As a photographer, it’s easy to fall into a loop of telling yourself you need to shoot more. For a while, I’d been meaning to take myself on more artist dates, get out on photo walks with friends, and be more disciplined about daily documentation, so when the opportunity for a week in Portugal came up, it felt like the obvious moment to pack the gear and do the work. Instead, I went the exact opposite direction.
I wanted the archiving of this trip to be about quick, instinctual moments rather than managing equipment or overthinking a frame. I left the camera behind and shot everything on my iPhone 17 Pro Max using the Leica Lux app.

The constraint was a welcome reset, and I’m still impressed by what the phone can do. Did I wish I’d packed something like a Pentax 67? Sure—but my back says otherwise. Did I miss my Leica Q2? At times. Mostly it just made me wish it were the newer Q3 with the 43mm lens. (Champagne problems…)

I’ve previously traveled with small 35mm point-and-shoots that force a slower rhythm, but stripping it back to just the phone was a clean reminder of how good it is to travel light. For this trip, no regrets.

Andi also ditched a device on the trip, and wrote about it beautifully, here.

What follows is my brief visual diary of the trip, alongside a handful of standout recommendations for where to eat, drink, and wander.

Lisbon

We stayed at… Brown’s Downtown in the Baixa neighborhood.

We ate… Turkish eggs and banana bread with espresso butter at Neighborhood, outstanding Neapolitan pizzas at Forno d’Oro (🤤), spicy piri piri dumplings at Madam Bo, all of the things at , and finished with repeat helpings at Giola Gelato in the Príncipe Real.

We visited some great stores, most notably… Homecore | Salted Books | Under the Cover | A Vida Portuguesa | Good Company Books

Sidenote: We also did this trip entirely without checked bags. Somehow. To see what was packed, purchased, and coveted, you can click here.

Setúbal

The Algarve

Θ I recently made a tiny painting of one of my favorite book covers—David Hockney’s 72 Drawings. Because I love offering prints, I flattened the physical painting into a poster, then mocked it up to look like a book cover once again. It became a pure simulacrum: a highly finished, recursive loop depicting a space where the work is yet to be made. Available in two sizes, you can get one here.

Which leads me to ask…

And now to the rapid digest bit…

Θ I just got back from a week in Portugal where I had the good fortune of hanging out with Pete Kember, AKA Sonic Boom, and hearing about his forthcoming record—the latest in his series of collaborations with fellow Portugal habitant, Panda Bear. Their teaser, Graveyard/Lucky Charm, was released yesterday for Record Store Day 2026. For a little deeper history into Pete’s work, the Quietus dropped an essential article earlier this week—The Strange World of… Spacemen 3.

Θ Milan Design Week—and Salone del Mobile—is underway, so I’m looking forward to the roundups and discoveries. Special nod to the design, staging, and attention to set dressing for the Miu Miu Literary Club. Other furniture that caught my eye of late: everything Ishinomaki Laboratory is making, Lichi Design’s side table, the Scrittoio Writing Desk by Antonio Arico, and Masi Art Furniture’s “inflatable steel” chairs.

Θ Which is a perfect segue to remind ourselves that Carlo Scarpa's Olivetti Showroom on the Piazza San Marco in Venice exists—and can be visited.

Θ And while we’re on the water, stick your neck out and dive deep into SWANCORE, over at That Broad.

Θ Staying in (sometimes) black and white, Terawat Teankaprasith’s paintings are sublime and delicious. Black coffee, please.

Θ Also tasty, the UK’s Service Works is making chef and kitchen apparel worthy of any room. I particularly like the paisley front of house jacket and canvas chef trousers.

Θ Try as I might to make jazz fit in Los Angeles, it remains a sound of London, New York, and Tokyo. So here’s Train Jazz.

Θ Not jazz, but just because, here’s this…

Many years before this Substack, I founded and edited an arts and culture publication called Afterzine. Published from my Brooklyn apartment—and stored under the table in my Vanity Fair office—it was printed in an initial run of 1,000 copies. Thanks to a lot of incredibly supportive stores—Colette in Paris, Opening Ceremony and McNally Jackson in Manhattan, KK Outlet in London, Papercup in Beirut, and Skylight in Los Angeles, to name a few—the entire run sold out in a couple of months.

Over the subsequent 18 months I put out three issues, with contributions from the likes of Thurston Moore, Peter Mendelsund, Tavi Gevinson, Emma Straub, Robert Montgomery, Zooey Deschanel, Theodora Allen, Andi Teran, and many more.

As all three issues were print-only, much of Afterzine’s content has never been published online—and much of it never in color, until now. Over the coming months, I’ll select a handful of archive features to share here as Octet subscriber bonus content, starting today with an interview from 2010. Here, my good friend Laura Havlin speaks with legendary British graphic designer Peter Saville about the theme for issue one: Negative Space.

Peter Saville Considers Negative Space

As told to Laura Havlin

Art director Peter Saville made a name for himself in the Manchester music scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s, creating some of the most recognizable record covers of all time, designing now iconic sleeves for Joy Division and New Order among others. Since 2004 Saville has served as creative director to his hometown of Manchester, England, performing a service that led curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist to define him as a “social sculptor.”

From album art to fashion and consulting collaborations, his work has been characterized by its brave use of empty, clean spaces. Talking to Laura Havlin, Saville explores the significance and the power of negative space, and postulates what it has come to represent on a broader scale.

There is an active awareness of negative space in the context of graphics. It’s such a known value or quality that it’s more of an intuitive thing with graphic designers so it is most likely to be referred to in passing in a kind of “well of course” way.

