Category: Publisher’s Diary
The work to find people to write with every week, documented here.
Protected: Hà Nội
Protected: Flash Fiction
Protected: Dear K
Issue #73
Here it is.
A B&W special issue. Featuring photography by Boss. Poems by Dipika Kohli.
Here’s a link..
デザイン思考ってなんのこと？
Editor’s Note: This piece was first published over here..
今日は日曜日。最近、まいにち日曜日みたいな雰囲気のプノンペンだが、じっとして、耳をすましているとだんだんいろんな音が聞こえてくる。隣人がキッチンの戸棚を開け閉めしたり、口論してる音。近く遠くで聞こえるクラクションや工事現場であろう、金属がぶつかる音や、モーターがウィーンと唸る音、重なって聞こえる自動車やバイクやオートリキシャ（ここ2−3年でインド式のやつがバーっと普及して、昔ながらのトゥクトゥクは影が薄い）のエンジンの音。時折、どこかのラウドスピーカーから歌声も聞こえてくる。
(ctd)
Issue #71
Last few weeks, been offline.
Sometimes it’s nice to just narrow things down, and focus.
A few things. A few people.
Just 4, actually, for this next internet-based virtual installation. Four! Much simpler.
This is the new thing. The Interactive Papers Project. It is set to start 1 May.
As always with me, choosing where to focus, next, and what to make, has taken a bit of time and reflection. Because this time, I added, ‘for whom.’ The answer quite surprised me. Went offline for delving deeper, and came up with some new metrics for S P C, its goals, and the people I feel I most gel with when it comes to co-creating. Like ES said, once, ‘It’s not for everyone.’
Dipika Kohli’s Interactive Papers Project..
Thanks to all who have submitted applications. If you’ve been selected to register, you’ll have been notified by now. To those who’ve already confirmed by registering, check your inbox—just sent you an email.
Read Papers..
Penumbras
I have been reading and researching. Not really in a deep way, or anything. Just reading Wikipedia pages about a few concepts that might or might not relate to a new work I’ve been offline to fashion. Out of myriad notes, some of them going all the way back to the time I did a writers’ workshop with my friends at Fish Publishing in Bantry, County Cork, waaaaayyyy back in the days that the Celtic Tiger was still aroar.
Thank you for creating Fish and the workshop, Clem Cairns. Thank you also, Maisie Parker, for encouraging me to apply and to actually go. Was so glad I did. I still remember that. We did a focused 20-minute writing session. I wrote a thing. I still have it. I am using it to craft the new work; ‘Penumbras’ is a section. Maybe.
Writing is all rewriting, they say, but sometimes writing is pushing the envelope so that a thing goes beyond its weak initial first draft and becomes more… developed. I really wish I could spend five hundred hours telling everyone what I feel ‘developed’ means. Work has to go into it. Love. Honesty. So as to arrive at something that has… more… gravitas. Than just a thing you made in 5 minutes or over a weekend or while you were in quarantine. You wrote a book in your week off ? Okay, so?
Meaning. Depth. Artfulness. And more: these things come when you spend time with your writing and your ideas, right? But for me, the work of developing story isn’t something I do alone all day and all night. It’s something I do in collaboration with others; that’s my way. That’s how I roll. Virtual communities that work for me are the ones here in S P C and also Kismuth. There are some great people I’ve met on my very many journeys in life, and now, I’m feeling really good about having the exact set of people in my world that I know will help me become a better storyteller because they know me, my work, and how I relate to them, and theirs.
We’re going to change it up quite a lot around here at DK in the coming months. That’s because we don’t need to do Atelier S P C anymore, nor do we have to invite the new and different to engage with us. We have discovered the new, we have emerged with the different. There is no need to keep making invitations.
A shift of phase
Thank you F, M, C, A, and R, for the recent conversations and exchanges on emails. Good stuff. Going offline again now. But just know that I’m well, here, where I am, and trust that things are good for you whenever this note lands. See you in the cloud.
