November 4

Designer Hamada Takeshi is visiting our office for a meeting on a certain project we're doing together. I've been working with Hamada for a little over four years, beginning with an interview for a special feature on Japanese creators in "+81" Vol.24.Since then we've been doing various projects related to our magazine, as well as producing websites, catalogues, etc. These were occasions for me to learn a lot about his design philosophy and his approach to his work.
Working day and night, Hamada’s enthusiasm at the time was quite amazing even for the workaholic that I was considering myself to be. However, in am email he sent me about two months ago, he explained that he'd changed his rhythm and is getting up early in the mornings now, so "we won't be able to go for drink late at night this time." After today’s meeting he enthuses about the advantages of getting up early, and I do feel kind of enlightened…

November 5

I'm asking myself what it is that defines the identity of a magazine. I've been thinking about this all the time for a few days now.
There are magazines for boosting sales.
Magazines for advertising purposes.
Magazines generating and following trends.
Magazines gathering and spreading information.
Magazines devoted to journalism.
Magazines dedicated to creativity.

Multiply these by the increasingly segmentalized genres and target groups, and you get myriad types of magazines that are out there. Each of them has its own individual position, so I think it doesn't make sense to judge whether a magazine is good or bad. What I personally believe though is that it takes more than private interest and self-complacency to produce a magazine. Even if it’s possible to create something just with that, the result surely won't classify as a proper magazine. A magazine has to circulate. Even with the greatest contents a magazine can still fail to accomplish its purpose if nobody sees, buys, and browses through it, and I also think that it’s meaningless as a magazine if it is not produced and published continuously. That’s why the readers' feedback is very important, and the opinions and desires of clients and book stores can't be ignored. In addition, it is essential also to be to some extent aware of the trends and currents of the time. It is not enough to just give the readers exactly what they want, but a magazine should always serve a little more than requested. Considering all the above, I realize that there are hundreds of things involved in the making and distribution of a magazine (and probably other things as well that are created by humans and then made public ).

However, for every magazine in the world - be it a big one with a circulation of more than 100,000 copies, or a small and independent one like "+81" - there have to be editors with ideas and imagination first. There have to be opinions, thoughts, passion, curiosity, foresight, motivation, inspiration, and ideas of the desired readership and the things one wants to share with them. It is perhaps the combination and balance of all of these aspects that define the foundation of a magazine’s identity.

November 7

"Think Global, Act Local.", an online magazine produced in collaboration with "+81" and outdoor fashion brand The North Face, opens.

Creative work pursuing functionality based on ideas and technology, resulting in beautiful and epoch-making products as tools to "attain a maximum with a minimum". That’s how one could sum up the concept of The North Face. Fairly impressed by this attitude, we launched this joint online project. It offers everything from magnificent landscape photography to archives of graphic design works, interviews with the likes of Kamikene (who does also the design for "+81"), and several other things.

November 10

"+81" Vol. 42, titled "Beginnings on Boards issue" is out now. It contains articles about likes of Hedi Slimane, Shepard Fairey, Kami, and others, and is generally focusing on the "board scene" that encompasses skating, surfing and snowboarding. The issue is filled to the brim with interviews and features on artists rooted in this scene, or those who find inspiration in it.

We avoided to treat it as a form of "street culture" though, because we thought it would prevent readers from applying their own ready-made images of this type of culture, and enable people to look at the introduced artworks and interviews from a neutral perspective.

In general, in my view such things as categories and genres are rather unimportant in the first place. I also believe that the value of art is determined by those who look at it, and not by those who make it. Even the most evaluated work by the world’s most renowned artist can be absolutely worthless, depending on the person that looks at it. Likewise, it can happen that people are totally overwhelmed by a perfectly ordinary little piece of art, which renders it a highly valuable effort. Anyway, that’s the personal idea of someone who isn't familiar at all with the art world…