In this issue :

A Magazine Curated By is pleased to announce that the 23rd issue has been curated by Francesco Risso, the creative director of the Italian fashion house Marni. 

Drawing upon an intimate and diverse community of artists, musicians, writers, photographers, family and friends, A Magazine Curated By Francesco Risso is an analogue exploration of the print object through a myriad of visual and philosophical stimuli that question contemporary notions of living. 

Divided into 20 distinct contributions across 240 pages, the issue is conceived as a compilation of scrapbooks – each a conceptual window into the minds and hearts of a protagonist or protagonists that offers a glimpse into their creative process or journey. Opening with a painted portrait, each chapter is unique, featuring a plethora of lo-fi techniques from handwritten and mechanically typed pages to paper collages, illustration, painting, doodling and hand-retouched photography. 

The playful cover mimics a red vintage scrapbook, combining multiple finishing techniques including a trompe l’œil embossed ‘tape’ spine, embossed ‘A’ and spot varnished portrait of Francesco Risso himself. 

The issue is a scrapbook that documents the boundless imagination of Risso, one that possesses a playful yet profound view of materiality, nature and the human spirit. A sense of liberation is perceivable throughout A#23, from Sergio Cattivelli’s photographic series of the designer himself role-playing a myriad of characters, Michele Rizzo’s sculpture of endless lifetimes carved from clay and even memories of a debaucherous weekend with motorbikers captured on film by Francesca Sorrenti. Twenty-one original portraits consecrate each contributor, bound together in a single publication that showcases the colourful whimsy of Francesco Risso and the graphic, colourful world of Marni. 

Each issue contains a single artist print by Dorothy Sing Zhang, featuring Francesco Risso’s Weimaraner George stealing a Marni sock and mushroom omelette from his kitchen table in Milan.

Selected contributors include: Andrea Artemisio, Babak Radboy, Betsy Podlach, Camilla Nickerson, Charlie Fox, Charlie Gosling, Chiara Bardelli Nonino, Cosmo & Merlin Sheldrake, Dan Colen, Dev Hynes, Dorothy Sing Zhang, Eva Beresin, Flaminia Veronesi, Francesca Sorrenti, Jamie Hawkesworth, Jonah Hill, Jordan Hemingway, Julien d’Ys, Lawrence Steele, Lexie Smith, Lola Montes, Luis Alberto Rodriguez, Marc Armitano Domingo, Michele Rizzo, Rachel Chandler, Raúl de Nieves, Sara Moonves, Shoplifter, Sophie von Hellermann, Terraforma and Wilfrid Wood.