The Adnostic

Intersection:

I like this magazine. I like this magazine a lot. I work on an automotive account and I have dreaded the probability of my having to pick up an automotive enthusiast magazine, but this is great. It covers art, transportation, and design in a little snarky British package. It's perfect. A must read for anyone with even a passing interest in luxury automobiles and design.

I especially enjoyed the coverage of the Blade Run, which is the Gumball 3000 over water, and the review of the new Lamborghini with its eye on revival. The dangerous and thrilling exploits of the super rich are always fun and it was interesting to read about the luxury performance automaker's take on being an elite product in a world full of copy cats. Once again, customization and personalization is key.

Dwell:

This issue was primarily about community building through design, but the article that caught my attention the most was "Perpetual Motion Vol. 4" about the future of transportation both public and private. At one point he visited a professor of urban planning at Berkeley who specializes in public transportation issues and she left him with the following words, "Good urban policy needs good rural policy."

Immediately after, our hero takes the BART to the San Francisco Airport and flies to Portland where he is able to take different methods of public transport to a farming community in Multnomah County just outside of the city. Apparently the local government has designated certain areas as designated for farming and prohibits any residential or business construction on those lands. It reminded me of a conversation I had with an Australian grad student in the Department of Agriculture while I was an undergrad. He looked at me and said, "If America keeps building over it's farmland it will one day find itself very poor and very hungry." Good rural policy indeed.

Wallpaper*:

After coveting all of the super expensive modern products and furniture, I found an article about a study on the future of luxury that interviewed a bunch of heavyweight high-end designers for their vision of where luxury product design is going. The final evaluation was attributed to Zowie Broach and Brian Kirby, purveyors of a British fashion label:

"Luxury is an experience that may cost, but it is about history, recommendation and association. This is where the value lies. Luxury items are the spoils of a journey of exploration - the finest souvenirs of our civilizations."

I've been thinking a lot about this concept of experience as luxury. I have read before that as a society of consumers we have grown beyond the need to simply acquire, but that we now require our purchases to say something about who we are - our tastes, our education, our interests. These products may also have the capability to give us stories to tell and even increase our skill sets. Luxury cars that offer the opportunity to learn performance-driving skills. Fine distilleries that give people the chance to brew their own scotch whiskey. Imagine the stories people would tell about brands that give them experiences like that.

Total magazines read so far - 8