
Plus Eighty One #94
225 x 300mm, 160 pages
Tokyo, Japan (bilingual, Japanese and English)
Biannual
Published since 1997
Creative director & Editor-in-chief: Satoru Yamashita
Over 28 years, +81 has covered the international creative scene—graphic design, fashion, photography, film, and music—compiling interviews and research on a different theme every issue and providing plenty of visual references to the subject.
This one is a magazine special, tracing the 100 years of magazine design from the Bauhaus to the present day. It opens with a brief look further back, before diving into modernism via the Bauhaus Journal and Japanese magazine Nippon Kobo, launched concurrently.
The rest of the issue is divided into chapters dedicated to key topics: The Golden Age of British Culture, Corporate Culture Magazines, The Budding of Indie Magazines and Magazines for the Internet Age Connecting the World. Along the way, we’re treated to interviews with figures such as Neville Brody (The Face), David Carson (RayGun) and Elein Fleiss (Purple), plus what is believed to be the final interview with photographer Oliviero Toscani (founder of Colors, who died recently).
Other featured magazines include WERK, Monocle, Fantastic Man, 032c and Visionaire, and the issue closes with a nod to the future, highlighting Revue Faire, Viscose and Study among others.
This is a must for anybody interested in the history and future of print magazines. The mix of western and Japanese references gives it a unique angle on publishing, and it is richly illustrated with pages and covers.