Issue #65, S P C | *Secret Location*, ‘Cake Walk’
Earlier this year I started hosting real life popup conversation parties. The big idea was that we would pick a city that we all wanted to go to and show up for a few days, to find our way, together. Sometimes we book into the same guesthouses or hotels or whatnot, and sometimes we just meet up for part of the day. It’s like that. Free-form. As and how you want to roll with it is how you can roll with it. And stuff. Usually I wind up making the final decision about the locations, because I’ve been to these spots, personally, often multiple times. So I kind of know my way around a bit. Where to go for what, in the form and fashion that my kind of friends enjoy. Low-key, mostly. Unpretetious, unassuming, non-instagrammy. Know what I mean? I guess it’s like touring. But it’s like tour-plus-philosophy party and it’s also invite-only, more or less, these days. This week, I wanted to share S P C | *Secret Location*, ‘Cake Walk.’ It’s inspired by someone I met in *Secret Location* about seven years ago, JPC. (Thank you for the sharing. Thank you for the conversations. Welcome, and… welcome back. I wrote our story into this issue of S P C…)
#projectepicurus #spacethejourney #spacethezine
Order S P C | *Secret Location*, ‘Cake Walk’
Here’s a link..
Issue #60, S P C | Melbourne, ‘Festival of the Photocopier Special Edition’
Update:
Download this week’s issue at our store.
Here’s a link.
Thanks ;)
**
A very amazing story to share about how this issue came together!
We are excited to launch it in real life at Sticky Institute’s Festival of the Photocopier on Sunday, 9 Feb.
A true collaboration, in the cloud, and in real life, with our teammates in Helsinki, Phnom Penh, and Melbourne. Much more to write, but I will let things percolate first; it’s a special edition, this one, made in a limited-edition set.
For those interested in hearing the rest of the story, more deeply, join us on a conference call? This will include a reading of the poem, ‘Colorpop…’
Free with RSVP.
Issue #59, S P C | Phnom Penh, ‘Ragged-Right Unjustified’
Good morning from DK World HQ, where the eggs are on the table, last night’s conversations are still buzzing, and this morning’s conversations lie in plain sight, just ahead.
Project Epicurus is going the way I had hoped it would, in some ways, and that feels right. People who do not know one another are, through this exchange point of DK, meeting, conversing, connecting, and importantly, engaging. We were talking about ‘art’ a lot and I wanted to focus this issue on what I heard.
For this issue, I gathered images from an online resource that allows people like me to peruse and download and ‘credit if you can, thanks!,’ and ‘do whatever you like,’ with. I wanted to see what it would be like to put them into a curated set. So that’s part of this issue. Plus, to pair these with something original of my own, I put my thoughts together about the above questions. Where do we learn, now? Whom do we connect with? How do we discover one another?
This week’s issue is S P A C E | Phnom Penh, ‘Ragged Right Unjustified.’
Here’s a link.
Issue #58, S P C | Zakopane, ‘Reason, Rhyme & Illusion’
New graphic art and poetry, this week in S P A C E.
Very simple, this one.
Light.
Reason is, I’ve been reading about backwards invention and this is kind of the application of that. It’s where you remove features and then you get to something that is less complex and more refined. This is nice, this is working, I think.
Simplicity.
Here’s a link.
Issue #57, S P C | Phnom Penh, ‘Saturday’
The science fiction series, ‘Uncertainty’, by A. Spaice continues this week with S P C | Phnom Penh, ‘Saturday,’ a fresh zine with a surprisingly light-on-the-eye set of vector images. They’re made by Dipika Kohli.
‘…’
‘Can we play monopoly?’
‘Not right now.’
‘…’
‘I have to fix a typo, right on the front page.’
‘…’
‘It said science nonfiction, which, you know. It can’t be. Either it’s science fiction, which it is, or it’s nonfiction.’
‘Science nonfiction, well. That would be like, if you go to the moon, and there are aliens waiting for you.’
‘…’
Science fictions
Discovering how to write in a different way (third-person) is part of DK’s new directions for 2020. We’re talking about it a lot in different places, but lightly, quietly and in just a very small inner circle. I can’t share where it’s going yet but I can tell you how it began. A writer’s workshop in southwest Ireland. Impersonating the instructor, kind of on a whim, in a surprising, unexpected move that we now understand is the hallmark of everything DK. Short. Sweet. And a little bit… wacky.
‘Wacky? What is this word?’ (This was at a new bar, about to change its name, in Aarhus, circa 2015).
