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Ala Champfest #6 – 10 Questions

Friday, April 19th, 2013

Our friends over at Ala Champfest magazine recently released the 6th issue of their wonderful magazine. Being a semi Melbourne based title, we’ve followed its evolution very closely, and get all hot and bothered when a new issue is eminent. We spoke to Joanna Kawecki, one half of the sisterly duo (Monique Kawecki being the other) that founded the magazine, asking her our 10 questions.

mn: What is your magazine called?

jk: Ala Champfest Magazine

 

mn: What is it about?

jk: Curiosity and investigations into creativity and cultural insight.

 

mn: How often is it published?

jk: It is published twice per year, from January-June, and July-December.

 

mn: What inspired the creation of Ala Champfest?

jk: We love magazines and all printed matter, as we are so fascinated with that happening around us that we wanted to create a medium to share with others too. We travel a lot, meeting amazing people and discovering impressive work – we’d just like others to know and be inspired by it too!

 

mn: Can you tell us about your production values?

jk: Print Ain’t Dead, it’s far from it. There’s a strong appreciation for the tangible object, the sensorial experience and longing of personal connection in our overwhelming digital lives. We want to share our curation of brilliant creatives around the world from artists, photographers, architects, designers and talented enthusiasts.

 

mn: Why have you chosen to have your publication printed in England, rather than following the current trend of having your magazine printed in China?

jk: We’ve formed a wonderful relationship with our British paper supplier and printer, so it’s turned into a really brilliant communicative and enjoyable process of paper stock selection! From access to their new textural stocks, to selecting and curating certain features in our magazine for gloss or matt.

This is something we take pride in, to compliment the craftsmanship of the creatives featured in our magazine, with the artisans who produce the physical work of our pages!

 

mn: I understand that the other editor , your sister Monique, resides in Europe. Does this make it easier or more difficult to produce each issue?

jk: Its really amazing that we love to live in different cities, travel has become so accessible and affordable that its a pleasure to meet in another city and coincide it with new features and content. Every travel together is for the mag. Design-wise and communication-wise, Skype has certainly made things so much easier. We trust each other alot which makes things easier to get done faster! To just get on with an idea without any deliberation or unnecessary back and forth.

 

jk: What should someone opening a copy of Ala Champfest expect?

mn: To be expected consistently, is a genuine and knowledgeable investigative insight into creative culture of art, design, architecture, fashion and culinary quests from international leading creatives in their fields. We have a fine list of contributors around the world, with their fingers on the pulse to collaborate on the most fascinating content. From our favourite stylists and photographers for our custom editorials, to fantastic writers and passionate Champ fam in the know.

 

mn: Which other magazines/publications have most influenced you?

jk: i-D and Mono Kultur, amongst many others! And it is the hard working people behind them that has also really ultimately inspired us. However, looking through our old copies of I-D from ’99, it’s incredibly impressive to see their still-relevant editorial shoots of beautiful photography by emerging photographers and stylists who are now respectfully established. They were so forward-thinking in terms of their content and featured persons. They knew exactly who would blow up!

Mono Kultur is fascinating due to their high calibre of production, from the in-depth dialogue with the issues’ selected interviewee, to the presentation of their print. Sissel Tolaas’ edition presented synthetic smells from her investigative exhibition with Nick Knight, and Taryn Simons’ special edition enclosed little prints to coordinate yourself to the pages. How did they think of this! Simply amazing.

 

mn: What do you think the future holds for Ala Champfest?

jk: To reach many more issues to come, and be the go-to for international culture and knowledge – to celebrate youth and having fun.

 

 

Issue #6 of Ala Champfest is available for purchase at all mag nation stores and online.

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Uppercase #16

Tuesday, March 12th, 2013

Uppercase is an old favourite here at mag nation. It declares itself to be “a magazine for the creative and curious” and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a celebration of illustration, printing, art, design, interiors, craft and style. Uppercase may spend three paragraphs telling you what paper it’s printed on (Rolland Enviro100 Satin, for enthusiasts) but it has a bright, clean layout that emphasises the skill and joy while downplaying the potential frou-frou-ness of some of the subjects.

Basically, knitwear has never looked this good.

In this latest issue you’ll visit a marquee sign-maker in Nashville (who actually comes from Melbourne) and a Swedish art institution based in an old infectious diseases hospital. There’s an engaging piece about the Romani people as well as the whimsy of a collection of “do not disturb” signs.

Uppercase is produced in Calgary in Canada, and it’s a labour of love for editor Janine VanGool. In a Q&A on the Uppercase site she advises creators to “Make sure that you keep it personal! Don’t try to force something that feels unnatural or fake. No one will respond to it. I sincerely pour all my efforts and available funds (and then some) into everything that I produce. There is no compromising. The phrase “labour of love” rings true with Uppercase. This hard work, sincerity and commitment is the Uppercase style”.

There’s also a look at vintage etiquette books in this issue, and the 1934 publication “Gentlemen Preferred: A Book Of Etiquette For Boys” advises that no matter how much effort you have put into your appearance, you shouldn’t let others see the work. Instead, “you must look as though you just happened“.

