We put the design for this month's five limited-edition covers (available to subscribers) in the hands of five young graduates - no big leap of faith, considering that each one came hotly tipped by their tutors.
Some of our favourite creatives, all leading lights in their field, nominated their top student to design the covers for our Next Generation issue (W*142), all showcased below:
Furniture designers Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec nominated Brynjar Sigurðarson from ECAL, Lausanne
Fashion designer Bernhard Willhelm nominated Dimitrije Gojkovic from University of Applied Arts Vienna
Sculptor Richard Wentworth nominated David Buckley from the Royal College of Art, London
UN Studio co-founder Ben van Berkel collaborated with Tatjana Gorbachewskaja from Städelschule, Frankfurt
Graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister nominated Dora Budor and Maja Cule from the School of Visual Arts, New York
Next Generation issue: Limited edition covers
Nominated by Richard Wentworth
As is hinted by his limited-edition cover, Buckley is fascinated by tribal art works, ‘as much for their material qualities, as for the complications around how and for what reason such works came to be appreciated by western audiences’, he says. ‘The desire to experience exoticism, strangeness and foreignness through encountering objects within a conventional framework is at the root of how we have come, through cabinets of curiosities and then through museums, to experience works of art.’ In his work, Buckley tries to tease out that desire and to evoke the balance between order and disorder, as well as look at the frameworks of display and decoration (for instance through stands, plinths, or shelves) that go hand in hand to civilise foreign objects.
Most inspired by: 'I love the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder and John Cassavetes, primarily because there is an edginess to how each constructs the narrative through editing and character acting, so that the viewer is never entirely sure what is going to happen next. I also love the pace of the work of W G Sebald, and how he managed to incorporate social and historical themes in his profound and moving novels.'
'Aahh! How the monotony of the tom-toms eases the restless spirit...', 2008
'The Rule', acrylic on paper, marble, steel
'San Francisco', cast plaster, silica, lacquer, perspex
'Bust', 2009
Nominated by Bernhard Willhelm
Born in Croatia but now living in Vienna as a final year fashion student at the University of Applied Arts, Gojkovic’s last student collection from 2009 was inspired by piebald albinism or piebaldism, a human (and animal) disorder which usually affects dark-skinned people, rendering the skin partially white as a result of certain mutations in the genes. ‘In the 19th century these people were called zebra people and they were usually working as circus freaks,’ he says. ‘The whole idea of the appearance of changing skin, the relationship between humans and animals, and concept of mutation was very stimulating for me.’
Most inspired by: 'Any kind of abnormalities, fiction, art, and drag.'
Clarification: In the W* 142 issue, this cover artist was incorrectly named.
From the 'Piebald' collection
Photography: Sabine Jelinek
From the 'Piebald' collection
Photography: Sabine Jelinek
From the 'Piebald' collection
Photography: Sabine Jelinek
From the 'Piebald' collection
Photography: Sabine Jelinek
From the 'Piebald' collection
Photography: Sabine Jelinek
Tatjana Gorbachewskaja, Städelschule, Frankfurt
In collaboration with Ben van Berkel
Architect Tatjana Gorbachewskaja was born in Tcheremkhovo, Russia. She studied architecture and urbanism at the State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering in St. Petersburg, before heading to Städelschule academy in Frankfurt. Having made her mark at several architectural offices, such as Willen Associates in Wiesbaden and Erick van Egeraat Architects in Amsterdam, she currently works with architecture and urban development firm UNStudio in Amsterdam. Recent projects include the St Petersburg 'Dance Palace' theatre project, the reactivation of VDNKh park in Moscow, and the 'Brussels ELDP' elite housing project in Belgium.
Most inspired by: 'Sculpture, fashion, and contemporary dance - namely work by Hussein Chalayan, Antoine Pevsner, Bruce Chatwin and La La La Human Steps.'
'Projection of an interval time-territory'
'Amalgam of inversions'
Nominated by Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec
Iceland-born Sigurðarson graduated in product design from Iceland Academy of the Arts in 2009, before going on to do his Masters in product design at ECAL. Despite living in Reykjavik, he always tries to seek out the rural, because of what can be discovered there that hasn't become common knowledge yet. Of his work, he reveals: ‘When I design I try to become the one that needs the things I make. It is kind of like a theatre piece, but you are both the director and the actor. I am also very fascinated by stories people tell me.'
Most inspired by: 'The environment around me, unconsciously or consciously. I take pictures of things I see, for example funny situations, arrangements, objects in the street, objects that I would never have come across except by coincidence. These dialogues between objects can be interesting and unexpected. Primarily what excites me are the strangely normal things around us we hardly ever notice, not because they aren’t interesting but rather because the environment they are situated in isn’t interesting.'
'Pop-up table', 2009-2010
Courtesy: ECAL
Photography: Federico Bererdi
'Pop-up table', 2009-2010
Courtesy: ECAL
Photography: Federico Bererdi
More work by Brynjar Sigurðarson:
'Mountain village', 2009-2010
Courtesy: ECAL
Nominated by Stefan Sagmeister
The idea of a bank planting the seed for creative growth and artistic collaboration is a rather odd one, but for designers Budor and Cule it was a chance meeting in a bank lobby and the sharing of a pen to fill in a tax report that led them to having a coffee together, and rather fortuitously to start up their design practice, One Corporation. ‘Our inspiration comes from everyday situations, quotidian phenomena, but also invented narratives and constructed realities,’ say Budor and Cule. ‘We both share a fascination with storytelling and small cracks in reality. Sometimes we compete to see who can find the most beautiful plastic white bag. The playfulness comes from the wonder and naivety of seeing things every time for the first time and getting rid of everything that we ever learned. We also believe that one thing can be done in endless different ways’.
Most inspired by: 'Andro Wekua, because, after him ,waiting would never be the same, DIS magazine for bungee-jumping fashion from Brooklyn bridge, spam mails from Nigeria, and the differences between the shopping malls of the world. We are also huge fans of Helmut Smit's "The Real Thing" (installation to filter Coca-Cola into clean drinking water), how Olaf Breuning makes you climb hundreds of stairs to his studio, looking at yourself in observation mirrors, and whatever Urs Fischer digs.'
'2 Girls and an Installation'
'Roba for real'
'Plakat skate' (left) and 'Pecha kucha' (right)
