by JC Gonzo
Recently, UK band T3ETH‘s Veronica So and Simon Whybray created L_A_N, an ad-free, large-scale, print magazine for the fashionable futurist and lover of technology. The magazine is a gorgeous “door into another world”–stated by award-winning graphic novelist Warren Ellis. L_A_N features cutting edge technology, fashion, design, and ideas from people like AIDS 3-D (multimedia art-duo Daniel Keller & Nik Kosmas), Thierry Mugler, and Hussein Chalayan. Dystopian and utopian futures were discussed in issue one, titled Paradise Lesage and themed after Alain-Rene Lesage’s play La Tontine. Issue two, themed after Plutarch, awaits us with topics like a bionic contact lens that once implanted in the eye will enable one to view computer graphic displays.
Covers for Issue I (left) & issue II (right)
What prompted you to launch L_A_N and what is a Fashionable Futurist?
I graduated from Central Saint Martins in London with L_A_N being my final year project at school. I loved it so much I quit my dayjob in fashion forecasting to officially launch the magazine. Learning on the fly has been really exciting, and put me in situations Ive learned a lot from- the headaches of financing, production and self-promotion.
Your the front-woman of a very tech-savvy band, why is it important for L_A_N to be a large-format print magazine rather than solely digital?
I love print because it has a sense of finality and reward at the end. I love the idea that digital work, images and internet culture can be properly documented on a page. I’m kind of very old fashioned in that way, where I value documentation and research in the physical sense but love abstract, fleeting ideas and art that don’t seem to outlast our attention span online.
L_A_N is literally Local Area Network- a computer network that connects computers and devices in one physical place, allowing users to rapidly transfer data to each other. My vision for L_A_N is for it to become a community, with a rapid exchange of ideas between creatives, technophiles and specialists. The magazine will simply be reportage and a visual journal of what is happening, exciting, niche and inspiring.
My boyfriend (designer) Simon Whybray works with me on L_A_N. He runs the website and is generally good at using the internet to our advantage. I also get him do all my awkward phone calling when shit is going down. I work with artists Andre Ujhazy and Arran Ridley on L_A_N, they tell me about cool stuff they’ve seen and generally create stuff I want to publish.
L_A_N is entirely independent and free of advertising–rare to see. Why is this important for the magazine?
I hate to ask this, but if L_A_N does not reach its fundraising goal, will you continue the magazine? Will it still exist, just in shorter quantity and distribution?
What plans do you have for L_A_N in the future?
We are launching L_A_N 2 during London Fashion Week, going to throw a huge party somewhere that has cool lighting and where we can introduce new people to the magazine. I will probably spend the rest of the year trying to sell all these magazines, so please buy one from our online store (http://lanmagazine.bigcartel.com) or get one at one of our future stockists (to be announced).
Photos by Holly Lucas
Great article!
Check out jotta’s coverage of L_A_N Zine here: http://www.jotta.com/jotta/published/home/article/v2-published/1383/l_a_n-zine