there are still some things in print you can’t do in…

“Wallpaper* strives to keep its edge with guest eds and die-cuts

Print can still do lots of things you can’t do online, and one of the more striking and tactile techniques in the print designer’s armoury is die-cutting, writes John L. Walters. The October issue of Wallpaper*, out next Thursday (11 September), goes to town with some sculptural custom cuts – in a special sixteen-page section, and on one of the three alternative front covers. But they don’t appear to be the kind of gratuitous ‘paper porn’ you see in elaborate paper promotions, or in limited-edition laser-cut book art like Olafur Eliasson’s (admittedly rather beautiful) Your House. This is a mass-market mag with a print run of 200k, destined for your local newsagent.

We’ve not managed to get our hands on a copy yet, but these snaps show something of the way this labyrinth of die-cuts springs from the content provided by Zaha Hadid, one of three guest editors. (The other two are artist Louise Bourgeois and Comme des Garçons founder Rei Kawakubo.) Hadid’s reputation rested on two-dimensional work on paper (see ‘The architect as illustrator’ by Catherine Slessor, Eye no. 35 vol. 12) long before she built anything substantial, so it is no surprise to see her work in the medium of a magazine. (She contributed a limited edition cover to the May 2006 Wallpaper*, too.) The gatefold cover and cut pages represent Hadid’s Lotus, to be launched at the Venice Biennale next Friday (12 September).” via eye blog