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It only took till 2026 to reimagine cassette tape packaging but my favorite print shop, COPY CORNER in Tokyo’s Shibuya, has riso-printed a series of exquisite packages for “Ordinary Audio,” a music series commissioned to interpret “sound that accompanies you in your alone time” →

“Unpredictable, poetic, and absurd”—three words I’d be happy to have in my eulogy—are the apt descriptors for LA MACHINE, a delightful device of “joyful resistance.” →

Sundance just wrapped and I’m very excited to watch THE BEST SUMMER, Tamra Davis’s documentary assembled from her recently-discovered Hi-8 tapes chronicling the inaugural Summersault festival in Australia, featuring interviews with and performances by Sonic Youth, Bikini Kill, Beastie Boys, Pavement, Foo Fighters, Beck, and more. →

Imaginative, tactile, and genuinely fun: Szilveszter Makó’s Who What Wear shoot with Elle Fanning is a refreshing departure from the sterility of modern fashion photography. It’s a welcome reminder of what happens when whimsy and craft collide. →

At the intersection of acid house and traffic: the Haçienda license plate frame →

Despite the glare of Hollywood’s awards season, a cinematic breakthrough can still go unnoticed. Writing on Kristen Stewart’s The Chronology of Water, Andi Teran posits that the year’s most arresting film isn’t on the red carpet radar—but it should be. →

Copenhagen’s MOEBE may have perfected the adjustable shelving system, offering modular, configurable options that use minimal parts and ancient techniques. And it can go around corners. →

This last one is for personal updates: my recent work has included directing and editing Los Angeles’ launch video for Super Bowl LXI in 2027, the reveal trailer for the 2026 World Cup Fan Zones operating throughout LA County this summer, and a series of portraits of Yahya Abdul-Mateen II—star of Marvel’s Wonder Man series. Drop me a line if you want to work together. →

It’s been a wild few weeks. A wealth of newness: new studio (Pasadena), new work (painting, collage, film), new clients (World Cup 2026, Super Bowl LXI), new art (see below), and a new horizon drawn, but more on that later in the year. Here’s a visual scrapbook of what I’ve seen and saved over the last fortnight. — Hamish

New shoes for a new year. My choice is the Portugal-made “Walkerville” from Manchester, UK’s Meanforme. Nod to my friend Joey for the tip on these. I’m excited to take them back to Portugal in the Spring.

French furniture designer Ferréol Babin will present his first New York solo show, “In a Landscape,” this March. He’s recently started hand-painting his own pieces and I think the results are stunning.

Designing record covers is one of my favorite commissions and I love to discover new studios—and artists—through a beautifully designed package. Enter Marseille/Sao Paulo shop, Sometimes Always (also a great JAMC track), who did some fantastic work collaborating with Rapahel Tepedino in packaging the latest record by Carminho. And the record sounds lovely, too.

I was introduced to the work of Daniel Cabrillos Jacobsen via his contribution to the “Interiors” show at San Francisco’s Berggruen Gallery, which closed earlier this month. His next show, “Wild White Dogs, They Will Take Me Away” will be at Boston’s Steven Zevitas Gallery from February 6.

Above: Untitled Home 2, 2025, oil on canvas. 80 x 62 inches.

A gentle reminder to watch (or re-watch) Wim Wenders’ humble, meditative, and inspiring film, Perfect Days.

I was happy to see my friend Jon Huck’s recent show at the Bag in Silverlake, last month. I picked up this painted wood hand sculpture, currently resting on a box of records while I work out where (and how) to hang it. You can find more of Jon’s work here and here.

I also thrifted this charming painting of Virgil Abloh’s Jordan 1 ad, but alas have no idea who painted it. It’s also awaiting a final destination, currently resting atop a miniature chair in my living room.

I (finally) finished a new painted study of one of FLW’s Taliesin 1—or “origami”—armchairs. It also had a moment where it was resting on top of some records—maybe you want to give it a new home? It’s 30 x 30 inches, acrylic on canvas.

Clockwise from top left:

Fracture: Japanese Graphic Design 1875–1975 (Set Margins), by Ian Lynam, edited by Chris Palmieri and Louise Rouse.*

Bacchanalia (Hauser & Wirth), by Flora Yukhnovich.*

Building Icons: Arnold Newman’s Magazine World (DelMonico), edited by Tal-Or Ben-Choreen and Sophie Hackett.*

La casa che vorrei avere, by Lidia Morelli, edited by Ulrico Hoepli Milano. 1931 copy.

The Octet is brought to you in collaboration with AH-HA, a select shop and gallery for artist multiples, collaborations, printed works, and an ever-changing collection of vintage ephemera, books, periodicals, and objects. Visit AH-HA.us

* As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

—Hamish

The nice people at IDEA discovered gun-toting motorcycle gang-member delinquent cats loitering in Japan →

Ideally, I’d read it cover to cover sipping from one of these nostalgic olde-milk glass coffee cups from New Zealand’s Coffee Supreme →

Smitten by Jacek Staniszewski’s clever depiction of Manhattan in his Polish-market poster for Bob Fosse’s 1979 classic, All That Jazz →

Likewise the beautiful illustrations by Michika Ishikawa on the Japanese handbill poster for Mike Mills’ superb 20th Century Women →

I recently toured Kelly Wearstler’s intriguing SIDE HUSTLE gallery project, housed in her personal pool house. I shared some images over here →

The photographer John Francis Peters (whom I first met when he photographed Andi and me for the NYT Styles back in 2015) recently joined this platform and wrote a beautiful and personal essay on who actually gets to be an artist →

And speaking of fresh Substacks, my other half, Andi, recently launched her own — go sign up for THAT BROAD →

A magnetic, modular shelving system that you can build along with your book or record collection →

Paid supporters of The Octet can continue below for eight more links… thanks to all for your support, paid or not. I appreciate you.

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One of the things I actually miss about living in New York City is the daily ritual of dressing for it. As layering weather (finally) makes its way to the West Coast, I connected with my NYC roots by calling up old friends Alex Drexler and Mickey Drexler—founder and chairman, respectively—of the New York-based label, Alex Mill, to get their take. Plus, I’ve layered (!) in some of my favorite seasonal finds.

—Hamish

Hamish: Throw me your evergreen style advice.

Alex: Tonal dressing. I think monochromatic dressing is really cool. It might not be for everyone, but I really like how it looks. I like brown clothes lately, but that’s not for everybody, either!

