About
Another design magazine? Yes and no.
The aim of Fulcrum is to be a different kind of design magazine. A magazine that talks about practice as well as projects and that values process as much as product. A magazine that engenders community by responding to the design community’s needs and so is pivotal to the profession. In short, a fulcrum.
What also makes Fulcrum different is its great genes. We are the progeny of Metropolitan Home, a magazine that has been a pioneer in modern design and decorating. The spirit and outlook it has long brought to residential design we now hope to carry into the realm of contract.
The concept and format of Fulcrum was shaped in part by listening to our potential readers. Last December we held a round table discussion at the SoHo offices of the multidisciplinary design firm 2×4 about the current state of design magazines. Our participants included the interior designers Steven Sclaroff of the eponymous firm and Celerie Kemble of Kemble Interiors; the industrial designer Stephen Burks of Readymade Projects; the architects Ilya Azaroff of the Design Collective Studio, Florian Idenburg of Moka Omaha and Elisa Orlanski Ours, the vice president of predevelopment at Corcoran Sunshine Marketing; and the design journalists Cathy Lang Ho and Jen Renzi. The group bristled with opinions: some dreamily grand and unfettered by the realities of publishing, some paradoxical, all intriguing.
Our participants admired magazines with a strong editorial view, but they also liked the pluralism of design blogs. Most attested to being creatures of the Web, who enjoyed its immediacy of information and the unforeseen voyages of discovery afforded by links and googlings. Yet they and the group’s self-acknowledged Luddites were also fans of magazines with big, beautiful images. These served not only as personal inspiration but also as communication tools. “I look at design magazines for pretty pictures and ideas and as a language that I share with my clients,” Celerie Kemble told us. In the age of the Internet, all agreed magazines should feel like luxury experiences, even if they still serve a serious professional purpose. In fact, reading a magazine turned out to be a luxury experience for most, as they usually only had the chance to savor one on those rare quiet occasions when they were traveling.
While it was evident from the start that Fulcrum would require a lively Web presence, it was also clear that Fulcrum,as a new magazine in a newly digital world, would need to incorporate online approaches within its print format. “I’d like to see a dialogue with the audience built into the structure of the magazine,” declared Stephen Burks. “That way you are acknowledging a very intelligent professional reader base and saying that this is a collaboration, an open conversation.”
And so it is. We took Stephen Burks at his word. As you have seen on the cover, we made him Fulcrum’s first “post editor.” You will find his comments on projects interspersed throughout the issue. They culminate in End Note, where he speaks about his globetrotting career and his latest projects.
Just as many new websites debut in beta, this first issue of Fulcrum is something of a work in progress. Then again, it is a different kind of magazine. This is our opening gambit to you, and we hope to evolve as you join in the conversation. Please visit our website and tell us what you think of the magazine and its various sections. Is there something else you want to see? Or more in-depth coverage of a subject you crave? We want to know. Pull up a chair at this ongoing round table on the latest trends in design, architecture, and practice.
Fulcrum’s first post editor is the product designer Stephen Burks, who established his New York Citybased studio Readymade Projects in 2003. He has designed furnishings for such firms as Artecnica, B&B Italia, Boffi and Missoni. His passion for sustainable design and handcraft is evident in his new furniture for Cappellini and Modus (see End Note).