It’s advice that probably rings true to Uppercase itself.

Uppercase can be found in our stores and online here.

 

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Little White Lies #44

Friday, March 1st, 2013

We stock a lot of great film mags, but they can sometimes seem to be following the same path. If there’s a limit to how many Django Unchained covers you can stand, you might want to look at Little White Lies.

Hailing from the UK (and produced by creative agency The Church of London who also gave us Huck), Little White Lies has a strong emphasis on graphic design – just check out that amazing cover image of Philip Seymour Hoffman. Their idiosyncratic approach covers everything from the cover to the  choice of paper size.

Each issue of Little White Lies is dedicated to one film, and issue 44 looks at Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master. It starts with a longform exploration of the film, a piece looking at Anderson’s themes, an interview with producer Joanne Sellar and another with Philip Seymour Hoffman himself.

Spiralling out from the film there’s a piece about using 70mm and an interview with ex-cult members.

Toward the back of the mag you’ll find a more traditional selection of pieces – there’s reviews (including a UK take on The Sapphires), an overview of Jack Nicholson’s career, and an interview with Martin McDonagh (director of In Bruges).

It’s bold to focus so much on one film, but it means Little White Lies can offer you something you won’t get from other mags. If you’re only going to buy one film mag this year… well, it’ll probably be Empire, Film Ink, IF, Sight & Sound or Total Film. If you’re going to buy TWO, however, you’ll love Little White Lies.

Check out more images below and here’s a video showing the production team at work. You’ll find Little White Lies instore or online here.

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Anthology #10

Friday, February 22nd, 2013

On of the nicest things about travelling is you can play pretend and no-one minds. You can think “what sort of person would I be if I lived here? What would I do? Who would I be?”

Anthology is a beautiful mag that let’s you play that game without leaving home. Gorgeous photo-spreads allow you a sticky-beak round some fabulous abodes, with a fascinating attention to the small stuff. The shoes by the bed. The cups in the kitchen. The plants in the yard. There’s a sense of immersion as you explore these spaces.

The people who live in them are fascinating too. There’s a costume designer for Mad Men. A manager for Anthropologie who also runs a model train store. A restaurant outfitter. Musicians. Designers. Writers. A blacksmith. Seriously, a blacksmith. And you get to hang out with them for a while and live their lives.

This being the Americana issue there’s also a look at Philadelphia, a piece on rollercoasters and a dinner party in a Brooklyn loft. There’s even recipes (with equally succulent photos).

Anthology works on a human scale. It’s soothing, interesting, and filled with joy. It might make you just a tiny bit envious of the lives it covers, but it will definitely give you ideas to incorporate into your own.

Anthology is available instore or online here.

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Rouleur #35

Friday, February 15th, 2013

 

Rouleur is a magazine for people who love cycling. This isn’t a magazine for dilettantes, it’s not aimed at someone who thinks cycling is just “ok”. The word “passion” appears a lot in descriptions of Rolouer. On their website they say “Rouleur features photography and serious writing that celebrate the passion and beauty of the sport.”

And the word beauty is important here – Rouleur is a beautiful mag, but it’s not pretty. There’s a rawness, a masculinity to these art-stock pages. There’s a romantic brutality and a raw elegance to the imagery, an understanding that passion is something that consumes your every moment.

The latest issue looks at a new book about the 1940s/50s cyclist Fausto Coppi, including some great La Dolce Vita-era photographs. There’s a piece about British bike company Genesis reviving steel as a material for professional race bikes. An article on an exhibition of bike-related art in Venice. A diary of a gruelling race in Louisville. It’s all here.

Rouleur is “aimed at those people who, like us, are passionate about the sport, but don’t expect to see bike tests and race reports. Instead, the magazine focuses on exquisite photography and writing that really gets under the skin of the great riders and theatres of road racing.”

Rouleur is available instore and online here.

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Day Job #01

Thursday, February 14th, 2013

The English author Jerome K. Jerome once said , “I like work – it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours.”

Day Job is a new mag that does just that. According to the introduction, Day Job is “a publication for anyone who has ever had a job they’ve loved, a job they’ve hated, a life-long calling or a way to make an easy buck. In short, it’s about work, a celebration of the everyday ways in which we spend our time and energy”. It may seem an odd thing to spend your wages on, but there’s something engaging and oddly intimate about the stories here. In the same way that apartamento lets you have a sticky beak at other people’s houses without anyone calling the cops, Day Job lets you have a sneaky peak at other people’s lives.

So you get a close-up looks at the workers in a sheet metal factory, as well as an interview with Milton Glaser, designer of the “I Love New York” logo and co-founder of New York magazine. A piece about the farm show in New York State is next to a profile of a calligrapher in Beirut. There’s a photo essay entitled “The Barber Shops And Beauty Salons Of Crown Heights Brooklyn”, a look at minor-league baseball, an exploration of street food in New York City, an article on how to teach a maths problem – it’s strangely exotic and deeply normal, all at the same time. And that’s without even mentioning the Swedish Dominican friar who’s also an architect.