Mickey: Andy Spade would say to me—and I’m paraphrasing here—you can buy a cappuccino, you can buy a hamburger, and you can buy whatever … but you can’t buy style. I’m vintage now, and I wear a lot of vintage. Everything I wear, my Ascot Chang shirt, my Rolex, my jeans. They’re not new things, but they work. Old to me is the new new… vintage clothes, vintage cars, you know. Look at the vintage business—it’s the entire inspiration to many creative designers today. Just don’t make the details stand out—I like when style is discreet.

Editor’s note — Orslow’s current collection has a great workwear-inspired mid-weight monotonal ensemble—in brown cotton-linen moleskin no less—pairing a classic work jacket with fatigue pants.

Hamish: Do your surroundings influence your creative work?

Mickey: When I think about surroundings, I’m thinking mostly of the people, because, to me, like here, there’s a certain energy and creativity from people. I can’t do this job alone, and anyone in my position cannot do it alone. I could be in an ugly office or in a beautiful office—I’ve had all of them, bad location, San Francisco, whatever—but it’s all about the team, the interaction, and camaraderie. I love New York City. I grew up in the Bronx. It’s in my DNA, and I really like to work here.

Alex: New York definitely does [influence my creative work]. Just going around the city and downtown… I work in SoHo—it’s inspiring. Brooklyn, too. If I’m creatively blocked, I just get out in it and take a walk. It charges me.

Editor’s note — Layers of New York. Left: “Elaine’s” cap; Right: “Acoustic Research R&D” t-long sleeve T-shirt by AH-HA.

Hamish: Are there timeless books, movies, or records that continue to inspire you?

Alex: I really love documentaries, especially life stories. I went to law school for a while but dropped out—I realized fashion was in my blood. I’ve always held on to that genre, though… I love watching shows like Law & Order. I like the attention to detail. I’d also say books by photographers are a constant. I collect photo books—Peter Lindbergh, Herb Ritts, Irving Penn—I love fashion photography. It’s very inspiring to me, and I often go back to those books.

Mickey: I wish I read more! Music very much inspires me. Certain artists and songs make me feel better and lift my spirits. I still listen to the old music I grew up on. I don’t understand today’s music. I don’t like it. I understand, you know, young is different than old. When the Beatles came out when I was a teenager or 20 years old, that struck a chord. I love them. My favorite groups are still the Beatles, the Stones, and the Bee Gees. Barry Gibb’s music always puts me in a good mood. When I’m at SoulCycle, if I’m not listening to a true crime podcast, I’m listening to the Bee Gees. And a film? Saturday Night Fever—the dancing, the music, the emotion. I love it.

Editor’s note —Left: “10 Women by Peter Linbergh,” published by Te Neues, 1996; Center: Promotional photographs for Saturday Night Fever, 1977, from the archives of Posteritati; Right: “Passage,” by Irving Penn, published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1991.

Hamish: Do you have a current favorite item in your closet or from your current collection?

Mickey: Our monogram totes! For me, it’s art married to merchandising. Love and marriage—monogram and totes.

Alex: I second Mickey with a shout-out to our Alex Mill totes.

Editor’s note — The “Perfect Weekday” tote from Alex Mill.

Hamish: Is there a piece of art or works by a particular artist you would love to live with?

Mickey: Paintings by Edward Hopper. I also absolutely loved some of the pieces in the recent David Hockney show at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris—the most incredible color.

Alex: Something by Irving Penn—his works transcend space—or a piece by Richard Avedon.

Editor’s note —Left: “Molyneux Pocket Detail,” 1950, Irvine Penn; Right: “Office in a Small City,” 1953, Edward Hopper.

Hamish: Sartorially, who nails it every time?

Alex: Springsteen.

Mickey: My late architect, Thierry Despont. He was tremendously stylish.

Editor’s note — Left: Bruce Springsteen in 1984, photographed by Brooks Kraft; Right: Thierry Despont photographed in his New York office by Circe Hamilton.

Hamish: Are there tools, tips, or techniques that have transformed the way you work?

Mickey: I’m addicted to true crime podcasts, and I’ll tell how this connects to my job description. For me, curiosity is a given. I compare myself to a detective. First of all, I’m crazy curious. If you remember Colombo, the detective on TV, every time he left a room, in his trench coat, he would turn back and ask a killer question. A great detective is like a great merchant. [Another] prerequisite to me is investigation. Great detectives ask the right questions. They never give up.

Editor’s note — This happens to be my favorite piece from the current Alex Mill collection, the Elijah hooded—and reversible—canvas trench.

Hamish: Is there a piece of advice from your younger self you still carry with you?

Alex: Don’t overthink things. Go with your gut. When I started Alex Mill, I didn’t think too far in advance. I just wanted to get it going. There wasn’t immediately a grand plan for years in the future. Not overthinking and going for it are the way to go.

Mickey: Pay attention. I wasn’t from the manor born. I don’t know where my secret sauce comes from, but I always paid attention. I remember being 10 years old, and my father ordered a 1955 blue Buick with a red and white top, the cheaper model special. I always hearken back to that because we went to pick up the car and the car was [actually] red with a cream top. I was so upset about that choice. Who the fuck knew why, but I paid attention. I always paid attention.

Editor’s note — I’m paying attention to the C89 frames by Frederic Beausoleil.

My thanks to Alex and Mickey for their time. Explore Alex Mill at alex-mill.com

An end-of-Summer report from London, Marseille, Aix-en-Provence, Rome, and Los Angeles, featuring portraits, archives, parkas, beachside ice creams, and even some Oasis. Stay tuned for more interviews and recommendations very soon. — Hamish

But first, a question for you:

Back at it after a few weeks in Europe. Some notable bits from our time in London… the astonishing V&A East Storehouse — undoubtedly the only place in the world you can see a living collage of Vivienne Westwood dresses, Sotssass sidetables, David Bowie’s amplifier, and an Agra Colonnade all under the same roof. And Keith Moon’s drum kit. Their latest addition, the David Bowie Center, opens this month, permanently showcasing the archive of his estate and ephemera. Be sure to book ahead so you can have some private time with an object of your choosing in the Storehouse’s Study Center.

