The theme for this issue is “Body Presence”. Our ability to travel and move around freely has been severely limited over the past couple of years, and we have fallen into habits of placing a multitude of parts from our everyday lives onto the internet and virtual spaces. In reaction to this, I’ve been struck with a desire to think more about the importance of physical sensations. In this issue we have interviewed many individuals whose careers are based on forms of expression—artists, designers, musicians—and have asked them about the relationship between their work and the physical body. We have also featured a whole range of articles introducing and exploring lesser-known handicrafts, art, and culture from around the world. We hope you will enjoy the beautiful visuals as well as the in-depth content of the written articles.
The opening essays were written by Leanne Shapton(Author/Atist), Geoff McFetridge(Artist), Masatsugu Ono(Author), Adam Silverman(Potter), Ryohei Matsunaga(Writer).
One of the issue’s features titled, “Body Moving”, conducts interviews with Mike Ableson (POSTALCO/Designer), Jonathan Ive (Product Designer), Junya Noguchi (Kukangendai/Musician), Johanna Jackson (Artist), and more, all of whom consider the presence of the human body in their work.
Not only that, we’ve got a discussion with visvim’s Hiroki Nakamura during a visit with him to Kyoto’s antiques market, the story of the Japanese woman who introduced indigo-dyed fabric from China, “Raninkafu”, that was previously unknown in Japan, an interview with Maureen Doherty the founder of London’s legendary clothing store, “egg”, and an on-site interview with a Kewa tribe turquoise artist Ray Lovato.
The special supplement for this issue is called, “My Archives: A Handmade Minibook”, in which readers can make a book themselves by removing a number of saddle-stitched pages from the issue. There are two DIY books which contain re-edited versions of twelve articles from Hiroki Nakamura’s serialization “My Archive”—which ran from 2012 for six years in the magazine POPEYE—these never before seen twelve articles were not part of the published collection of essays from the My Archive book (2018, Magazine House).
Contents of the fifth issue
Essays
Leanne Shapton/Geoff McFetridge/Masatsugu Ono/Adam Silverman/Ryohei Matsunaga
Cover story “Body Moving”
Mike Ableson(POSTALCO)/Jonathan Ive/Junya Noguchi(Kukangendai)/Kuniko Takebayashi/Johanna Jackson/Izabel Nielsen & Asher Woodworth
Other content
Clothing, plain and simple: A conversation with egg founder Maureen Doherty/Indigo Dreams: Masa Kubo and the Spirit of China’s Folk Textiles/Antiqing in Kyoto: Visit, Buy, Discuss/An Unbroken Circle: The Miraculous Work of Kewa Turquoise Artist Ray Lovato/Justin Adian: Walks and Walls/Hobby Talk: Print Exchange Program/The “Naito Auto” Story/etc
ApSpecial Appendix
My Archive Hand-Crafted Booklets
Participating creators
Kyohei Sakaguchi/Tamara Shopsin/Stephen Mann/Gentaro Ishizuka/nakaban/Yurie Nagashima/Akiko Wakana/Lena Fujimoto/Takashi Tsurumi/Hiroki Nakamura/Kelsi Nakamura/etc
volume 06
volume 05
volume 04
volume 03
volume 02
volume 01