The second issue of BEINGHUNTED magazine features my first ever print cover story and one of the editorial pieces I’m most proud of from the past year or so: an interview with/feature on the great, Pritzker-winning architect Wang Shu.
The magazine is beautifully laid out and features completely arresting imagery courtesy of Iwan Baan, who shot much of Wang Shu’s work for a retrospective at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (to whom I’m also indebted for their help with the piece).
Another – though in fact the first – luxury hotel rebranding project undertaken with Evolve.
I can’t put into words what a joy this was to work on, coming as it did in the midst of a couple of particularly gruelling long-term projects. I basically got to write a series of short-story-type vignettes, all with the aim of evoking the great rebrand Evolve are carrying out for the once great (and somewhat infamous) Byblos hotel in southern Spain. It all ended up going a little bit early Bret Easton Ellis, a little bit early Richard Ford, with some liberal quoting of Spencer Krug lyrics thrown in for good measure.
To round off a great project, Evolve beautifully rendered everything I wrote in print for the new owners of the hotel – something I rarely get to see.
Was a tremendous honour to take on the role of ‘editor-in-chief’ for the second issue of BEINGHUNTED magazine – even if the grandiose title doesn’t naturally sit comfortably with me! The project coincided with a very difficult time for my family, so I’m tremendously grateful to Jörg (aka Mr. BEINGHUNTED) for not only the opportunity but his patience as well.
I contributed the cover story – an interview with/feature on the Pritzker-winning Chinese architect Wang Shu, and one of the editorial pieces I’ve been most proud of over the past year or so (not that I have time to do as many as I like these days, sadly).
The issue also contains a condensed version of the catalogue I wrote for a GORE-TEX exhibition that launched during Paris Fashion Week in January, and an ‘in-conversation with’-type piece on the nature of artistic collectives in today’s globalised world.
If you feel like spending 15 quid or so on a print magazine you can do that here! Or find it in various trendy magazine/fashion type places around the world.
Loved creating this book/film/exhibition series for Gore-Tex with (lots of people but mainly) two people whose work I’ve long admired: Stephen Mann and Jörg Haas. It all launched during Paris Fashion Week and was such a great final project to see out 2018.
I was interviewed by Freunde von Freunden at the tail-end of last year about my life and work – not sure how illuminating I was in my answers but you can take a look here!
A hastily-arranged, late-Friday-night Skype call gave me the opportunity to interview the founders of Snarkitecture, the buzzy New York firm that floats between the worlds of art and architecture.
Though I wish there’d been more time to delve into the subjects we covered, it was nevertheless interesting to hear their views on the digital vs the tangible, and the role that distinctive branding plays in their practice.
Read the full feature on Freunde von Freunden here.
I spent an incredible day, courtesy of Sonos and Freunde von Freunden at the Kentish home of Ralph Steadman – the iconic artist responsible for bringing to life the works of his dear friend Hunter S Thompson.
I’m incredibly excited to see the full feature go live on FvF in the coming weeks, but for now here is a teaser of sorts, in the form of a music-centric Q and A on the Sonos blog.
Read the Q and A here.
I was asked to write an op-ed piece for publication in the German daily newspaper, Der Tagesspiegel. The brief related to festivals and the question of ‘why millennials love them so much’… naturally I wrote about J. G. Ballard, neoloiberalism and streetwear (amongst other things) as per usual…
I don’t believe it exists online, but if you’re desperate to read it for some reason of course just get in touch…
“So I peeked through and that’s when I saw the shadows underneath, and felt the breeze from the gaps. I think that was my very first encounter with architecture…”
Was great to have the opportunity to interview the great Andra Matin, an architect I’ve admired for a while now. Also really admire the way Dita are building themselves a genuinely enjoyable editorial platform – no shoehorned brand stuff, just thoughtful, resonant words and pictures. Pleasure to be a part of it!
Read the interview here.