We hugely enjoyed dinner at Brawn on the Columbia Road — thank you, Autumn, for the recommendation. Still thinking about the giant scoop of chocolate ganache doused in olive oil and sea salt.

We were fortunate to catch Jenny Saville’s extraordinary “The Anatomy of Painting” at the National Portrait Gallery and a superb show at Hazlitt Holland-Hibbert of David Hockney works from his time at the Royal College of Art, “In the Mood for Love.”

And, of course, no trip to London is complete with stopping in to IDEA. We paid our respects to the Martin Parr waxwork before picking up a copy of co-proprietor Angela Hill’s photobook of the X-Girl 1994 fashion show on the streets of Manhattan’s SoHo. The book has since been reissued in a second edition.

Summer also included some time in France, with highlights being shopping for vintage art books in the Luberon — a favorite being John Doe Books in the Provençal town of Coustellet. I picked up a stunning 1950s handbound edition of Picasso’s then “recent” works and celebrated the purchase at the appropriately named Pizzeria Du Cote de Chez Moi in the nearby hilltop village of Goult. Thank you, Laure, for the 🍕 tip.

Marseille was hot as hell but wears it well. We headed straight to Ensemble — part of the Loose Joints family — and was pleased to learn their neighbors, Maison Mère, house an excellent vintage soccer kit collection. Lunch was in the Malmousque neighbohood at Cécile Food Club, followed by gelato next door at Loulou.

On that note, special shout to Loucau in Aix-en-Provence for having both outrageously good homemade ice creams and some top tier t-shirts.

I was excited to visit Le Corbusier’s Cité Radieuse but had little expectation of seeing more than the exterior. Luckily — and true to its founding ethos — it’s open to explore and roam freely, including a rooftop sculpture garden with expansive views of the city and the stunning (SCAU-updated) Stade Vélodrome.

Roman interlude: Swiss artist Rolf Sachs turned a Rome parking lot into his studio, I feel very at home here. Photos by Simon Watson for World of Interiors.

I’ve been fortunate to have had a number of portrait commissions of late which reminded me to update my portfolio… drop me a line if you need one.

Some recent portraits include multi-hyphenate entertainer Jon Batiste, F1: The Movie and Mission Impossible’s Shae Whigham, Smoke’s Jurnee Smollett, and — though embargoed until next week — Alien: Earth’s Timothy Olyphant.

Visit AH.HA.us

Do any of you use these iPhone photo grips? As a Leica user, I had been notified of (and tempted by) their extremely minimal and flexible offering (top left) to accompany their superb Leica Lux camera capture app, but have since discovered a decent alternative in the Fjorden Pro (bottom left) and even an award-winning offering from Hollywood photographer Greg Williams. Please do let me know if you’ve good or bad experiences to share!

Speaking of the Leica Lux app … it was the only app I used at the recent Rose Bowl show for Oasis’ Live25 tour. Accounting for the poznans, beer showers, free Guinness, and general joyful swagger, I’m both pretty happy with how they turned out and also wish I had one of the above photo grips to keep a bit steadier in the future.

And speaking of Oasis… throughout Liam’s last solo tour he religiously wore the great C/N parka by Japan’s Snow Peak — for I own the same one! — but for much of the North American tour has been wearing the equally rad (and aptly named) Bonehead jacket from London’s YMC. Mr Gallagher opted for the navy option but I’m definitely down for the red, below.

Lastly, Spiritualized’s second studio album, Pure Phase, is an all-time top 10 record in my list. They’re playing it in full at Brooklyn’s Kings Theatre and Los Angeles’ Orpheum and depressingly these shows haven’t sold out. This particular record, celebrating its 30th anniversary, is perhaps a deeper cut than some fairweather fans might like, but I highly recommend the show if you like outrageously beautiful droning guitars, free-jazz, doped-up space rock. Think Ornette Coleman getting high with the Velvet Underground with the Stooges manning the backline. If you need a taster, here’s their entire performance from this summer’s Primavera Sound in Barcelona.

The Octet is brought to you in collaboration with AH-HA, a select shop and gallery for artist multiples, collaborations, printed works, and an ever-changing collection of vintage ephemera, books, periodicals, and objects. Visit AH-HA.us

Portrait by Michael Tyrone Delaney.

This issue’s guest wrote and performed the album I’ve listened to perhaps the most over the past year: 2020’s Breach by the British-born, New York City-based singer-songwriter, Fenne Lily. I’m a little late to the party having only being introduced to her music last year —via her peer, Phoebe Bridgers—but Breach, and then subsequently her other records—On Hold (2018) and Big Picture (2023)—have been on near weekly rotation. I also discovered we have both accidentally eaten Lush bath products.

—Hamish

Hamish: How do your surroundings influence your creative work?

Fenne: More than is convenient. Living in NYC is obviously noisy and overstimulating so I work at night mostly, which has always suited me best - daytimes are for gathering. I used to think I needed to be totally alone and with a lot of time in order to find an idea but recently I’ve written some of my favourite songs in very little time, in other people’s apartments, waiting for them to get ready or waiting for a movie to load. I guess the common denominator is ‘indoors and comfy’, and somewhat romantic (any room with rugs and lamps).

Hamish: What tools or techniques have transformed the way you work?

Fenne: The way I write hasn’t changed dramatically since I started but I’ve become more adept at staying in a feeling long enough to get more than an initial idea, and more used to being flexible with direction—going in blind and seeing where the first words lead me rather than deciding up front what I should be working towards. One technique (if I can call it that) is I’ll write a first verse from my own perspective and then for the rest of the song, try to write as if I’m watching myself from above. So I become the character and the narrator—or something like that. It helps me climb out of myself.

Hamish: Where do you turn when you’re feeling creatively blocked?

