little thing magazine

 

back in the spring i was contacted by little thing magazine from china.  they sent me this:

Little Thing Magazine is a quarterly fashion magazine targeting young creative females and circulates in Asia. We combine fashion, culture and creative designs together in our magazine, also promoting recycling, redesign, handcraft artists and working with illustrators and photographers worldwide. Our slogan is “we collect beautiful things”. The magazine itself is considered to be the most beloved magazine by creative and artistic girls in China.

here’s part of the original “interview”  since you may not be able to read chinese.

Besides the hand painting, can you share with us that what else did you include in your travel journals please?

I include all sorts of thoughts and feelings I experience when traveling.  I like to include vintage photos and postcards I find at flea markets in the cities I visit.   Sometimes I even collect things I find on trains like notes people have dropped.  Once in Paris I found some dessert recipes that had been dropped on the metro floor.  I’ll pick up anything interesting I see on sidewalks to glue into my travel journal.  I love finding graffiti posters to rip off walls and glue in my books, or stickers.  When I return home I add some photos I have taken on the trip.

Your travel journals are fairly rich in content, usually how long will it take you to finish one travel journal?

Once I arrive home the majority of the travel journal is completed.  I just add photos, maybe another sketch, a bit more writing and that’s it.

Do you like to travel alone better or with some companions? 

I travel with my sister half the time and the other half I’m usually alone.  I prefer going alone if my sister is not available.  I like to go my own way and do as I please.  I don’t like to rush.  Sometimes I go to parks and read books, or sit in cafes and sketch or write.  I come back to the apartment and take naps.  I hate to plan things and like my trips to unfold spontaneously.  I dislike shopping and museums or rushing around to all the tourist sites.  I enjoy finding out of the way places to explore.  I feel the most free when I am alone and not encumbered by another traveler’s wants & needs.

 What does the travel journals mean to you? How do the travel journals affect your life?

My travel journals are a very big part of each trip.  No trip would feel complete without a big juicy travel journal by my side.  I can relive my travels over and over by merely opening the pages of my journals.

What’s your favorite little thing?

My favorite little thing is my magical collection of earth & water that I carry home from each place I visit.  I seal my bottles in wax.  I like knowing that I carry bits of the world on my bookshelves.

when i returned home from sweden 2 of the magazines were in my mailbox.  here are some shots from the pages.

keep in mind the magazine reads from right to left versus our left to right.

the magazine is in chinese without translation.  each page is made interesting with type, labels, and a collaged worn look.  so visually appealing!

the art work was so stimulating i found i wasn’t bothered at all about having no idea what any of the words meant.

as i was unfamiliar with the magazine, i admit i was looking forward to seeing a bit more asian-created content.  although what i did see was enormously satisfying!

would be fun to see what our chinese artist sisters are up to on the other side of the world.  i’m not sure what the state of handmade, collage, sketchbookery, visual journaling, etc., is in china.  maybe there isn’t as much as i’d like to believe and that explains the lack of contributions by chinese artists.

it seemed there were artists in this issue from north america, europe, one from japan, and possibly australia, but the majority were north american.

they have a lot of sweet spreads like the one above & below that seem to be part of the magazine’s overall design, and not the work of a featured artist.

clearly a staff of talented people on the team pays attention to details.

it’s an honor to be featured.  you know how crazy i am about all things foreign.

and the other artists in this issue are fantastic!  some old favorites and some brand-new-to-me artists.   i’ve only shown a small fraction of the work featured.  this is a quite dense magazine!

for comparison’s sake, i would describe it as a chinese language version of uppercase magazine, but very unique in its own right.  you can order it HERE . (thanks marylinn kelly for this link you posted to facebook!)  i think it comes out quarterly.

i did a google image search and HERE are more of their pages from past issues.