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In the past 12 years we had the pleasure to get to know a lot of the amazing people behind the magazines and publications we try to gather in our store for you, we have seen countless covers on our shelves and browsed myriads of pages. In News & Novelties we want to share some of our latest finds and conversations. Find inspiration in our reviews, enjoy some interviews with amazing people and get to know about our latest activities in Berlin and around the globe.

Youth – Alon Shastel

Youth – Alon Shastel

The teenage years are a tumultuous and thrilling time of self-discovery, and many artists have endeavored to capture the fleeting moments of youthful exuberance and awkward grace. Alon Shastel is one such artist, whose photographs feature carefree adolescents lounging on fruit-laden trees or splashing in misty seas. With a keen eye for light and shadow, Shastel imbues his images with a sensual quality that stirs the senses, while his ability to capture his subjects’ intense gaze conveys a raw and intimate emotion that resonates deeply.⁠ ⁠ Buy
Rare Gift of the Tropics – General Idea

Rare Gift of the Tropics – General Idea

Founded in 1969, the art group General Idea is best known for its conceptual and media-based art and its activist initiatives related to the AIDS crisis. But do you also know their drawings?⁠ ⁠ The wonderful booklet we are holding in our hands is entitled A Rare Gift of the Tropics. The drawings in it were all done by Jorge Zontal during the group's brainstorming meetings, however, given General Idea's mandate for co-authorship (and as the "GI" signature affixed by Zontal shortly before his death also proves), as well as the circumstances under which they were created, they are considered a collaborative work.⁠ ⁠ If you would like to go beyond these wonderful drawings to get a more comprehensive overview of this revered and subversive Canadian queer collective, simply swipe to find the large retrospective in book form.⁠ ⁠ And now take a close look at the drawing on the cover. Have you already figured out what is depicted on it?⁠ ⁠ Buy
Uneasy Listening

Uneasy Listening

What makes a good listener? Is it a skill that can be easily learned, or is it rather a personality trait or just talent? And why do some people seem to be so much better at it than others? ⁠ ⁠ Uneasy Listening, written by a psychoanalyst and a violin maker, is a dialogue between two very different kinds of professional listeners: one works with speech, the other with musical instruments. Anouchka Grose and Robert Brewer Young, complete strangers at first, embark on an engaging, entertaining and intricate meditation on communication that makes wide-ranging references to psychoanalytic theory, philosophy, contemporary politics and culture. As they discuss the differences, similarities and resonances between their practices, they encounter some of the illuminating difficulties of dialogue itself.⁠ ⁠ Buy
Real Review #14

Real Review #14

We just love Real Review! The essays are always fantastic, they deal with topics that represent our times, but in a completely unexpected way. They take unlikely subjects and connect them to current theories. Like the girlish giggle - and the concept it represents. The girlish giggle is not what is being written and talked about everywhere. But the concept of girl- or womanhood is, and in that way Real Review taps into the super-current feminist discussion. And in an example from the current issue, Real Review explores the connection between our hunger for technological updates and our need to constantly update our (online) selves to stay current. So this magazine is a great, and honestly entertaining, way to broaden your perspective.⁠ ⁠ But apart from that, we just love the design and the folded pocket format (it actually fits in the back pocket of your jeans) that allows you to take it anywhere. Because, guess what, this magazine doesn't want to be sitting untouched on your coffee table. It wants to be read. Until all the pages are crumpled.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Buy
Journal du The #4

Journal du The #4

“Slowing down” has become a kind of buzzword in social media. And as it is with buzzwords and actually everything social media related, they get annoying very quickly. And although you might build up a resistance to everything that is imposed on you (or is it just us with our scratchy Berlin mentality?), there is actually nothing wrong with the concept of slowing down. And that's where the Journal du Thé comes in. This wonderful magazine about contemporary tea culture does just that. It conveys a sense of calm. Without patronising. Without even telling you to be. And honestly, we have no idea how they do it. Maybe it's the transference of the traditional and ceremonial nature of tea into the contemporary. Maybe it's the simple layout. Maybe it's the textured paper that mutes all the colours. Maybe it's the concept of serenity we associate with tea.⁠ ⁠ Whether it's all the reasons listed above or none of them that affect our feelings, this magazine is a wonderful example of what print can do to us.⁠ ⁠ The Chinese philosopher Laozi expressed that the teapot is useful for what cannot be seen - the empty space within it. Likewise, this publication sets out to explore space – in this case, the space surrounding a cup of tea. With a curious and playful eye, Journal du Thé investigates the palette of cultures and feelings contained within tea practices and their power to overcome borders.⁠ ⁠ So make yourself comfortable in a cosy place with this magazine (and a cup of tea, if you like) and be just like a teapot...⁠ ⁠ ⁠ We mold clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that makes the vessel useful.⁠ We fashion wood for a house, but it is the emptiness inside that makes it livable.⁠ We work with the substantial, but the emptiness is what we use.⁠ - Laozi - Tao Te Ching, chapter 11⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Buy
Chutney #3

