“At ‘Stolen,’ we love the tangible and the tactile,” declares designer Lucy Guernier’s website, and that passion for what can be held can be felt in every square inch of that magazine’s fifth volume. From the electric purple foil on the slipcase (both label and those individual dots) to the chunky board covers of the issue itself, you don’t just look at this issue, you commune with it via your fingertips.
There’s certainly no shortage of “art” magazines these days, if we can even call these “magazines” anymore. (This particular issue will set you back AUD $50, about $38 U.S.) But judging by “Stolen” Vol. 5, few put their back into it design-wise quite like Lucy and co. I mean let’s get wild for a minute and start with that gorgeous Sumatran tiger on the cover:
The gradients you see here continue on through the 150-plus pages that feature more than 110 artists from 22 countries, including Egypt, Japan, Italy, Panama, Slovenia, Netherlands, and Brazil. Here’s a peek:
And if that isn’t enough, this issue, like previous ones, feature a signature foiled, cloth-covered exposed spine.
Part of the charm of “Stolen” Vol. 5 are its imperfections – the hallmark of a designer who constantly challenged herself and aimed for the ultra-ambitious, and is still working out the kinks in a very difficult process. As she told UnderConsideration, “fine lines for foiling don’t always work on cloth. Some of the foil on the spine bled a little as it’s hard to get fine patterned foil to stick to cloth.”
Amen, sister. But so long as there are designers out there pushing the limits, the future of this industry is going to be something to look forward to with delight.
