Hasta La Ideas

A new print publication takes on nature with fresh eyes

As the name implies, Wilder Quarterly examines the natural world with unconventional eyes. The newly launched print magazine is the brainchild of Celestine Maddy, a finicky 33-year-old who took up gardening four years ago when she moved into a ground-floor apartment in Brooklyn that came with an overgrown backyard. When the advertising strategist turned to the handful of publications focused on horticulture, she found them all to be too in-depth for a novice or too boring to hold anyone’s interest. Wilder Quarterly is the upshot of these frustrations—the first issue presents a 164-page spread art directed by Wieden + Kennedy’s Monica Nelson.

While there is plenty of advice on growing, the quarterly is more concerned with the culture surrounding gardening—filmmaker Jonathan Caouette reveals his secret urban oasis, mycologist Paul Stamets discusses plant intelligence in the modern world, fermentation buffs stress pickling in autumn and seed bombing is taken back to its roots in 1970s NYC. Wilder editor Kate Sennert sheds light on urban farming with an investigative article on the socio-economic implications of community gardens in New Orleans instead of the typical story on farm-to-table freshness.

Comparing her first successful batch of strawberries to the rush of nailing an ollie, Maddy’s fresh perspective on gardening gives hope to anyone lacking a green thumb. “I still kill stuff, part of the joy of gardening is to try and try again.” Like skateboarding, when gardening you’ve got to keep going no matter how many times you may fall.

While Wilder is definitively a “young person’s growing and gardening magazine,” Maddy has made sure to include something for all experience levels, from novice to expert. With snippets of poetry, offbeat photos and mouthwatering recipes, the print-only publication is an enticing read for anyone who appreciates all that nature has to offer.

A sneak peek of the inaugural issue can be viewed online, where you can also purchase a copy of Wilder Quarterly for around $19. Buying a subscription ($60) helps support the Fresh Air Fund, a not-for-profit that provides free summer camp to children from disadvantaged communities. The first 100 CH readers to subscribe with the code WQ1011CH15 will receive a 15% discount.

For the last few months, since his release from a three month detainment by Chinese authorities, we’ve kept believing that Ai Weiwei is finally going to keep to the demands imposed by his former captors by removing himself entirely from social media and from talking to the “regular” media. How foolish we’ve been. At last we left Weiwei back at the end of September, and following a few months of occasional bursts of chatter, sometimes even saying directly negative things about his native China, we quoted him as saying “my situation isn’t very good” and that he is absolutely not allowed to use the internet. Yet less than half a month later, here we are again. The NY Times reports that the artist recently collaborated with W magazine, serving as the artist on a location shoot from afar, using a webcam. Though he’s kept quiet about the work, the images he help put together feature models somewhat recreating the photos of the Tompkins Square riots in the 1980s Weiwei himself had taken while he was living in New York, one of which is set to be used for the cover for the November issue. Seeing as the feature will concentrate on detainment and was shot on Rikers Island, the connection and statement to the artist’s own life seem fairly obvious. If that wasn’t enough to further wrangle Chinese authorities’ tempers, this week Weiwei was also crowned #1 in Art Review‘s annual “The Power 100” ranking. Writing that his work itself was not only remarkably successful between 2010 and 2011, like with his Sunflower Seeds piece at the Tate Modern, but that his imprisonment for his outspoken opinions makes him nearly a work of art himself. They write that his “power and influence derive from the fact that his work and his words have become catalysts for international political debates that affect every nation on the planet.” In response to this top ranking, the Chinese government has come out against his selection, telling the Wall Street Journal that “China has a lot of famous artists who are strong enough to qualify for selection by this magazine” and that the government feels that he was picked for political reasons, which “violates the magazine’s objective,” which is something Art Review has immediately owned up to, given that they had said as much in their initial write-up about why they chose him.

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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.

Michela O'Connor Abrams, president of Dwell, poses with James Russell of Bloomberg Media.

Dwell has landed in New York City, and to announce its newly expanded East Coast office, the magazine staff held a coming out party Tuesday night. A constant stream of dazzling architects, designers, retailers and media floated into the private Greenwich Village townhouse where the party was held to congratulate the newest executives publisher Brenda Saget Darling and executive editor Amanda Dameron.

The modern architecture glossy had been based in San Francisco, with editors flying back and forth from both coasts for the past 12 years. Although it has always had a strong presence in Manhattan, Dwell has now moved into its new offices in Midtown. According to Dwell President Michela O’Connor Abrams, a New York move has always been in the stars for the designer glossy. The plan was shelved, however, with the company being no exception to the economic downturn of the past four years. But now, Abrams declared, “We’re here, and we’re ready.”

Dwell founder and owner Lara Deam flashes a smile.

Owner and founder Lara Deam (who looked stunning in her hard-to-miss Stella McCartney blouse and Marc Jacobs skirt) shared her excitement for this change with the same Dwell DNA, stating, “It was time to develop deep roots in this city and begin to grow real relationships.” The staff got a great start at the soiree, as they were in great company all throughout the night.

Guests including designer Thom Filicia, Don Weinreich, of architecture firm Ennead, the Rich Brilliant Willing trio, and Robert McGarry of GCAM toured the 8-story townhouse renovated by Eric Kohler.

While munching on hors d’oeurves and sipping on Ketel One vodka, champagne and wine, visitors gave their two cents about the magazine’s expansion. While McGarry called it a “good move,” Weinreich expressed “curiosity” about the publication’s goals.The guys at Rich, Brilliant, Willing were already excited for Dwell‘s upcoming events, as well as the glossy’s change in flavor.

More glamorous events are something New Yorkers can definitely look forward to, according to Dwell‘s newest digital accounts manager Ralston O’Neil. Congrats Dwell and welcome to the Big Apple!

More event pictures after the jump: continued…

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