Fenne: If I have a melody and I’m stuck on lyrical direction I use this thing I’m calling the “book method”—I’ll open a magazine or a cookbook, something far away from poetry—I usually use a ‘69 Playboy—and I’ll record myself singing a page of it. Most of the words obviously don’t work to be sung but every time I do it I find at least a few words or phrases that serve as jumping off points, things I’d never have dug out of my brain otherwise.

To reframe songwriting as a puzzle has helped me get around being stuck.

Hamish: What reading material is currently on your nightstand?

Fenne: My Misspent Youth by Meghan Daum, I’ll read anything she writes now that I’ve found her. And Nothing But a Graveyard, the debut book from a friend of mine, Daniel Theodore—reflections on loss and personal essays around being left and leaving. It’s beautiful and funny and smart—hard recommend.

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Hamish: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

Fenne: Leave as soon as you know you can’t stay.

Hamish: What is one piece of art you’d like to own and live with?

Fenne: Antony Gormley’s The Angel of the North. I’d put it on my roof.

Hamish: Do you have a favorite lyric you’re written, and why?

couldn’t love you more if I tried but I think I’ll try ‘cause I think I could

It’s kind of a circle, and it kind of doesn’t make sense—but there’s something chewy about it.

Hamish: Lastly, you get to book 5 bands/musicians (past or present) to appear on a single lineup—who do you choose?

Fenne: I would never watch a five band bill—unless they all played for 20 minutes or all together as one big band. Actually yes, these five artists, all together in one big band—Townes Van Zandt, Hall and Oates, Karen Dalton, Pops Staples, and Belle and Sebastian.

— Paid subscribers can see bonus questions and answers, below. Thanks to all who support.

Hamish: You teach songwriting — what is one tip you can share?

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This issue’s guests are the members of L.A. Witch, one of my favorite bands to emerge from the Los Angeles psych/garage-rock scene over the past decade or so. They are in the final throes of their US tour, in support of their third LP, DOGGOD, and will play dates in Europe this autumn. The band—Sade Sanchez (guitar/vox), Irita Pai (bass), and Ellie English (drums)—kindly shared some tour diary photos to accompany their answers.

—Hamish

Hamish: How do your surroundings influence your creative work?

Ellie: I think surroundings are heavily influential to creative work. What we see, feel, absorb, it impacts us.

Irita: I’ve been a visual learner since I was little, so in that aspect it’s easy to be inspired by what’s around you physically. More importantly though, I also feel greatly influenced by the people I surround myself with, especially their energy or emotion—in particular when we are going through any type of creative process. I love collaborating and bouncing around ideas, and getting inspired by others.

Hamish: Where do you turn when you’re feeling creatively blocked?

Sade: Museums, gardens, shows, and hanging out with other creatives.

Ellie: Sometimes I just listen to old playlists or old projects I was working on years ago. Back to the roots.

Irita: This tends to be quite a nightmare, but it does happen and is important to address. I find sometimes altering your consciousness, whether it be through something like weed or simple meditation, helps open your mind up to something you may have not have thought of before. And also opening yourself up to collaboration helps, because again you can play around with ideas that can kickstart something else.

Hamish: Can you share a film or piece of music that always inspires you?

Irita: Growing up going to Catholic School, church organ and chamber music has always been a fascination. I especially loved the simplicity of Bach’s compositions and “Toccata and Fugue in D minor” has always been a favorite. It’s haunting and atmospheric and perfect.

Ellie: It's kinda funny but I remember seeing the movie Empire Records when I was little and I learned about a lot of bands from that movie!

Sade: Mamma Roma, Theorem, Medea, The Gospel According to St. Matthew. Just watch any Pasolini film. For music, a good go to is Terry Riley, Mussorgsky, Stravinsky, Steve Reich, or Phillip Glass.

Hamish: What is a movie you think everyone should watch?

Irita: Amadeus, because it’s always important to never take yourself too seriously; and They Live by John Carpenter, because I think it’s important to understand the times that we’re living in.

Sade: Head On by Faith Akin and Bad Timing by Nicolas Roeg.

Ellie: I thought Dunkirk was pretty epic.

Hamish: What reading material is currently on your nightstand/tour bus?

Sade: Thurston Moore’s memoir, Sonic Life. And just picked up Art Sex Music by Cosey Fanni Tutti.

Irita: I recently acquired Goth—A History by Lol Tolhurst, co-founder of the Cure.

Ellie: Well, right now I’m in school for clinical counseling so it’s a lot of looking inward, self improvement stuff, along with communication and educational material. But that's kind of what I like to read anyway. I love the human psyche, human connection, and how people all operate differently.

Hamish: What is one piece of art you’d like to own and live with?

Irita: Anything by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner.

Ellie: Woman Ironing from Picasso’s blue period.

Sade: Ummmm, woa… A Goya like the Nude Maja, or Saturn Devouring His Son. Origin of the World by Courbet would be a fun one to hang up. Something like The Garden of Earthly Delights by Bosch would be epic.

Hamish: Tell us four people (living or dead) you'd invite to a dream dinner party—and where you'd host it.

Ellie: I’d honestly love to have my grandparents all together. I’d ask them about all the family history and what they were up to at my age. I’d also probably get chewed out for a number of things but it would be funny.

Sade: I'd invite Mussorgsky, Mary Shelley, Baudelaire, and Pasolini. Maybe we’d have a feast in Sardinia or Capri by the pool in front of the ocean?

Irita: Anthony Bourdain, Vivienne Westwood, Patricia Morrison, and David Lynch— inside the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona.

Hamish: Lastly, you get to book 5 bands/musicians (past or present) to appear on a single lineup—who do you choose?

Sade: Joy Division, These Immortal Souls, Death in June, The Fall, Big Black.

Ellie: Mortician, Mammoth Grinder, Power Trip, Undergang, and… Kim Petras. I love her.

Irita: The Velvet Underground, Rowland S. Howard, Wipers, Galaxie 500, and Spacemen 3.

— Paid subscribers can see bonus questions and photos, below. Thanks to all who support.

Hamish: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice what would it be?

