Tony Hawk, 90s graphics, surfing and a whole lot more in new issue of Library Paper

Date
12 December 2018

Library Paper, the must-have publication for anyone keen to make sure they’re up-to-date with the what’s what and who’s who of art and design, is back for its ninth issue. A curated selection of work by Library Catalogue from the likes of Mikey Joyce, Bryan Rivera, Wrong Studio and Lola & Pani – alongside a 24-page surfing zine by Peter Sutherland – we caught up with Oliver Shaw to find out how he brought together this talented bunch under the theme of “movement”.

It’s Nice That: Tell us about the theme of issue nine. How did you arrive at it?

Oliver Shaw: The theme is “Movement”. We always try and arrive at a theme or a topic that can be interpreted in a number of ways. So movement can be something as literal as a car heading down the road, or as abstract as a cult movement. It’s always difficult for contributors with such a loose brief, but we always want to keep it that way and not try to dictate the outcome too much.

INT: From this theme, how did you set about deciding which creatives’ work you wanted to include?

OS: We choose contributors specifically for each issue. Whether its friends we’ve made throughout the year or people whose work we’ve followed for a while. People usually send pieces specific and unpublished but every now and then people send us a bunch of work to pick from, so we can choose what fits the brief and the feel of the magazine as a whole. It’s nice to have a mixture of both. On one hand it’s great to have something made specifically for the magazine and not have the element of choice, and on the other hand, it’s nice to see how the whole magazine is feeling and be able to curate it more specifically to the works.

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Catalogue Library: Library Paper 09

INT: Who features on the cover? Why did you decide to use this image specifically?

OS: For the cover we asked Cali Thornhill Dewitt to contribute. Cali sent us a bunch of different images, all relating to movement in some way. There was an image as literal as a plane on a runway, for example. We decided to use the image of a crowd at the Kanye listening party because of how it makes you feel when you look at it. It’s kind of abstract, especially from a distance, but when you sit with it for a minute you start to see the crowd following a movement, again, almost like a cult movement or something.

INT: Could you tell us a bit more about some other contributions?

OS: Chadwick Tyler sent a selection of imagery from a few of his projects. I decided to mix the projects to make a double page spread that was more abstract when evoking the theme movement. It was a fun (and difficult) job trying to pair images from his select that relay the theme. In the end, the outcome was two beautiful images that sit well together, but are actually from two polar opposite projects.

Colin Smight’s contribution is a fun one, a literal “how to land the 900” on a skateboard. Graphically it looks amazing, and most people can relate to it, growing up watching Tony Hawk and playing Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. It also nods back to older 90s graphic design in its aesthetic. So again, there are two interpretations of the brief or theme “movement”. A literal movement in the trick and a feeling of movement in the photographs and pairings.

INT: How did the insert by Peter Sutherland come about? What do you feel this brings to issue nine?

OS: The supplement insert zine by Peter came about organically. We usually release the magazine at the Printed Matter New York Art Book Fair. Unfortunately, this year we couldn’t attend (for the first time in five years) so we wanted to find somewhere else to do it. Meanwhile, a new surf shop opened in Chinatown NYC called Token Surfboards. We’d sent tapes there (from Acorn Tapes, another project we help with) and that’s when the conversation started.

The idea was to launch it there, the theme “movement” came out of our thoughts on surfing and the ocean. We’d worked with Peter before and always wanted to publish a zine for him. Peter is an avid surfer and good friends with Christian of Token. I saw Peter at a one years old’s birthday party (haha) and we spoke about doing the zine. That’s how it all happened, very organically, and the outcome was perfect. It totally related to the theme, complimented it, and it was very fitting we were able to launch at Token. Surfing > Movement > Library Paper 09 > Ocean Size > Token Surfboards.

You can grab yourself a copy of Library Paper 09 here.

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Catalogue Library: Library Paper 09

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Catalogue Library: Library Paper 09

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Catalogue Library: Library Paper 09

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Catalogue Library: Library Paper 09

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Catalogue Library: Library Paper 09

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Catalogue Library: Library Paper 09

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Catalogue Library: Library Paper 09

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About the Author

Ruby Boddington

Ruby joined the It’s Nice That team as an editorial assistant in September 2017 after graduating from the Graphic Communication Design course at Central Saint Martins. In April 2018, she became a staff writer and in August 2019, she was made associate editor.

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