Art & design Archives - STACK magazines

Playground issue 3

Steve Watson — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 15:27:08 +0000

Presented as, “a manifesto for the creative industries”, Playground considers the role of creativity in life and work. Taking a sunny outlook on the world, it platforms a parade of creative professionals who share the stories of how they worked their way to creative freedom.

In this issue:

How to break free from social media but still stay connected
Designer and maker Andu Masebo on being led by obsession
Writer and bookshop owner Alex Holder on why we should all talk more about money
Artist and musician Yuri Suzuki on designing with sound
And futures consultant Helen Job presents her CV of failed projects

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Surprise Pack issue 5

Steve Watson — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 16:58:14 +0000

Have you ever wanted to try Stack without fully committing to joining the club? This limited-edition Surprise Pack is the perfect way to do exactly that, providing a one-off delivery of five previous subscriber magazines for just £20. As always, there are only 100 of these Surprise Packs available and we’re not re-stocking, so once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The magazines in this pack are worth a total of £84 and just like with our monthly magazine club, you won’t know what they are until they arrive at your door. They cover a range of subjects, from design to travel, and from dancing to the environment, and they have all been enjoyed by our subscribers at some point in the last year or so.

Numbers are always strictly limited for these special offers, so grab yours while you can. And at the risk of stating the obvious, please don’t buy this Surprise Pack if you have been a Stack subscriber in the last year, because you will already own these magazines!

Our artwork for this fifth edition of the Surprise Pack was created by art director, graphic designer and illustrator Ant Gardner. We love his weird little characters and lovely lettering – see more at antgardner.com.

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Broadcast issue 2

Steve Watson — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 17:20:07 +0000

Taking an expansive approach to storytelling, Broadcast combines art and science as a way of looking beyond the everyday. Lots of magazines build their editorial around art, but I can’t remember the last time I read a story about the shape of the periodic table, let alone one that successfully explains how that shape, “encodes the character of the quantum atom”. It’s mind-blowing stuff, but rendered in totally accessible, entertaining text that’s as fun as it is enlightening.

In this issue:

Exploring the mysteries of ‘dark fungi’, the species that have so far eluded scientific identification
How researching Neanderthals is helping in the search for extraterrestrial life
The history of Adderall, by a one-time addict
The arts organisation spending art-world money to achieve, “material change rather than symbolic statements”
And how AI could be pointing the way to a new class of psychedelic-based antidepressants

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Pleasant Place issue 6

Steve Watson — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 15:18:19 +0000

A small and beautiful magazine from Amsterdam, Pleasant Place considers the art of gardening. This sixth issue is themed ‘Topiary’, and it digs into the history of cutting trees and hedges into strange shapes, as well as the most recent developments in this human compulsion, “To force the unruly natural world into submission, as if we were tiny gods on earth.”

In this issue:

‘Magnum opus toparium’ – a short history of ornamental gardening
Topiary in art, from the 15th century to the present day
Visiting the world’s oldest topiary garden and its “dance of drunken characters”
The ‘cloud pruning’ of Japan’s niwaki, or ‘garden trees’
The 21st-century scourge of the box tree moth
And a cardboard topiary garden for you to cut out and construct

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A Shade Colder issue 7

Steve Watson — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 12:21:27 +0000

An arts magazine published in Estonia, A Shade Colder presents a strange and beautiful version of Estonian creativity that draws upon influences from across the Baltic states and beyond. Russia looms large, making frequent appearances via mentions of Estonia’s Soviet past, and concern at the war in Ukraine, contributing to a totally original editorial vision.

In this issue:

Estonian sculptor Edith Karlson on her impulsive approach to creativity
How should arts institutions express solidarity in wartime?
Drag kings and queens – inside the Baltic drag scene
Luxury and defiance as seen in Estonian private houses from the 1980s
And the Soviet struggles of Estonian artist Ülo Sooster

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Surprise Pack issue 4

Steve Watson — Tue, 28 May 2024 08:59:35 +0000

Have you ever wanted to try Stack without committing straight away? This limited-edition Surprise Pack is the perfect way to do exactly that, providing a one-off delivery of five previous subscriber magazines for just £20. As always, there are only 100 of these Surprise Packs available and we’re not re-stocking, so once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The magazines in this pack are worth a total of £73 and just like with our monthly magazine club, you won’t know what they are until they arrive at your door. They cover a range of subjects, from art and design, to literature, fashion and the environment, and they have all been enjoyed by our subscribers at some point in the last year. (It’s worth emphasising that the illustration above gives no clue about what you’ll receive. I don’t think there’s a single article about insects in any of the magazines.)