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A brief update highlighting what’s been on my radar lately. — Hamish

Left: Daido Moriyama “Shadow” plate by Beams coupled with “Canteen” cutlery by Service Projects.

Stüssy x Tekla hand-drawn bedding and pajamas.

Four great stores to explore: Corners in Upstate New York (above left); Off Campus on boulevard Voltaire in Paris (above right); the beautifully-redesigned Mohawk Man at Silverlake Junction in Los Angeles (below left); and Lore (below right), a beautiful new community-centered bookstore (and more) in Los Angeles’ Leimert Park.

Rad collages by Dutch artist Ruth van Beek featuring ceramics by Bitossi.

The Virgin Suicides, photographed by the late Corinne Day, edited by Sofia Coppola—and published on her Important Flowers imprint at MACK.

Two beautiful new portraits by British photographer Charlotte Hadden — musicians Dodi (left) and (for the New York Times) Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker.

Spiritualized’s Jason Pierce recently sat in for Iggy Pop on the BBC’s Slow Sunday mixtape show and it’s a spectacular listen.

Dream team: Mike Mills directs Saoirse Ronan for the (tbd reforming) Talking Heads.

The Octet is brought to you in collaboration with AH-HA, a select shop and gallery for artist multiples, collaborations, printed works, and an ever-changing collection of vintage ephemera, books, periodicals, and objects. Visit AH-HA.us

This issue’s guest is author and journalist E.A. Hanks. Her memoir, The 10 — released last week by Simon & Schuster — charts her journey to uncover and understand her mother’s story, a startling and violent mystery, and her own place in the family tapestry.

I’ve known Liz for 16 years, having first met at the Sunset Tower Hotel, in Hollywood, in the week running up to 2009’s Vanity Fair Oscar Party. At that time, I was the magazine’s design editor and Liz, having left her role at the magazine just before I had started in 2008, was one of a number enlisted into the crack team of expert multi-skilled extras staffing the party’s war room and later front lines. (See above, there we are at the 2013 Oscar Party, complete with lanyard straps.) We immediately bonded over mutual friends — the soccer team I played on at the time was peppered with Liz’s Vassar classmates — and our shared delight that one of our fellow war room staffers was the heir to the Spot literary empire. We’d soon become neighbors in Brooklyn, but upon Liz moving back to Los Angeles, she soon offered Andi and me a house-sitting week in her Los Feliz apartment — a trip that led to us finally mustering the courage to move West to, once again, be neighbors with Liz.

We were thrilled to be able to celebrate her book release, last week, at our local Skylight Books, and I thank her for taking the time to answer these questions.

— Hamish

Photograph by Anderson Matthew.

Hamish: How do your surroundings influence your creative work?

EH: This really hinges on where I am in the project, and is all just cope for being brutally and senselessly kicked out of the Vassar Library when I graduated. When it’s early on in the writing, and everything is tender and I am easily spooked, I am a high maintenance diva who needs to be close to the books that are references, a kettle always ready to kick into action, and ideally a great view — which I don’t have in my home office so I swerve in the other direction and basically turned my desk into a library corral, a tiny nook festooned with postcards, my trusty concise OED, and notes.

Later on in the process, it doesn’t matter where I am — airplanes, random rentals, someone else’s office. By that point, I’m usually up against a deadline and don’t have the option to be picky about where I’m working — by the end of The 10, I was writing thousands of words a day and could have been in a slowly filling water tank and I don’t think I would have noticed.

The only constant is the tea. A good cup of P.G. Tips will always be in good order — though I will make do with Yorkshire Gold.

Hamish: What is a movie you think everyone should watch?

EH: Paris is Burning, Jennie Livingston’s 1990 documentary of the gay and trans ballroom culture of New York. Forget being “important,” — it couldn’t be further from homework. It’s hilarious and sad and fascinating and shows how much culture filters up through the social classes, originating from the people who have nothing but culture, art, beauty to sustain themselves.

Hamish: Where do you turn when you’re feeling creatively blocked?

EH: I experienced a lengthy and debilitating writer’s block that altered the course of my life and only recovered with the one-two punch of a whole lot of therapy and the classic The Artist’s Way, which I previously sneered at. I practice the well known “Morning Pages” - three handwritten pages every morning, but I also do the lesser known “Artist Date,” which is once a week doing something alone to fill the tank — a movie, a museum, doodling outside, it doesn’t really matter.

When I’m at the desk, everything is fair game. If I’m stuck but I think watching Amadeus might loosen something up, I’m watching Amadeus.

Walking is also a go-to.

Hamish: Can you share a film or piece of music that always inspires you?

EH: I have so many touchstones that I go back to again and again, sometimes to totally dismantle so I can see how it works, sometimes to just swallow whole, with no purpose other than enjoyment. For music there’s Duke Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood,” and Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme,” for film there’s Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, and Fosse’s Cabaret, but I go to Alexander McQueen’s Fall/Winter 2006/2007 collection just as often. I could go on forever but I’ll just blurt out Jane Campion’s The Piano, along with its score by Michael Nyman and move on or we’ll be here forever.

Hamish: What reading material is currently on your nightstand?

EH: I’m reading The Oppermanns, by Lion Feuchtwanger. Published in 1933, I believe it was the first novel to portray the Nazis rise to power as it was happening. Usually on the nightstand is a New Yorker from some weeks back, and a pocket edition of Rilke.

Hamish: What is one piece of art you’d like to own and live with?

EH: I’m tempted to say “Guernica” because my experience of trying to stand in front of it was so wretched, being shoved out the way so grown adults could take grinning selfies with it, that I left the museum crying.

There’s a room in the National Portrait Gallery in London dedicated to the Romantics, and I think I’ve probably stood in it, Room 17 on Floor 3, more than any room in any other museum. I’m always drawn to Richard Rothwell’s portrait of Mary Shelley, with her otherworldly eyes, luminous skin, and the eerie intelligence that just emanates from her. I love a big, depressing oil painting. I was going to say “The Beheading of St. John the Baptist,” by Caravaggio, but having Mary watch over me at the desk would feel like a benediction.