Chutney #3

Hark1karan is a photographer, capturing photos of⁠ Punjabi and Sikh communities and various aspects of London culture. He believes if you want something to exist, then go out and create it yourself. An important part of his work is collaborating with people from his communities. Which makes his photography more immersive and personal.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ "I would like to think that the stories are accessible to everyone, because they are human stories. Outside of the community, it’s also nice for us to see people that relate, for whatever reason. With my work, I’ve captured two boxes — one wears a turban and keeps his beard, while the other doesn’t, but they’re both Sikh and Punjabi, fighting [to keep their culture] in the UK and saying to someone young, 'You can do it too. You can still follow your culture and your faith and be in Britain. It’s okay.' It’s just about showing new possibilities and that things are fluid."⁠ ⁠ 'Pinds, Portraits & Punjab' is a conversation with London-based photographer in which he discusses the history of classic car culture, documenting the farmers protest in India, and his approach to photographing people from his communities.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ But 'Pinds, Portraits & Punjab' is just one of the many incredibly interesting and visually striking stories inside Chutney Magazine. Chutney narrates everyday stories of identity and culture told by marginalised or underrepresented voices in their own way and with subtle visual charm. Divided into the familiar three sections that reflect the process of chutney making – chopping, mixing and preserving – the issue features 11 personal stories about Iranian funk, yaffa oranges, campofilone, grape molasses, archives, leftovers, vintage cars, silhouettes, swamps, sculptures and sherihan.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Buy
Capsule #2

Capsule #2

Devoted to radical design and the iconic Italian design magazines of the past, Capsule is yet again another fantastic magazine coming from Italy. The hybrid between a magazine and a book is quite frankly genre-bending and on its way to becoming an icon in its own right.⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Buy
Forgotten Seas – Tanja Engelberts

Forgotten Seas – Tanja Engelberts

The world offshore is a world unknown. At least for most of us. ⁠ ⁠ Fascinated by the flashing lights in the distance, like the call of sirens on the horizon, Tanja Engelberts became interested in the offshore oil and gas industry. Forgotten Seas is the accumulation of six years of research, a journey across the North Sea. The work is a photographic exploration of Engelberts’ archive, consisting of documentary photographs taken during her trips on maintenance vessels and on the platforms, as well as historical images she collected over the years. From optimism and the feeling that man had conquered nature in the fifties, to a more critical view on the fossil fuel industry and its future: the destruction of the first platforms.⁠ ⁠ Each chapter has its own visual language and design, highlighting the raw and complex structures on the sea while evoking a sense of awe and guilt. The photographs are combined with written anecdotes about life on an oil rig. Stories of people Engelberts met on the sea and her own travel experiences.⁠ ⁠ Forgotten Seas is a testament of seventy years of gas and oil drilling in the North Sea, an industrial landscape that is slowly disappearing. ⁠ ⁠ ⁠ Buy
Mystery Street – Vasantha Yogananthan

Mystery Street – Vasantha Yogananthan

Children playing, beaming and daydreaming. Mystery Street invites us into a lingering summer in New Orleans, seen, experienced and dreamed of by its youth. French photographer Vasantha Yogananthan gazes at them and with their eyes.⁠ ⁠ Set under the burning Louisiana sun, this work is both a conversation with reality and an escape into multiple narrative possibilities.⁠ ⁠ Buy
Innen Project: The First Years 2005-2023

Innen Project: The First Years 2005-2023

A little glimpse into our storage, the place where a book lover's dreams come from. Or in this case a zines lover, because what you see here is nothing less than a book collecting all Innen’s fanzines and artists’ booklets from 2005 till 2023, plus unpublished materials from the innen archives.⁠ ⁠ We interviewed Aaron Fabian, the mastermind behind Innen last year. You can find the interview via the link in bio.⁠ ⁠ And of course you can also find this gem in our shop and online shop, you don't have to find the map that leads you to the secret door to our storage first. ⁠ Buy
Formafantasma – Oltre Terra

Formafantasma – Oltre Terra

The legendary Italian design duo Formafantasma has returned with a fascinating exploration of a delightful and most unexpected subject: wool. A three-dimensional and interdisciplinary look at the history and production of this ubiquitous material. Did we say material? This book avoids the simplistic definition of wool as just a material and instead explores interactions and interdependencies, unravelling a complex system of cooperative symbiosis between animals, humans, and the environment.⁠ ⁠ Oltre Terra is jam-packed with essays, interviews, and images that will make you feel like you have stepped into a living (and beautifully produced) diorama. This book is its own museum, as well as a testament to Formafantasma's beautifully holistic approach to their craft.⁠ ⁠ Buy
Brownbook #69 – The Tokyo Issue

Brownbook #69 – The Tokyo Issue

An Urban Guide to the Middle East
Brownbook is back! The magazine that has made it its mission to show the world the Middle East, its culture and its cultural protagonists, without the stereotypes and prejudices so often used in the Western media.⁠ ⁠ For their sixty-ninth issue, they travel with us to Tokyo in search of Middle Eastern connections around the globe. In this latest issue, we meet the artists, architects and designers who have made the Japanese capital their new home. Plus, we celebrate Ramadan in Tokyo and explore the Zaha Hadid archive.⁠ Buy