Date of Premiere Issue : July 2001
Editor-in-Chief : Naoki Sato
Publisher : Masanori Omae
Concept & Editing : Asyl Design Inc.
Production & Coordination : Rico Komanoya
Dimensions : 11 6/8" x 14"
Frequency : Quarterly
Country of Origin : Japan
Website : www.altdesigners.com
Statement
What is this? Zealously adhering to a regimented examination of it would I think only result in further confusion, and perhaps a few tears...After coming up with the idea for "NEUT", I set about head-hunting people I was keen to work with on it. On the whole, this is the response I had from them - "Hmmmmm, that's great, but what exactly is it that you are aiming for?"
With "NEUT" I wanted to try to create a medium where designers could directly present their ideas to the general public - to provide a space that would allow designers to by-pass all of the customary pandering and conforming to the design industry, and its curbing framework. I also wanted to dismantle this fragmentd way we have come to categorize design; interior, graphic, product, etc. I think that we should think of design as a whole. These genre divisions have really cultivated the perception of design as an accessory to a product. I wanted to create a media wholly and entirely dedicated to design itself - not the design of a commercial, or of packaging for music, or of a magazine, etc. I am interested in the idea of people buying into, and acknowledging design as a product in itself. On the whole, design publications are either mere showcases of past design, or they are desperate attempts to scramble after and document the latest "hot shit" design. I wanted to try and show people untainted, newborn design, utterly independent of attachment to any product.
I say all of this, and tragically sense a little that I might be stating the bleeding obvious, like I'm not pointing out anything particularly profound. I still feel unsure of exactly what it is that I am trying to get at with "NEUT". I am sceptical that I will ever be able to articulate precisely what it is that I'm hankering after...But, in the making of the first volume, I did come to one resolution: I would be in there making, contending with the possibility of fucking up, than be stagnant.
In the late 60's, musician/poet Yoshoi Hayakawa said - 'Cool things have such an uncoolness about them.' This notion of endeavouring to be "cool" being utterly "uncool", seemed to have quite a hefty impression on the ensuing couple of decades. In the 90's, we appeared to shift back to a nurturing, and honing of a blatant, and affected "cool". Essentially, I think they are one in the same.... There is something I find quite naive and alluring about this striving to be "cool" business... But, I do think that at the end of the day, it can lead to a really stale and standardized state. For me, this defining of "cool" gives way to a kind of shifty nonchalance and a complacency - that erroneous smugness fills me with a nameless dread. If I were to define what "cool" was to me, it would be no holds barred risk taking - I want to see more handstands being executed in beige foyers, more jellies being left to set in the shade, and more swashbuckler moves being busted. The pinnacle of "uncool" is fruitless stagnancy. I am more than willing to get in there and make an idiot of myself for the sake of a potential find, or to rouse something new, or even just rouse something.
The first volume has been set loose on you, making way in my upstairs for the second coming of "NEUT." I extend to you, the punter, a warm invitation to accompany me, and follow "NEUT" from here on in.
We are also very interested in development in the field of sundry media dabbling...So, for example, aside from this quarterly papyrus publication, we have a website, and will be hosting some exhibitions.
Please await "NEUT" in its varying forms with bated breath. (translated by Hana Shimada & Sniff)
Naoki Sato/"NEUT." editor in chief