I-D Magazine No.6.

Day seven was an opportunity to reference production methods from the past, their place in history and their influence and relevance now. Cedar Lewisohn and South East Zine's Lisa Novak and Chris Dodson discussed small-press publishing, independent mind-sets and working within the canon with ideas that sit very much outside of it; Graham Congreve from Evolution Print came armed with a generous edition of Evolution Print posters to give away, extensive print know-how and an unbridled enthusiasm for the smell, look and feel of printed matter; Camberwell Press Editor Billie Muraben ran a cut and paste workshop with Illustration students and independent publishing afficionado Teal Triggs gve a talk on fanzines and counter-culture publishing, past and present. 

 Sniffin' Glue, by Mark Perry

Teal Triggs is Professor of Graphic Design, Course Director of MA Design Writing Criticism, and co-Director of Information Environments at LCC. We asked her to give a talk with particular emphasis on fanzines and counter-culture publishing. Street Readers & Writers: Fanzines by Graphic Designers spanned the conception of punk culture and 1970's fanzines to more contemporary work, highlighting the changing face of zine culture and production, the effects of technology, socio-political upheaval and the age of information, and noted how the underlying intention of fanzine authorship is still alive and thriving today. 

Teal discussed the work of writer, broadcaster and publisher Jon Savage and psycho-geographer Ian Sinclair, the trickle up of street and fanzine culture to advertising and the mass-aesthetic, and examples of fanzines that became a part of, and shape mass publishing like ID Magazine, edited by Terry Jones, which introduced the concept of 'straight up' photography and experimental design and content to the 'glossies'. Teal also went on to discuss ways in which the immediacy of the fanzine process had been adopted outside of punk culture by the Zerox Palace's in India, and how it had originated in the sciece-fiction stories of the 1920s and 30s. Teal has kindly let us reproduce An American Perspective: From The Rag to Riches, her piece from the Things Happen fanzine in the Into the Fold publication.

Cedar Lewisohn & South East Zine discussion 

Cedar Lewisohn and Chris Dodson

South East Zine is a new magazine founded by Lisa Novak and Chris Dodson that celebrates the creative talents and communities of South East London, it is a platform for new work and collaboration. Cedar Lewisohn is an artist and writer, his last book Abstract Graffiti was published my Merrell and designed by Lisa Novak of South East Zine. They came Into the Fold to discuss their own, and each others practice and where they meet. 

Points included: the problems of knowledge influencing design aesthetics, roots in and out of prescribed practice, unpaid internships and ways you can re-direct your work for establishments into establishing yourself. 

A full transcription of their discussion has been printed as part of the Into The Fold publication. 

Top: Cedar printing on the relief press. Bottom: SOUTH EAST relief print.

Atlas Magazine Cut & Paste

Sylvanus Urban, inspired by the pen name of the editor of the first ‘general interest’ magazine The Gentleman’s Magazine (1731), and the work of magazine publisher, graphic designer and artist Jake Tilson, was a cut-and-paste DIY magazine workshop run by Press Editor Billie Muraben. The premise was to use materials and content available at Camberwell College to produce three pages per participant – the first featuring the work of a practitioner, the second an interest/particular book unrelated to their practice, and the third a set of static images to form a montage kit.Inspired by examples of self-publishing both past and present – from the likes of Harmony Korrine, AA Bronson and The Secret Public, and anthologies 200 Trips by Barry Miles and Fanzines by Teal Triggs; the students gathered visual and text based information from the library, photocopied it in its masses and got stuck in, quite literally, to their double-page spreads.

In only a few hours we had a 40-page zine covering everything from diagrams and graphs of the scale of kitsch to nuns, popsicles and the nuclear bomb. Whilst there was an initial sense of panic at having to work quickly and outside of usual go-to processes, the brief’s ask to walk the length of the library aisles to find books that slip through the computer Search system proved rewarding in terms of both breadth of themes and encouraging the participants to see the great span of information that is available to them. With only a couple of hours to assemble, paste and pagenate everyone had to up their rate of production – the process suits a degree of not so much carelessness, but a willingness to not be precious and focus on communication rather than striving for perfection. None of the students had made zines before, but the quality of what they produced, their enthusiasm and humour suggested that it could, and should be something they continue producing. 

Top: Chloe Greenfield. Bottom: Rosie Conheady

Evolution Print Drop-in

Evolution Print are based in Sheffield and headed up by Jonathan Newbould and Graham Congreve. They print jobs that span all genres of publishing, from small-scale short runs to larger, more complex projects. Graham Congreve came Into The Fold armed with a generous edition of Evolution Print posters to give away to students, extensive print know-how and an unbridled enthusiasm for the smell, look and feel of printed matter.