Cruel winter days are a perfect excuse to linger on the armchair — expecially with a good read. Here’re some of my recent magazine discoveries from all over the world, an array of culture and design titles to warm up your mind.
1. Soffa | Czech Republic
Bimonthly lifestyle and design magazine from Prague that examines one topic at a time with a local twist. Volume 22 is dedicated to music: from a story behind vinyl record factory in Czech Republic to a detailed guide to understanding classical music. Soffa is heavy on photography and sleek web-like art direction, and inventive attempts to push the boundaries of print publishing like using QR-codes on its pages to supplement photography with sound as well as pull-out insert guides.
6 issues/year ($125): Subscribe
2. Pressing Matters | UK
Publication looking at the people, process, and passion behind printmaking — a timely read for our age of digital detox and for creatives seeking to learn back tactile skills. Pressing Matters looks closely at the news, tools, and developments in modern printmaking as well as studio visits with established artists and the stories behind their creative process.
pressingmattersmag.com | @pressingmattersmag
3 issues/year ($75): Subscribe
3. Aesthetic Theories | US
Featuring artists, designers, intellectuals, and institutions that shape our cultural patterns. Interviews, mostly led by founder Samine Joudat, are bold and at times eye-opening, trying to bring the subject to the reader in as much detail as possible. Lowercase typography and typewriter typeface create a strong visual style for the magazine but at times I had a hard time relating the depth of the topic with the design choices.
aesthetic-theories.com | @aesthetictheories
2 issues/year ($40): Subscribe
4. MacGuffin | The Netherlands
From the Netherlands, a design research magazine focusing on deep exploration of a single topic in each issue. Editors Kirsten Algera and Ernst van der Hoeven show a purely Dutch take on magazine making with bold art direction, prominent type and color work as well as the freedom to explore a topic in as many dimensions as one can imagine. Issue 4 is dedicated solely to the kitchen sink — yes, the one you used this morning.
macguffinmagazine.com | @macguffinmagazine
2 issues/year ($50): Subscribe
5. Lagom | UK
Lifestyle magazine for a global community of creatives who care about thoughtful design. This issue (recently redesigned under new art direction) takes a close look at the workings of a sound recording studio by an ocean shore, the process behind experimental scent-making, as well as a creative outdoor explorations in Vermont.
2 issues/year ($35): Subscribe
6. Toc Toc Toc | France
Conversations with creatives and designers from a specific city. This issue looks into designers and makers in Portland, Oregon as well as off-beat places to visit in the area. Toc Toc Toc is bilingual — each article is available both in French and English (whichever one you’re most comfortable with). Voila!
toctoctoc-editions.com | @toctoctoceditions
2 issues/year ($50): Subscribe
7. Nang | South Korea
Nang is newcomer from South Korea, a ten-issue magazine entirely dedicated to cinema in Asia. I was lucky to get my hands on issue 0, before it was released to general public. The current issue 3 dwells on fiction and is thicker, and more satisfying, both visually and intellectually
nangmagazine.com | @nangmagazine
2 issues/year ($46): Subscribe
8. Vanguards | Scotland
Vanguards celebrates and investigates brands, design and people — the first 3 issues focusing entirely on its homeland Scotland. Editors James Roberts and Hugo Ross put a lot of effort to cut on the traditional ways you would expect such a magazine to be — say, filled with photographs of people and factories. Instead, the pages are playful and fun with experimental typography, bold colors, and abstract illustration.
vanguardsmagazine.com | @vanguardsmagazine
2 issues/year ($40): Subscribe
9. Woolly | US
A curious exploration of comfort, wellness, and modern life created by the team behind Casper mattress. One would think a mattress company knows everything about all things cozy — and that is true with Woolly. Everything from the smaller format, to the textured cover paper, to the hilarious illustrations, to the style and tone of writing speaks comfort. The inaugural issue features a love letter to comfort pants, confessions from your yoga instructor, a non-chronological history of snoring, a skeptic’s guide to crystals, introvert workouts, alternatives to counting sheep, and an adulting coloring book.
$12 per issue: Buy
Thank you for reading!
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