Hasta La Ideas

Our Quarterly Co subscribers know we love to work with artists and are very inspired by our travels. CHQ05, just hitting mailboxes, celebrates Huichol, a traditional Mexican art and craft using small colorful beads to decorate clothing, instruments, animal figures, skulls, and other items in traditional motifs including rain,…

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Since the last installment of our Quarterly Co subscription service a lot has happened here at Cool Hunting—most importantly, our first CH Edition trip to South Africa and Zambia. CH co-founder Evan Orensten drew on the safari experience for our fourth Quarterly shipment, which reaches subscribers this week. Inside…

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A look at Design Indaba Magazine’s latest food-centric issue

Billing itself as the “carrier pigeon” of South Africa’s Design Indaba Conference and Expo, the organization’s eponymous magazine explores the same optimistic philosophy that creativity can change the world for the better, but in print. The quarterly magazine covers the latest in design from fashion to architecture to product design, and now, they take on food. Hitting newsstands 16 November, the latest issue is guest-edited by Dutch “eating designer” Marije Vogelzang, inspired by the key to our sustenance and survival.

The issue’s theme starts with the simple question Vogelzang posed to editor Nadine Botha every day for several weeks, “What did you eat yesterday?” From there, Vogelzang showcases her intriguing and absolutely unconventional use of design when it comes to food and eating. Describing her work as a bridge between the aesthetics of food and the chefs that create it, Vogelzang aims to design the entire experience from physical to psychological. Her unique approach to design has gained international notice, resulting in work with a list of notable clients that includes Hermès, Nike and Philips.

The issue also talks to chefs René Redzepi, Ferran Adrià and Homaru Canto for the “Declaración de Lima,” discusses problems with the current world food system and how creatives may approach the issues and celebrates food-industry players from Jamie Oliver to the countless food designers who remain behind the scenes.

To learn more about Vogelzang you’ll have to snag a copy of the issue from 16 November 2011, or head over to Design Indaba Magazine online to read more.

Subscription service marries the novelty of receiving mail with the power of online communities

by Miranda Ward

Founded by Zach Frechette, Cofounder and Editor of Good magazine, Quarterly Co. is a new subscription service delivering a batch of gifts handpicked by a cast of creative contributors. Like the four-year-old “object based publication” The Thing Quarterly, the upstart means to delight in an era of constant communication but physical detachment.

“Quarterly wants to recapture the romance and impact of a well-crafted package,” explains Frechette in a blog post, but its goal is also to “tie it into existing online communities in an organic way.” Quarterly subscribers will receive a new “issue” every three months from the contributor to which they subscribed. Contents might include anything from notebooks to cold remedies—the point is for each object to have a story, a reason or some other way of enhancing the relationship between contributor and subscriber.

Current contributors include Mike Monteiro, Cofounder of Mule Design, who will send items that “contain an uplifting story about someone else’s pain” and Swissmiss Studio Founder Tina Roth Eisenberg chose items that she herself would display in her minimalist workspace. Geoff Manaugh, the brains behind BldgBlog, looked to help recipients explore “the built—and unbuilt—environment,” while The Atlantic’s Senior Editor Alexis Madrigal wants to help subscribers understand technology. Bobby Solomon, Editor of The Fox is Black, will share things that inspire him—bringing his site in to the real world.

Quarterly is in public beta and adding new contributors regularly. All subscriptions on the site are currently sold out, but new contributors and site features are announced toward the end of each week, “at which time Quarterly will be open for business for a period of roughly 48 hours.”

Subscriptions start at $25 per quarter and are now open to international subscribers for an additional shipping charge of $10-15. To find out when subscriptions are open and get other news, follow Quarterly on Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr.