The Facing Page

Design, Culture and Style from Vancouver

Category: We Read

16 April 2013

ibought Magazine

by Connor Keller

In addition to clothing, I’ve always had an interest in consumer culture in general. As a result, the press release for ibought magazine immediately caught my eye. A Japanese based magazine, the premiere issue presents the things the magazines 200 creators recently bought. Featured creators include Neighborhood’s Shinsuke Takizawa, nonnative head Takayuki Fujii, Poter’s Reo Yoshida, Kenichi Aono from Beams and Kazuki Kuraishi from Cash Ca. A further look into their list of features reveals articles like “Websites Creators Check Daily,” “What Magzines Models Bought After their Photoshoots,” “Styling by Six Top Stylists for Spring” and shopping maps of Tokyo drawn by those in the know. I’m also curious to see the top 5 best selling products from 2013 – I imagine it will be an interesting insight into the Japanese market. Of course, most of the text is in Japanese so this is a magazine to enjoy from an aesthetic point of view. Luckily for us, much of the magazine seems to be shown in image form, so there’ll be less written content to miss due to thelanguage barrier. ibought is available now from Haven shop. It should be a great pickup for anyone interested in the Japanese fashion market.

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10 April 2013

INVENTORY Magazine, Issue 8

by Connor Keller

In addition to opening up a new location in New York, the fine gentlemen at INVENTORY have recently released their much anticipated eighth issue for Spring/Summer 2013. The cover stories for this issue of INVENTORY focus on Nepenthes president Keizo Shimizu as well as the British photographer Mark Borthwick, both well known industry figures with interesting backstories to be uncovered. Further features include photoessays from the talented James Pearson-Howes and Osma Harvilahti. There is a look at the history of the renown Cone Mills denim mill and stories on The Soloist, Leslie Hewitt, Gottlund Verlag, Takashi Kumagai and local legend Raif Adelberg. Each issue of INVENTORY is a pleasure to pick up and browse through for the beautiful layout and design as well as the nicely curated content and the eighth is no exception. A less publicized highlight, Illustrated Examples comes through with one of its most interesting themes to date, focussing on some of the cars from ‘our’ youths. Definitely worth a look if you’ve enjoyed their work in the past, the newest issue is available now both in their online shop as well as in the New York and Vancouver stockroom locations.

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14 January 2013

The Real McCoys Yearbook 2013

by Connor Keller

Americana-obsessed Japanese label The Real McCoy have recently made their 2013 yearbook available in English for the first time in the publication’s history. Fully translated from the Japanese version, this highly in-depth look at the brand contains information regarding not only the products and their crafting and design process, but also sizing charts, parameters on how to ideally wear each garment, maintenance procedures and industry endorsements. It’s an interesting look into some of the goings on behind the scenes at The Real McCoy’s, as well as being eye-candy for anyone with an affinity for the brand. As the brand tends to sell 30,000 issues plus annually in Japan, they’re projecting this release to be a widespread success and eventual collectors piece, so it would be in your interest to head to The Real McCoy’s online store or any of their retail outlets in Toyko, Kyoto, Osaka or Fukuoka.

- CK

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9 December 2012

On and Beyond

by Connor Keller

From time to time you stumble across a site that really captures your attention and you end up browsing through it endlessly, or in the case of On and Beyond, until the photos stop loading somewhere around the 40th page. On and Beyond is definitely one such site. The brainchild of talented photographer and writer Vincent Tsang, On and Beyond is a collection of Tsang’s work over the years as well as some of his inspirations and musings. Including a couple of recurring features like his I Wish They Made This For Girls in which he styles mens clothing on women (inspiring a legion of men’s magazines and blogs to do the same) as well as selected photography in the realms of style, skateboarding and lifestyle, On and Beyond is a great collection of inspiring work by a very talented art director. Take a look for yourself here.

- CK

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22 October 2012

Inventory Magazine – Issue 7

by Connor Keller

The good people at Inventory Magazine in Vancouver have just released their seventh issue and its well worth heading down to their Gastown based Stockroom to pick up your copy. Of course – theres always ordering it online if you aren’t so lucky to be based in this wonderful city we call home. As usual, Inventory have done a great job balancing interesting features, focus and editorials with excellent photography and layout design. Some of the features in Issue 7 include interviews with Mark Adams of Vitsoe and Red Wing Japan’s Michiya Suzuki, an insight piece into waxed jackets, a standout homewares section featuring Japanese Mingei pottery, and a couple of photo essays from Katsu Naito and Aaron Wojack. There’s two covers to choose from again; this time you’ll get to pick between industry icon Nigo, or Workers founder Takashi Tateno, both of whom are interviewed in the issue.

- CK

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15 October 2012

Pharrell: Places and Spaces I’ve Been

by Connor Keller

While his style may not be for everyone, there’s no denying that Pharrell Williams has been at the forefront of several niche styles of late. Pharrell is a creative force to be reckoned with and he hits pretty much all the bases, utilizing music, fashion, design and now writing to express his distinct and unique ideas. He’s paved the way for other prominent musicians and cultural figures to get into the same cross-over point: he was mixing music, fashion, street style and design before Kanye; buying into coconut water companies before 50 Cent; and generally being the best at picking his spots and jumping into them. This book documents not only his musical career including the Neptunes, N.E.R.D., Pharrell’s solo material and his collaborations with Kanye West, Jay-Z and Snoop Dogg (ahem, Lion) but also his work in various creative pursuits including accessory design with Louis Vuitton, furniture design, collaborations with architect Zaha Hadid and clothing collections with Moncler and Marc Jacobs. It also features a number of conversations between and a few of his more inspiring acquaintances, including Buzz Aldrin, Anna Wintour, Takashi Murakami, Jay-Z, Kanye West and Hans Zimmer. In short, even if you’re not all that into his style, this is a thoroughly interesting collection of imagery, conversations that will do anyone for some new inspiration. It’s available now for pre-order through Amazon.

