mm, 240 pages
Melbourne, Australia
Quarterly
First published in 2024
Editor: Elizabeth Price
Creative director: Colin Chee
Design: Lara Burke
‘Creative, compact and joyful ways to design and live’
Never Too Small has fast established its voice in the interiors space, using interviews from the YouTube channel of the same name as the basis for coverage of clever ways to make the most of smaller homes. The result is an unpretentious interiors and architecture magazine focused on creativity, individuality, sustainability and innovation.
This ninth issue is a themeless ‘happy hodge podge’ of designers, makers, and collectives from across the globe. Starring husband and wife duo Nina Tolstrup and Jack Mama of Studiomama on the cover—photographed in their Bethnal Green home and studio—followed by a profile on the couple inside, delving into their career pathways, zany designs, and stories of London’s East End.
Elsewhere, Kirsten Drysdale visits Yokohama’s ‘Pithouse’, dreamt up by Japanese architects Saeco Kobayashi and Taishin Shiozaki, featuring a series of open-top sunken pits dotted across the ground floor—unrestricted by any barriers or safety measures—repurposed as office space, storage areas, and room for a flourishing rubber tree; Claire Farrow remembers pioneering furniture designer Charlotte Perriand, wrongfully overlooked by French-Swiss architect Le Corbusier in 1927, who—realising his mistake—hired the designer later that same year, marking the beginning of an iconic decade of furniture design for Le Corbusier studio; and Sasha Gattermayr explores how lessons from small-space hospitality correlate with lessons in small-space living, visiting tiny kiosks and stores across the globe, and reminiscing on her childhood growing up above her parents cafe.
Plus, discover the photographic sorcery of artist Fontanesi, whose inventive collages combine animals and people with objects, resulting in a plethora of surreal creations—snail bikes, Chow Chow mountains, and steak cars aplenty!
On the Journal
At Work With Elizabeth Price: ‘Experience and exposure has shown us that the most creative and clever design is found in some of the smallest homes. Constraint breeds creativity as we know… even the smallest homes are full of potential.’
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