Design and travel magazines in print, we know, have been facing monumental challenges with the introduction of the digital publishing industry, and with readers seeking free contents. Yet, the printed design magazine has been in the process of reinventing itself, and its publishers are constantly in search for the new mold which will bring it to its lost glory. With an immense experience as an editorial and creative director in print media for decades, specializing in design, architecture, and fashion, it looks like Dung Ngo, has found that successful formula with his new magazine AUGUST. Named after his publishing house, and comes to stand on the line between a coffee table book and magazine, every issue of AUGUST is devoted to a single location, one that is rich with art, design, and architecture. Ngo says that every issue is going to present “old stuff that you hadn’t known existed before, and which after reading, changed your world entirely.” In the first issue, devoted to Milan, I did learn a lot. About the superb art collection of Count Giuseppe Panza and his love for American Minimalism and Abstract Expressionism; about the unbelievable story of the Nemazee family which commissioned Italian starchitect Gio Ponti with a villa in Teheran, as it was told by Vida Nemazee herself to Ponto’s grandson Salvatore Licitra (above and below); about the personal story Barbara Radice, known more as the companion of Ettore Sottsass and as a founding member of Memphis, than for her own achievements; the surprising story of the Giovanni Sacchi Workshop, a model maker which has worked on some of the most iconic furniture of the 20th century; about Milan’s art installations, new foundations, and it architectural fabric. AUGUST doesn’t provide an encyclopedic portrait of the Italian city, but rather capture the richness which is rarely experienced by tourists. Reading through this beautiful issue, you find that you are gradually becoming more and more eager to travel to Milan and to discover its magic allure as portrayed in AUGUST. And then you place it at the library and wait to revisit before your next travel to Italy. Just like a coffee table book. All images, courtesy of AUGUST.
The Nemazee Billa, designed by Gio Ponti
Fronzoni’s Minimalist Conversion of the private apartments in Palazzo Balbi Senarega in Genoa
Poster for the Exhibition ‘Una Storia Americana’ at the Italian Cultural Institute of New York, 2016.