- CK

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9 October 2012

Cinelli: The Art and Design of the Bicycle

by Connor Keller

Cinelli is, in my opinion, one of the nicest looking bike designers around. Since Cino Cinelli opened his shop doors in the 1940s to make bike frames in Italy, Cinelli has been at the forefront of both component and frame construction and design. From urban bicycles to the top racing bikes, Cinelli has been at the cutting edge of it all. Recently they’ve put together a book delving back through 65 years of archives to highlight Cinelli innovations like the timeless components, the controversial Spinaci handlebars and the MASH fixed-gear pursuit bikes. Including contributions and collaborations with Sir Paul Smith, Felice Gimondi, Mike Giant, Benny Gold and Gilberto Simoni, the book promises to be not only a gorgeous piece on your coffee table, but a proper read for those fans of the Cinelli design and bike (or just industrial) design on the whole as well. Look for it on Amazon October 23 or pre-order now.

- CK

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20 August 2012

Saturdays NYC Magazine

by Connor Keller

The New York surf company Saturdays NYC recently made their first foray into print. The hefty offering runs close to 290 pages of ad free photography, editorials and interviews with subjects from in and around the surf community. Interviews include the Beastie Boys singer and avid surfer Mike D, Japanese surf legend Kohei Chiba, and actor with a surf enthusiasm Vincent Cassel. Editorials feature a number of legendary surf photographers including Walter Iooss, Art Brewer, Mark Hartman, Jason Polan and Curtis Kulig. The move into print fits the Saturdays mentality nicely – having given Manhattanites a place (namely their flagship store) to sit down and discuss surfing over a good coffee, they’ve now given the world a surf focussed magazine to browse and discuss. Sadly I’ve yet to get a look at it as it hasn’t yet emerged in Vancouver and shipping from New York runs $45 – for those in the States though, it can be ordered at the Saturdays webshop. I’m looking forward to seeing it the day when it does wash up on our west coast shores.

- CK

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9 August 2012

Sneeze Magazine

by Connor Keller

Sneeze magazine isn’t like your typical publication and this is a very good thing. Sneeze is a quarterly released, poster sized (22″ × 16″), unbound, full color, soft fold publication, which given the page size (enormous - you don’t realize how big it is until you actually pick a copy up) turns both ads and photos into wall ready art should the reader choose. Sneeze was founded by Vancouverite Nic Fenson with the goal of expanding the street inspired lifestyle and culture of skateboarding by way of unexpected references, places and photographs to provide their reader with an authentic, unpretentious and honest publication. With the fold-out style of the magazine, it’s a fitting reference to the newspaper-like appearance of Sneeze that it is available in many cities in North America in street-boxes, much like newspapers. It’s one of the concepts behind Sneeze that really sets it apart, a nice way of distributing the magazine at the street level that was apparently an exceptional headache to push through. Here in Vancouver, Sneeze has one box, located at the corner of Abbott and Water in Gastown – where the magazine can be picked up for the very reasonable price of two toonies (that’s $4 for the non-Canadians). It’s also available at all Haven locations and at other fine online and brick and mortar retailers. For the price, it’s well worth having a look through, you’ll definitely find some interesting and unique content and may well end up with your new favorite bit of wall furnishing.

- CK

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30 July 2012

The Heritage Post

by Connor Keller

Another publication I picked up on my recent trip to the Netherlands is the German magazine the Heritage Post. This journal, albeit in German, eschews the everyday consumer goods and give you a selection of special things, forgotten products, vintage products, the beautiful, and the individual. The magazine is now on its second issue and seems destined to become a stalwart in the European-style magazine section. While I understand very little of the text, the imagery and presentation of the products and people is incredible. The photoessays “The Rugged Guys”, which features a number of Europe’s well dressed heritage aficionados, is a particular highlight for its selection of goods . There’s a lot of denim featured, both jeans and jackets, as well as a number of great boots from brands like Viberg and Red Wing. Leather and bicycles are also present and both get full articles to themselves which again focus on the themes of vintage, forgotten and beautiful products. Single Speed, a Swiss cycle retailer, was one of my favourite discoveries from the cycle section. If I’m lucky enough to be in Basel soon, I will be sure to swing by as they appear to have one of the best curated selections of Brooks saddles imaginable as well as some incredible frames. The Midori Traveller’s notebooks and a couple of pieces by Tanner Goods also have appearances, including the Tanner Goods sunglass case that I know AP covets highly. There’s also a recipe section, photos from the apartments of some of the aforementioned Rugged Guys and really well done features on vintage Leica cameras and vintage Mini Coopers. While the list of features sounds great – it wouldn’t have been nearly as good as it turns out to be if it wasn’t laid out as nicely as it is. Photo spreads contain closeups or side panels containing some of the product highlights and there are always reference guides to pieces shown as well as links and standout features are often given and many pieces contain some really nice illustrated examples. It isn’t available at many North American retailers as yet – but if you get a chance to pick up a copy while in Europe it’s incredibly worth it. They’ve recently started an ordering service through their website where you can also now pick up their first issue. I recommend the magazine highly, particularly if you happen to be fluent in German.

- CK

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