‘Wacky? Well…’
*googles*
‘See? What I meant was–‘
‘–WACKY. That’s it!! That’s the name for our new bar!!!’
‘Um, well, it’s not exactly–‘
‘WACKY !!!!’
‘…’
‘Wacky.’
***
I think, one who might be watching for a while the progressions of DK’s creative work, which has not been shared here much but is coming through loud and clear in this week’s zine, might simply recognize ‘Saturday’ as a natural step in the movement towards something tighter, clearer and of its own ilk.
Which, of course, we think is the point of making all this time, to see what might emerge. It’s a long story. [Deleted].
‘Just another thing in the evolution of D,’ as KE had once put it. Stars. Fractals. Chaos… those were their conversation topics, along with terrible jokes that no one else would laugh at besides KE and DK.
Catch a glimmer of a hint of what’s to come with S P C this year when you get this week’s issue.
S P C | Phnom Penh, ‘Saturday.’
;)
Here’s a link.
Issue #56, S P A C E | Rīga, ‘Static on the Line’
A lot.
Of things.
Are starting to come into shape, now.
Science fiction crossed with zines, and a graphic art that is starting to become the signature style of S P A C E in recent issues: all of that.
And more.
‘Static on the Line’ is this week’s issue, with cover art by Dipika Kohli and a science fiction piece by A. Spaice included in these pages, too.
Checkit.
Here’s a link.
http://gum.co/space-riga-static
Thanks !
Issue #55, S P A C E | Portland, ‘Found & Lost’
‘Static on the Line’ is the lead story, this week in a continuing series called ‘Uncertainty’ by A. Spaice.
More mix-it-up style illustration, too, by DK’ creative director, Dipika Kohli.
It’s available for members of S P A C E, only.
So far, 4 issues have been published in our zine series on ‘Uncertainty’.
They are:
- S P C | London, ‘A Walk in Regent’s Park’
- S P C | Copenhagen, ‘Nearness’
- S P C | Skåne, ‘E. K. Vera’
- And this week’s.
Download your copy, and at the same time set up your weekly subscription, here.
Order S P A C E | Portland, ‘Found and Lost’
Issue #54, S P A C E | Skåne, ‘E. K. Vera’
For S P A C E this week, we feature a lead story called, ‘Run, Eliza.’ It was written by A. Spaice. In this issue, we illustrate it with fresh, new graphic art updates that mix from our archived images; both the original photographs and the graphic updates are by DK’ creative director, Dipika Kohli.
It’s part of a series, ‘Uncertainty.’ It’s available for members of S P A C E, only.
So far, three issues have been published in our zine series on ‘Uncertainty’. They are:
- S P C | London, ‘A Walk in Regent’s Park’
- S P C | Copenhagen, ‘Nearness’
- And this week’s.
Science fiction. Says DK: ‘This series is turning into quite a jaunt into the perpendicular spaces that veer upwards against asymptotes, impossibly, and if you like the way this sentence is going, then you will like this week’s S P C.
‘Relational art and unexpected writing, combining now, in a fresh collection. Super nerdy. Which. Is. The. Fun part.’
Download your copy, and at the same time set up your weekly subscription, here.
Order S P A C E | Skåne, ‘E. K. Vera’
Issue #53, S P C | København, ‘Nearness’
Playing with science fiction
A new set of things. A new chapter. A new beginning. And this week’s issue: a fresh new S P C.
I’m a big fan of smart science fiction, the kind that takes you places in your imagination and gives you a chance to think, widely and without regard for practicalities. Like, you know, gravity, or the way we haven’t figured out yet how to travel back and forth in time.
Aside
I remember having a conversation once with a medical school student, about this. It went:
‘But we can’t time travel!’ (Him.)
I go, ‘But how do you know?’
‘…’
‘…’
‘…’
‘It’s not like you know what you don’t know, right?’
‘Well I do!’
‘Um.’
‘I’m finishing my medical school degree, I’ve spent nine years on this and I’m about to finish. I know a lot about how medicine works, now.’
‘Nine years?’
‘Yes.’
‘Nine??’
‘Yes.’
‘Dude. Have you ever heard of opportunity cost?’