Basically, what we’re saying is an article about the people who work at a ladder company shouldn’t be as interesting as this.

It’s a hefty volume that’s totally absorbing, and will make you look at your own life in a new way (plus there’s lunch recipes! No, really, there is).

Make an appointment with Day Job – you’ll find it in store or online here.

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Dumbo Feather #34

Monday, February 11th, 2013

Dumbo Feather is a magazine that loves people. Extraordinary people, from around the world. It sits down with them and tries to get to the heart of what drives them, how they see the world, how they think.

It’s also deeply optimistic, and inspiring. Issue 34 introduces us to (amongst others) a Palestinian peace activist, an illustrator, a potter and a master of the Shakuhachi flute, all of whom tell their stories. This might make it all sound a bit earnest and mung-bean (indeed, the mag uses soy-based inks so if you were really hungry you could probably turn it into a soup*) but there’s nothing woolly about Dumbo Feather. It’s more about honesty and people talking about how they really feel.

Beyond that it’s also a very handsome publication, with strong design and imagery. Dumbo Feather has been around since 2004 and it’s always been one of our favorites. It’s a mag that inspires devotion (we recently had a South American customer come to our Brunswick Street store and buy 10 back issues in one go). We love it and we think you will too.

Dumbo Feather is available instore or online here.

 

(*DO NOT try to make a soup out of Dumbo Feather. In fact, don’t try eating any of our mags. Mags are for reading, not eating).

And while you’re here, here’s some trivia about the 1941 feature film Dumbo, from which this mag takes its name: Dumbo was the most financially successful Disney film of the 1940s. It was made partly to recoup the losses Disney incurred on the theatrical release of Fantasia, and at 64 minutes is one of their shortest animated features. Mag nation – we know stuff.

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Cereal #01

Saturday, February 9th, 2013

Here’s a fantastic new food mag – or possibly a great new travel mag. Cereal hails from the UK and is a highly-stylish food/travel combo dedicated to “edible topics” which is “rooted in our passions – for food, for travel”.

Unusually, it’s divided up into chapters, with multiple articles in each section. So chapter 5 celebrates the Italian town of Ravello, while chapter 2 is “Carrots”. Chapter 4 is all about your matcha – a finely ground green tea – which includes a recipe for “Marbled Matcha And Lemon Ginger Swirl Cake With A Citrus Glaze”. Oh, Cereal, you had us at “cake”. Or possibly “glaze”.

There’s bold imagery and a richness of colour in this mag, inviting you to settle in and really lose yourself in the pages. And lovers of actual cereal won’t be disappointed – chapter 8 includes a history of breakfast cereals which dares to ask “what happened to toys in cereal boxes?”.

Cereal is available in our stores or online here.

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Delayed Gratification #8

Tuesday, February 5th, 2013

Exhausted by the 24-hour news cycle? So is Delayed Gratification, who have declared themselves to be “the world’s first Slow Journalism magazine”. This isn’t a magazine of “what?” or “when?”, this is a magazine about “why?”. It revisits the news events of the last six months to get a better perspective on what really happened.

That makes it sound dry, but the clean, crisp graphic design, vibrant photography and glorious illustrations make this a lively read. And fans of infographics are in for a treat (and if you’re not a fan of infographics, what is wrong with you?).

Issue 8 looks at the period of July through September 2012. Some of it will be familiar – there’s pieces on the Olympics, a summation of the Pussy Riot trial – but others are more surprising. Did you know the Japanese police have been cracking down on illegal dancing in Tokyo’s nightclubs? Or that French bees have started producing blue honey?

Most fun is the plethora of obscure facts that litter the pages. Rapper Psy personally taught the Gangnam Style dance to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon. 31% of the population of New York attends the annual Macy’s Parade. EL James Fifty Shades trilogy has so far earnt her over twenty million pounds (which works out at roughly 35 pounds per word). You’ll feel smarter by the end of the issue, and the life of every party.

Delayed Gratification is available in store, or online here.

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Empty #22

Monday, February 4th, 2013

Oh, Empty. How we loved you.

This glorious magazine dedicated to creativity brought us such joy as it sat on the shelves (or, more often, flew off them). A home-grown celebration of art and artists from the Sydney-based Design is Kinky studio, we thought Empty would be around forever.

But editor Andrew Johnstone recently announced that tedious financial reasons have meant the death of Empty. Issue 22 is the final hurrah, but what a glorious way to go out. 152 pages of amazing artwork, with hardly a word in sight. We’re the only store you’ll find it in, so snap it up before it’s gone for good.

Johnstone himself had some parting words in a statement released to explain Empty’s demise:

“I’d like to thank everyone who has ever bought a copy, contributed to, spared a kind word about, or even just flicked through a copy of Empty.“

You can see some of the images from the final issue below… excuse me, I think there’s something in our eye… damn allergies… *Sniff*.

Empty is available instore on online here.

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