Numbers are always strictly limited for these special offers, so grab yours while you can. And at the risk of stating the obvious, please don’t buy this Surprise Pack if you have been a Stack subscriber in the last year, because you will already own these magazines!

Our artwork for this fourth edition of the Surprise Pack was created by Lebanese illustrator and comics artist Raphaelle Macaron. She’s currently based in Paris, and we love her bold, distinctive graphics – see more at raphaellemacaron.com.

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Dirty Furniture issue 6

Steve Watson — Mon, 04 Mar 2024 15:23:31 +0000

The final issue of a decade-long editorial project, Dirty Furniture heads to bed with a collection of design-based stories focusing on sleep, sex, productivity, and other tales from the bedroom. We love Dirty Furniture and this is a fitting finale to a brilliantly playful and insightful magazine.

In this issue:

How Frasier could help you to sleep
William Brouwer, inventor of the convertible futon bed
Puffer jackets as duvets for the street
A visual tour of avant-garde beds
And how ‘nearables’ are tracking sleep to make users more productive

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Motor issue 2

Steve Watson — Wed, 10 Jan 2024 14:03:05 +0000

A print magazine that was created to give a permanent home to the transient experience of dance, Motor highlights the many different ways that we can encounter dancing: As playing or letting go; as art or craft; as a primal response to music, or as painstakingly learned movements. The magazine’s supple approach allows all these contrasting experiences to take equal space in this second issue, which is themed ‘Duets and Dialogues’.

In this issue:

Holly Blakey and Gwilym Gold on their creative partnership
A historical reflection on the subversive power of dancing in Iran
An introduction to the primal, spiritual Japanese butoh
Community dance in Cape Town
And the sweaty, sexy escape of the dancefloor

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Surprise Pack issue 3

Steve Watson — Tue, 26 Sep 2023 09:40:19 +0000

The third edition of our Surprise Pack is the ideal way to get a taste of our monthly magazine club experience, but without subscribing. Buy this Surprise Pack and you’ll get a one-off delivery of five previous subscriber magazines for just £20. But there are only 100 of these Surprise Packs available and we’re not re-stocking, so once they’re gone, they’re gone.

The magazines in this pack are worth a total of £72 and just like with our monthly magazine club, you won’t know exactly what they are until they arrive at your door. (Don’t be fooled by the illustration above – these are not magazines about coffee! Though we thoroughly recommend reading them with a drink by your side.) They cover a range of subjects, from art and design, to literature and the environment, and they have all been enjoyed by our subscribers at some point in the last year.

Numbers will always be strictly limited for these special offers, so grab yours while you can. And at the risk of stating the obvious, please don’t buy this Surprise Pack if you have been a Stack subscriber in the last year, because you will already own these magazines!

Our artwork for this third edition is by Brazilian artist Daniel Batista. We love his bright, wobbly illustrations – to see more of his work, go to instagram.com/freshprincipee.

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Ecoes issue 5

Steve Watson — Mon, 03 Jul 2023 13:39:53 +0000

Published by Sonic Acts, an interdisciplinary arts organisation based in Amsterdam, Ecoes shifts readers away from the anthropocentric norm and shows the non-human as more than just a resource to be exploited. This issue focuses on water, and its stories take turns to problematise the stuff that comes out of our taps, encouraging readers to slow down and think again about something that most of us probably take for granted.

In this issue:

A close look at ice, asking what melting means in the climate crisis
How bleached coral is being rehabilitated by playing the sounds of healthy coral
Considering the sky at the world’s first cloud bar
Listening and sound recording within the harbours of cities
And thinking about the acient history of the water in your body

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