What might be found within the four walls of an Acne Studios home? A new edition of Acne Paper – the Swedish fashion brand’s long-standing print magazine – provides an answer of sorts. Across ten chapters – which represent nine rooms and a garden – the 18th issue ‘builds’ a fantasy home within its pages, complete with a priceless collection of furniture, objects and artworks that traverse place and time (from a contemporary table by Rick Owens to cutlery by Salvador Dalí and wall hangings by El Anatsui).
‘I always found certain auction catalogues to be an interesting read,’ says Thomas Persson, the magazine’s founding editor-in-chief, who was reinstated in the role in 2021 when Acne Paper was relaunched after a seven-year break. ’Especially those that are made about someone’s private collection, maybe someone who had a very cultured life but now their furniture, objects and artworks have been put on auction for sale, due to their demise or because they want to sell things off.’
Acne Paper Issue 18: The House of Acne Paper
Part of this fascination, Persson says, is down to the auction catalogue’s juxtaposition of text and images; in the magazine itself, the various rooms come with captions about the objects, as well as ten ‘informal‘ interviews with figures from the worlds of art, design, architecture, performance, literature and interiors. ‘I thought this could be a good starting point for an issue of Acne Paper: to let our imagination run free by putting together a fantasy collection of real objects and have an insightful caption to each object,’ he continues. ‘It sat the premises onto which we could use the magazine to “build” a house.’
To create this house on the magazine’s pages, Persson looked to the Argentinian artist Pablo Bronstein who created the distinct cover – a doll’s house-esque art deco villa with a decorative ‘temple’ adorned by two Pierrot figures – as well as artworks to introduce each of the issue’s ten chapters. These chapters, or rooms, were assigned a different international photographer who was commissioned to capture the room in their own distinct style, ‘taking their cue from art and design, architecture, materials, texture and colour, shape and form’, according to Persson. ’The faces in these extraordinary photographs are the denizens of our house.’
‘Like the ballroom scene of the houses of New York and the stage performances of the opera houses of the world, there is a great sense of theatre under one roof,’ he continues.
The photographers include Jordan Hemingway (the entrance), Nikolai von Bismarck (the main bedroom), Sharna Osborne (the kitchen), Theo Liu (the living room) and fashion designer Erdem Moralioglu (the bathroom), among others; interviewees span interior designer Nicky Haslam, performance artist MJ Harper, scent artist Sissel Tolaas, architect Frida Escobedo and more. Persson says that contributors were chosen for their ’artistic expression... and whose interpretation of each room would be very different from each other.’
‘Acne Paper has always been an extension of the culture and mindset of the brand as a whole,’ Persson says. ’Although Acne Studios is a fashion brand, fashion is really not the only interest within the company; its founder and creative director Jonny Johansson has a great interest and knowledge about furniture, art and design. Perhaps the best example is the Acne Studios HQ in Stockholm in which a whole vision of extraordinary and unusual ideas about interiors come to play.’
As for the continuing relevance of such print ephemera, Persson is steadfast that publications such as Acne Paper have a unique appeal that cannot be achieved on a ’laptop or iPhone screen’. ‘For every issue we put much effort into the printing, binding and material specifications, something which makes the magazine an object in itself,’ he says. ‘Acne Paper is something to hold, to have in your home, studio or workplace. I have a special affection for beautifully made books and magazine, much in the same way as I love a beautifully designed chair or a lamp.’
The issue’s release on 8 June 2023 will be accompanied by a series of talks at Ladbroke Hall, London, a new multidisciplinary art space of which Acne Studios has recently become a benefactor. Taking place on 10 June, the talks include conversations between curator Lewis Dalton Gilbert and MJ Harper (3-4pm), and A Vibe Called Tech founder Charlene Prempeh and designer and artist Mac Collins (1-2pm).
Acne Paper launches 8 June 2023 and is available to order online.
Ladbroke Hall is found at 79 Barlby Rd, London W10 6AZ.
