Krakista
May 28, 2005, 02:05 AM
It is co-founded by a Filipino, Stephen Gan
Meet Visionaire, the ultimate un-magazine. Visionaire is not glossy. It does not contain ads. Rarely does it have articles or use text at all. Sometimes, there are no pages; the magazine’s latest issue, entitled “Scent,” consisted solely of a white leather case packed with forty-two fragrance- filled vials bearing names such as Electricity, Drunk and Noise.
Those seeing the magazine for the first time will react with wonder and ask, “What is it?” More or less a quarterly publication (sometimes it comes out only three times a year), Visionaire has been deftly blurring the boundaries between art, books and periodicals since its inception in 1991. A different format and theme are conceived for each issue, and worldfamous artists, photographers and fashion designers are commissioned to create the magazine’s original works.
However visionary Visionaire’s founders Stephen Gan, James Kaliardos and Cecilia Dean—friends since adolescence—were, they couldn’t have predicted the success of their venture thirteen years ago. They invented the magazine with only $7,000. These days, however, the trio’s brainchild has become a phenomenon in a Sotheby’s salesroom, where just one issue purportedly fetches thousands.
For the mainstream consumer, this magazine is as ultra-elusive as it is exclusive. Each batch of Visionaire is a limited-edition run of 1,000 to 6,000 copies. It’s also the most expensive magazine in the business. A one-year subscription to Visionaire costs $675. At that rate, one could get a copy of The New Yorker delivered home every week for the next twelve years. For subscribers in Europe, Canada and South America, that price jumps to $800 per year, while those in Asia, Australia and New Zealand shell out $900 for three to four issues (plus an additional $25 to $50 in shippingand- handling charges).
Some might view Visionaire as so revolutionary that calling it a magazine is troublesome. To the faint-hearted, I offer: Why not think of it as a magazine liberated from the limitations of publishing? Designer Karl Lagerfeld put it best when he referred to Visionaire as the one out there “influenced by nobody, influencing them all.”
The NY Review of Magazines (http://www.thenyrm.com/000667.html)
Meet Visionaire, the ultimate un-magazine. Visionaire is not glossy. It does not contain ads. Rarely does it have articles or use text at all. Sometimes, there are no pages; the magazine’s latest issue, entitled “Scent,” consisted solely of a white leather case packed with forty-two fragrance- filled vials bearing names such as Electricity, Drunk and Noise.
Those seeing the magazine for the first time will react with wonder and ask, “What is it?” More or less a quarterly publication (sometimes it comes out only three times a year), Visionaire has been deftly blurring the boundaries between art, books and periodicals since its inception in 1991. A different format and theme are conceived for each issue, and worldfamous artists, photographers and fashion designers are commissioned to create the magazine’s original works.
However visionary Visionaire’s founders Stephen Gan, James Kaliardos and Cecilia Dean—friends since adolescence—were, they couldn’t have predicted the success of their venture thirteen years ago. They invented the magazine with only $7,000. These days, however, the trio’s brainchild has become a phenomenon in a Sotheby’s salesroom, where just one issue purportedly fetches thousands.
For the mainstream consumer, this magazine is as ultra-elusive as it is exclusive. Each batch of Visionaire is a limited-edition run of 1,000 to 6,000 copies. It’s also the most expensive magazine in the business. A one-year subscription to Visionaire costs $675. At that rate, one could get a copy of The New Yorker delivered home every week for the next twelve years. For subscribers in Europe, Canada and South America, that price jumps to $800 per year, while those in Asia, Australia and New Zealand shell out $900 for three to four issues (plus an additional $25 to $50 in shippingand- handling charges).
Some might view Visionaire as so revolutionary that calling it a magazine is troublesome. To the faint-hearted, I offer: Why not think of it as a magazine liberated from the limitations of publishing? Designer Karl Lagerfeld put it best when he referred to Visionaire as the one out there “influenced by nobody, influencing them all.”
The NY Review of Magazines (http://www.thenyrm.com/000667.html)