Hamish: Tell us about a current or future project you’re excited to be working on.

EH: For the past three years, whenever I’ve been waiting on notes from one editor or another, I have been taking notes for a play about Edith Wharton and Coco Chanel running into each other in the south of France. My life goal is that someone someday asks my father, “Why is your daughter so obsessed with World War I?” Before the war, the Ottoman Empire ruled over millions of people, and most everyone else was ruled by one of the grandchildren of Queen Victoria, either directly or through colonialism. Wharton was really the last woman of the 19th Century, still traveling with servants even after she served on the front lines of the war in her adopted home of France. Coco, who betrayed France during the second World War, was the first woman of the 20th century, making her own money, freeing women of corsets and hobble skirts, creating what we now call a Brand.

They were wealthy, powerful, women who made incredible art, were not especially beautiful and, not incidentally, both roaring Anti-Semites who said women shouldn’t have jobs or educations. I find that equally fascinating and horrifying.

I remember very clearly going to see Steve Martin’s “Picasso at the Lapin Agile” and I plan on stealing from it, hand over fist.

Hamish: Who are the people (living or dead) you'd invite to a dream dinner party — and where would you host it?

EH: At this point in time, I would like to have dinner with Masha Gessen, Hannah Arendt and Natalie Wynn of Contrapoints. I would cheat and beg Nora Ephron to host, with promises that I’d bring jokes and booze.

— Paid subscribers can read some bonus questions, below. Thanks to all who support.

Hamish: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice what would it be?

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This issue’s guest is Graydon Carter, co-founder and co-editor of Air Mail, the must-read weekly newsletter, and former editor of Vanity Fair, the New York Observer, and SPY.

I had the pleasure of working with Graydon at Vanity Fair for six years, during which his instinct, wit, decisiveness, and vision made for an invaluable and unforgettable mentorship in the world of magazines. We bonded over a mutual love of desert boots, vintage stationery, pocket squares, and the restaurant reviews of the late A.A. Gill. I’m deeply grateful for the lessons learned, the experiences shared, and the cache of hand-typed correspondence. Graydon afforded me the opportunity to photograph for Vanity Fair, to direct Christopher Hitchens, to be directed by Martin Scorsese, and to share a Nathan’s Famous hot dog with the aforementioned A. A. Gill — experiences I am exceedingly grateful for, and I thank him for taking the time to answer these questions.

Graydon’s superb new memoir, When the Going Was Good, has just been released by Penguin Press [Bookshop | Amazon].

— Hamish

Graydon Carter with Fran Lebowitz. Photograph by Jonathan Becker.

8: How do your surroundings influence your creative work?

GC: With five kids, I learned to work through any kind of noise and disruption. But I do love a tidy desk free of paper and clutter.

8: What is a movie you think everyone should watch?

GC: You Can’t Take it With You.

8: Where do you turn when you’re feeling creatively blocked?

GC: Meditation. And when that fails, alcohol!

8: Can you share a film or piece of music that always inspires you?

GC: George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”

Above left: George Gershwin by Edward Steichen, for Vanity Fair, 1927.

8: What reading material is currently on your nightstand?

GC: I just finished Barry Diller’s memoir, which is moving, funny, and just smart. I’m in the middle of Joseph O’Connor’s The Ghosts of Rome.

8: What is one piece of art you’d like to own and live with?

GC: Anything by Picasso.

Left: Polish film poster for The Mystery of Picasso, directed by Henri-Georges Clouzot, designed by Fangor (incorporating a portrait or Picasso by Clouzot). Right, top: La Pique, 1956, lithograph. Right, bottom: Diurnes, On the Rock, 1962, collotype and stencil.

8: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

GC: Don’t start smoking. And treat your family and friends with the respect they deserve.

8: Who are the people (living or dead) you'd invite to a dream dinner party — and where would you host it?

GC: Oh gosh. Edith Wharton, PG Wodehouse, Steven Spielberg, Herman Wouk, Moss Hart, Christopher Hitchens, and Fran Lebowitz. There’s a nice private room at Via Carota in the Village. I’d do it there.

Above: Christopher Hitchens, New York, 2010, photographs by Hamish Robertson.

8: Tell us about a current or future project you're excited to be working on.

GC: Nothing gives me as much joy as putting together the next week’s edition of Air Mail.

The Octet is supported by SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, a select shop for artist multiples, collaborations, printed works, and an ever-changing collection of vintage ephemera, books, periodicals, and objects. The current collection, Hand-to-Hand: Cinema Japan, showcases of rare, vintage film posters from Japan and unique items inspired by them.

Visit Special Collections

Taking a break from the questionnaire format to showcase a handful of people, items, and happenings that I’ve made note of over the past few weeks. And stay tuned for some excellent guest contributors over the coming months, too. — Hamish

The paintings of Fidencio Fifield-Perez.

Above left: The Garden, acrylic on canvas. 58 x 56 inches.
Above right: Dacament 23, acrylic on envelope, 12 x 9.5 inches.

I’m extremely excited to plan a pilgrimage, next year, to London’s Tate Britain, for The 90s, an epic retrospective of photography, art, and fashion from my favorite decade, guest curated by former editor of British Vogue, Edward Enninful.

Above: Young Pink Kate, by Juergen Teller, London 1998.

And in a form factor befitting of the 90s, Fujifilm recently debuted the GFX100RF, it’s first digital medium format rangefinder. I very much hope to be able to put one of these through its paces in the near future.

And speaking of photographs, movie site Collider recently asked me to take some portraits of actor Randall Park to accompany their recent profile. His new Shondaland show, The Residence, debuted on Netflix this week. My favorite Orslow camo jacket also made a cameo — fitting attire for when once is convinced to jump into a bush.

Next up is a scattering of photographs by architect and interior designer, Alexander Nino. Images like these utterly transport me and make me long for extended trips back to my mother continent, Europe.

Above: Guido Castelnuovo Mathematical Institute at the University of Rome, Italy, designed by Gio Ponti in 1935. Below left: Tito Chini’s Padiglione delle Feste in the Italian commune of Castrocaro Terme. Below right: Palazzo dei Conservatori in the Capitoline Museums, Rome, Italy.

