Garage magazine is the new launch from former POP magazine editor Dasha Zhukova, focusing on the worlds of art and fashion. Not altogether an original concept you might think, but the mag is already garnering much media attention for one of its launch issue split-run covers by the ever controversy-chasing Damien Hirst.
Hirst managed to convince London-based illustrator Shauna Taylor to have her most private of parts tattooed with a butterfly, and the mag cover features a peel-away butterfly sticker reminiscent of Andy Warhol's famous The Velvet Underground & Nico banana album cover. The launch issue also features covers by the Chapman brothers and Richard Prince.
Garage magazine cover 01
Garage magazine cover 02
Garage magazine cover 03
Tattoo controversy aside - and perhaps more interestingly - the magazine is designed by renowned German art director Mike Meir, who has been responsible for some beautifully designed magazines including Brand Eins, a German business magazine that makes ample use of negative space and clean lines. In recent years Meir is perhaps better known for his redesign of 032C magazine, which managed to polarise the design community with its stretched typography and apparent complete disregard for the established rules of graphic design.
032C magazine
What might be the most interesting outcome of this new launch is likely not to be the yawn-inducing antics of a certain Mr Hirst, but how Meir deals with a magazine format that has been done to death over and over again. I for one look forward to seeing if he can breathe life and interest into what the cynic in me believes is a slightly tired and pretentious proposition.