*
This kind of conversation is normal for me, or well, it used to be. I was going around and talking to people, quite a lot, in order to find the fodder for much of what is to come now, in S P C. The effort to look in the field for the new and different, however, closed when Atelier S P A C E ended, and I am now working with the very select things (people, stories, ideas) and shaping the fresh new sets of chapters, in S P C. Always iterate, right? We’re going back through the archives, together, me and the team I have, and we’re fleshing out version 9.0 style works-to-come, but only for our members. More about that below.
Be a part of things to come. See what’s what, in S P C.
Order Issue #53, S P C | København, ‘Nearness’ + join S P C
This time, it’s for members only. When you go to the page to order this issue, you’ll also be able to set up your monthly subscription, too. Here’s a link.
Thanks ;)
DK 2005-2019
Before we moved to Southeast Asia, we were in the United States. Our studio began as ‘Design Kompany,’ or ‘DK.’ We started it officially in Seattle in 2004, at a time when we began to work with small business owners to design brand identity concepts.
Architects and software developers hired DK, enjoying our process-oriented approach.
Select clients
Baltic Room, Seattle 2009
Blue Gecko, Seattle 2008
Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce, Seattle 2016
CARE International Cambodia, Phnom Penh 2017
Celtic Ross Hotel, West Cork 2001
Center for Sustainable Water, Phnom Penh 2019
Development Innovations, Phnom Penh 2014-16
Eagle Office, West Cork 2001
Green Plus, Durham NC 2010
Group 3 Architects LLC, Seattle 2006
Gupta Insurance & Family Services, Los Angeles 2007
Hindsight Veterinary Care, Portland, Ore. 2010
InSTEDD iLab Southeast Asia, Phnom Penh, 2016-17
Little Green Software, Durham NC 2011
Loom, a foundation, Seattle 2010
Matchbox Mobile, Brighton 2008
Minatogawa Architects, Seattle 2006
Modern Business Training Services, Castlebar Ireland 2001
Northwest Asian Weekly, Seattle 2007
North Carolina Japan Center, Raleigh 1996
NUK Cafe, Phnom Penh 2004
Seattle Central University, Seattle 2006
Thundershirt, Durham NC 2012
United Nations Development Program, Phnom Penh 2017
You Maga, Seattle 2007
West Cork Advertiser, West Cork 2002-04
Issue #52, S P A C E | London, ‘A Walk in Regent’s Park’
This week in S P A C E, a little science fiction.
DK and friends in S P A C E are kind of on a kick, what with the latest Soundcloud. (HT VV). The below image is Issue #52’s center spread (pages 8-9).
Our zines are all 16 pages, so you can easily download, print, and fold them at home. Plus you can add your own flair. Here is a short explainer on how to do that.
This is partly due to new influences in the myriad backchannel conversations in the other blog posts, you’ll see a lot of them have ‘Protected’ on the front. That’s because we are using passwords to keep things more selective, more invite-only. Quiet is good. Small is beautiful. Access codes are shared with our S P A C E members and from there new dialogues begin.
So yeah. One of the threads in the protected-page conversations is going towards… science fiction. Because of legendary sci fi author Octavia E. Butler‘s incredible short story, ‘Speech Sounds,’ in part. [Read it here].
But other things, too.
Which is why this week, I typeset my own 2016 story. It’s called ‘A Walk in Regent’s Park.’ It was the first in a series called ‘Uncertainty.’ Was really cool to put it in the form of a zine. With graphical updates.
Checkit. Here’s a link.
Issue #51, S P A C E | Kuala Lumpur, ‘Project Epicurus’
This week, we finished the issue S P A C E | Kuala Lumpur, ‘Project Epicurus.’
Releasing it today.
It’s a pretty cool collaboration between London-based artist-author-poet Ilyas Kassam, and DK’s BOSS + Dipika Kohli.
Cover art is a painting by Kassam.
Learn more about how we found our way to co-creating an unexpected piece, which began with a chat window, an hour of complete quiet, monsoon rains, and the start of this issue’s jointly made poem, ‘Ionic Jazz.’ Get it in this issue.
Here’s a link.
http://gum.co/space-kl-projectepicurus
Thanks ;)
Order Issue #51, S P A C E | KL, ‘Project Epicurus’…