Bits and Bobs and Books | London again.. in detail.

'The London Art Book Fair is an annual event devoted to international art publishing. Hosted by the Whitechapel Gallery in association with Marcus Campbell Art Books, The London Art Book Fair presents the work of individual artist publishers, galleries, magazines, colleges, arts publishing houses, rare book dealers and distributors alongside a wider associated programme of talks and events'

Books again... more books! Or rather a little bit about publishing in general. I was quite excited about the whole thing for various reasons, mostly for the fact that I love books, I love the texture/smell of books and I love well designed books. So, generally speaking, it was really nice to see that in the fast digitalising world and the web take over... books are still alive. In advance, my apologies for the lack of images and over-explosion of web links, but not too sorry because they're really worth checking out.

I absolutely loved German publishing group Revolver especially because of this amazing find - FUKT magazine. It is a shame it hasn't reached UK yet.

Mörel Books - very talented publishing group who, I realised, produced the publications for Ryan McGinley's Moonmilk and A Season In Hell Rimbaud - Patti Smith, Robert Mapplethorpe. These can be found in Alison Jaques Gallery, since they actually held 'Moonmilk' and 'A Season In Hell' exhibitions last year. Both were fantastic and I actually got to meet and talk to Patti Smith at 'A Season in Hell's opening night. She did performed several songs and finished off with 'Because The Night' of course (I find it funny; it is still every one's favourite)... so, a massive crowd of guests packed outside the gallery sang with her. Epic evening... I left kind of high.

Also would like to quickly pin point Afterall, US based Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, Norwegian guys Morten Andersen and Forbundet Frie Fotografer and lovely independent publishers like Laughter.

A spread from Fuji Book by Yasushi Cho (Laughter)

Bits and Bobs and Typography | London.

First of all, it was London Design Festival last week. Sad but true, the industry is in financial shit-hole, I'm afraid. There were, of course, some good exhibition to check out. However, in comparison to the last year's festival, this one is just a slight disappointment. I would like to expect more from Frieze Art Fair in October.

Down to business. I'm always happy with Kemistry Gallery, because they love typography and you know I love typography. Typography is my better side really. Their recent exhibition is Gastrotypographicalassemblage - The Designs of Lou Dorfsman.

I am also always very happy with Magma, probably the only descent art & design book shop in London; and the only place to get magazines from, since Borders are gone. Now, I am not talking Heat or Nuts or what have you, I am talking 'superior' UK and International publications (on design, fashion and culture). Actually, that tiny news stand opposite Liberty is also pretty good, but let's just leave it at this.

Going back to typography... here are some really great books on the subject I found in Magma couple of days ago. I am including my quick overall description. For more detailed information please click on the book title. I wanted to include 3D Typography by Jeanette Abbink as well, but unfortunately I couldn't find good pictures to go with it.

I Wonder - Marian Batjes

Futuresque; image based typography or rather images with typographic solutions - pick whichever one you like.

Typo Lyrics - The sound of Fonts

Old school, three dimensional.

Retro Fonts - Gregor Strawinski

The title says Retro, Retro it is; very arty, very inspiring.

Onwards.

Produced by James Jarvis and Richard Kenworthy.
Sponsored by Nike.

'The photographs that can never be taken again' - Nadav Kander

So, looking back at the previous post, I think I will keep this one brief. As part of my Masters Degree, I am working on the essay which explores the topic of space, place and mobility in photography. The photographer I am writing about is Nadav Kander, incredibly talented, incredibly brilliant of course (this is why I don't do photography for living).

Yangtze, The Long River Series. 48 photos. I am struggling to edit.

'Mais ses jours étaient comptés... Quatorze automnes et quinze étés...'

Inspiration post | Japan.

Ok. So, yes London is inspiring, it's diverse, it's happening, I should be grateful! Although, to think about it, if the Mona Lisa was hanging on the wall in your living room, you would probably stop appreciating it with that insane intensity (but then again, I don't even like Mona Lisa). It's not the point though.

The point is, I do get tired of London, of Europe. My eyes stop seeing things and when this happens I go cool-hunting (well figuratively speaking).. to Japan.

IDEA

The title speaks for itself.

MIC*ITAYA & BLOG

Itaya Michimasa is a designer, artist, art director and a genius. The man is great at practically everything - typography, illustration, fashion, display, branding... you name it! It is hard for me to describe his work, but I will try. It's not loud... it's quite settle, elegant, but unique and conceptual at the same time. It makes you think, it tells a story and most importantly, it tells a story about the creator.

My list of 'great artists/creatives to meet' is not long at all. However, I would love to meet Mic*Itaya, because let's be frank, to me, he seems like a person who can easily crash your brain with one sentence and possibly change your work/life trajectory for good.

Here are some samples of his typography.

RICH

New trendy publication from Tokyo produced by TADS (Tokyo Art Directors). They have just launched their first issues and it looks... well rich! It's stunning, that's all I have to say.

DROP

Fantastic page if you seek fashion inspiration.

ZERO PER ZERO

So, I'm finishing the post with Zero per Zero (South Korea based design studio). I know the post is suppose to be about Japan alone, however, the piece of work I'm introducing is Tokyo Railway System. So, I don't consider this cheating!

Zero per Zero' designs are quite incredible. They have also just had their first exhibition in London's Kemistry Gallery and it looks great. So, I'm thinking I might create an individual post for them at some point soon.

UNKLE | Follow Me Down.

Directed by Warren du Preez and Nick Thornton Jones.

Just one more round.

Fierce.

The girl has got one of the most intense stares I have ever seen. Mesmerising. My camera loved her!

I love it much too much.

Norwegian Wood is gonna be a film. Good times.

Dazed & Confused Nov'09

Slowly but truly! As promised - the magazines update!

I suppose I don't need to say much about Dazed. Obviously, it is an iconic publication and it's a tough school. Tough schools are good, no they are great in fact!

You can view the digital edition online. Click here!

Design assisting for 125.

This is the Heroes issue of 125 magazine I was involved in. Got to do some research for the features as well as visiting couple of shoots and of course lots of photography and layout editing. Overall, great team - great experience! C'est tout!

I am not gonna post any of the scans of the features, but if you're interested in photography, please do buy the magazine and check it out for yourselves, there are some absolutely stunning images in there!

(And this is 125 UK cover on the shelf in Magma store, looking good, don't you think!)

Image Vs Caption

I like image and I do like text; most of the time equally.




One of my ongoing projects about underestimation of captions in the fashion magazines.

If we give a caption similar level of importance as we give to an image, text becomes independent and reads as a new image and may therefore need a separate caption to be explained. Vicious circle!

So, here is a thought. We shall see where it takes me.

All the images belong to Vs magazine.

My Japanese is better. | Quick update.

Okay, I was just looking through the last posts, and they are mostly photography and there will be more! Makes me wonder where the flip is design gone? Well, for one not to worry I'm not changing the playground, but photography is and will be taking a certain part in my life. Design is a job and photography is ... not a hobby, but it makes my head lighter.

So, since I am involved in the magazine design field at the moment, I will do a little update on the topic at some point soon. Stay tuned.

p.s. It's getting rather hectic because I have just started my MA course in Media Communication. Huge workload. Go me!