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Interview ; Refill - Luca Ionescu (EN)

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Refill Magazine
http://www.refillmag.com/
http://www.refillspace.com/
http://www.keepleftstudio.com/

From: Sydney, Australia
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Interview ; Refill - Luca Ionescu
[READ IN JAPANESE]

For design and graphic junky like us, "Refill" gives us alot. Every issue with the world's finest artist. It's definitely a mag that understands what we need.

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Q: Who is behind REFILL Magazine?

Luca Ionescu : Me, Michelle Hendriks and Matty Burton. There is also all the team of collaborators and artists who help make each issue possible.

Q: And how did it start and what was the idea behind it? What made you do this?

LI : It started officially in 2003. But I have had the idea to produce Refill for a long time maybe since 2000. I was always thinking about it and not having the time to produce it. I also brought Futura 2000 to Australia in 2002. He was a very big inpiration for me and I researched grafitti culture alot more as it spark a big interest for me. Then I teamed up with Matty and we decided its time to do it. We were getting bored with a lot of publications locally not really tapping in to what design and the art movement overseas was doing. So we strated showcasing the works in a style which we wanted to see, that being large features for each artist and running most works full page. It also gave us an opportunity to collaborate with some of our favourite artists overseas.
We also wanted to offer a publication which came out regularly as a magazine but the content was like a book with a much lower price.
When we first released refill, all books were 100-200 dollars for something good. I think here has been a change in that now days publishers realize that designers will not so easily spendlarge amounts of money for just one or 2 spreads of good design. It has to be consistent throughout.

Q:Always various and good selection of artists, How do you choose the artists?

LI :We always choose artists who's works excites us. I am always surfing the internet as designer or looking at books for inspiration or seeing what others are creating. So its usually through this process that we discover the artists for Refill. It has also happened
through contributions and recommendations from artists we have featured in past issues. Overall its a learning journey for us with each issue and hopefully we are taking the readers along with us and maybe educating them about artists and designers that they did not know about before, or find out more about.


Q:4th issue came out. What did change during the time?

LI :We working on Keep Left Design Studio www.keepleftstudio.com and also, growing distribution for Refill. New things in issue 4 also include stickers posters and extras, we wanted to make it bigger and offer our readers more content.

Q:Any future issue you could talk about? or any idea's of a package ?

LI :Next issue is Ben Drury of Mowax fame and Shin Skathing of BAPE doing collaboration together. I think it will be exciting! Also extra stickers and nice packaging.

Q:By the way, why "Refill"?

LI :I was thinking about the magazine name for a long time, and one day it just came to me while i was replacing ink on my printer. It says "refill cartridge". It was very literal but i liked it. And the more i was thinking about it i realized it worked on many levels, refill content, ideas, inspiration, colors all being refilled.

Q:How do you feel about the design or art culture now? Globally and also within your communitiy.

LI :I think its good. I like the fact that its growing, I see in Australia design is getting better, on the street young designers are being more active and educating themselves more about function of design not just aesthetic. So there are better ideas being produced.
I think globally clients are also becoming more aware of what good design is and employing the right individuals or teams to execute the work.

Q:What's your favorite magazine?

LI :IDEA Japan is one of my favourite, i like to collect older magazines mainly including Graphica, Print and Graphis.

Q:Also your favorite graffiti writer?

LI :I have many favourites ,but I do like Mode 2 characters best.

Q:Any message to the Japanese readers?

LI :Muri Shinai De!
( Meaning "take it easy" in Japanese)

Peace

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Refill Space : http://www.refillspace.com/
There gallery "refillspace".Visit the website to see more images.

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This is a shot I took a year ago while I visited their office.