Interiors segue. Three fantastic tables I’ve been coveting.

Above: The Kyoto Sidetable-stool, by @lazza.aa. The piles and piles of books, periodicals, and ephemera in our house would most certainly back me up when I say “I need this.”

The somehow-officially-licensed by Apple, adjustable and flat-packable… MacTable, produced by Scanco in Denmark, during the 1980s, specifically for the original Apple Macintosh.

And lastly, Hubba Hubba’s Block Coffee Table — one of many configurations, masterfully designed by my good friend Jake Harrison. His newsletter is excellent, too.

I recently finished this painting. More to come, soon.

Other Rooms (Beachwood Canyon), 2024–25, acrylic on canvas, 30 x 24 inches.

Two records on near constant rotation this month: Fenne Lily’s Breach, from 2020, and Outlander’s Acts of Harm, from 2024. Salute to (the best wedding photographer out there) Luke Bell, for the Outlander tip.

The Octet is supported by SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, a select shop for artist multiples, collaborations, printed works, and an ever-changing collection of vintage ephemera, books, periodicals, and objects. The current collection, Hand-to-Hand: Cinema Japan, showcases of rare, vintage film posters from Japan and unique items inspired by them.

Visit Special Collections

This issue sees eight questions answered by Hua Hsu, best known for his superb, Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir, Stay True, as well as being a staff writer at the New Yorker, and publisher of the zine, Suspended in Time.

I am delighted to also know him as a fellow devotee of two of my most favorite things: Manchester United and Spacemen 3. In fact, we met by trading our own bootleg Spacemen shirts — in my case a Spanish-language reworking of a classic, and in his, a wonderful collaboration with artist Andrew Kuo to reimagine Pete and Jason in the style of the Phantom of the Opera (above). Thanks to Hua for taking the the time to answer, and thank you all for reading and subscribing.
— Hamish

Photograph courtesy of Pioneer Works. Stay True, published by Vintage.

8: How do your surroundings influence your creative work?

HH: I had the opportunity to work at a residency last summer — no family, all basic needs met, bucolic etc. It was an amazing experience but I realized that I need to be around the world I'm writing/thinking about in order to write/think well. Some people need peace and quiet, but I think I'm not one of those people. Looking for a parking space, walking to the store, complaining about the city noise — it's all part of my process.

8: What tools or techniques have transformed the way you work?

HH: I grew up in the pre-ergonomic age, so getting a fancy office chair — Herman Miller’s Setu — alleviated an incredible amount of casual pain. Also, working exclusively on a desktop, so I can only do so much typing/work on any given day, rather than toting my work with me from room to room, couch to bed.

8: Where do you turn when you’re feeling creatively blocked?

HH: I go for a run.

8: Can you share a film or piece of music that always inspires you?

HH: …

8: What reading material is currently on your nightstand?

HH: I keep a really large and unrealistic stack of books next to my bed. Currently it's Louis Menand's The Free World, Michael Kammen's Mystic Chords of Memory, a Brian Eno biography, a book on running, Sean Patrick Griffin's Black Brothers Inc. (which has been on my nightstand for maybe a decade), an old book of classic New Yorker profiles, a book on relaxation by Thích Nhất Hạnh, and three galleys of books that aren't out yet.

8: What is one piece of art you’d like to own and live with?

HH: It would be cool to have Mark Leckey's “Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore” on a loop in my office.

8: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

HH: Keep all your old band/concert t-shirts.

8: Who are four people (living or dead) you'd invite to a dream dinner party — and where would you host it?

HH: First, I'd bring Mario's, a beloved Mexican restaurant in Berkeley, back from the ashes. My answer to this question changes a lot, but today I'd be amused to dine with Hwui Shan, Edward Payson Vining, Henriette Mertz, and Ed Park.

The Octet is supported by SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, a select shop for artist multiples, collaborations, printed works, and an ever-changing collection of vintage ephemera, books, periodicals, and objects. The current collection, Hand-to-Hand: Cinema Japan, showcases of rare, vintage film posters from Japan and unique items inspired by them.

Visit Special Collections

Thank you all for the kind feedback on the first Octet questionnaire — NASA’s David Rager — I’m looking forward to bringing you more of these from people in the Octet’s orbit.

This issue sees eight questions answered by Mary Gaudin, unquestionably one of my favorite architectural and editorial photographers working today. I first discovered Mary’s work in 2014 when I bought a copy of Down the Long Driveway You’ll See It, her exquisite documentation of midcentury homes in her native New Zealand. I’ve followed her work — and subsequent books — ever since, and am thrilled she could contribute her answers, here.
— Hamish

8: How do your surroundings influence your creative work?

MG: As an architectural photographer, I split my time between photographing buildings and then editing the images. I love this mix of being out in the world and at home.

8: What tools or techniques have transformed the way you work?

MG: When I started working with a medium-format film camera. 100%.

8: Where do you turn when you’re feeling creatively blocked?

MG: I have a few books and magazines I return to when I'm feeling uninspired. There seems to be something about going back to these familiar images that energizes me.

8: Can you share a film or piece of music that always inspires you?

MG: Everything But the Girl’s Bossa Nova album Amplified Heart.

8: What reading material is currently on your nightstand?

MG: So far mostly non-fiction, this year. Robert MacFarlene’s Mountains of the Mind and Jardins écrits, edited by the botanist Véronique Mure.

8: What is one piece of art you’d like to own and live with?

MG: I’ve recently read Laure Adler’s interviews with the artist & writer Etel Adnan ’The Beauty of Light’. Her abstract colour field paintings are so joyful.

8: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

MG: Definitely to take more risks.

8: Tell us three people you’d like to see answer these questions.

MG: Romy Boesveldt from Studio Roof, Belgian designer Marina Bautier, and a little stalkerish, Tracey Thorn from Everything But The Girl.

Photography by Mary Gaudin.

The Octet is supported by SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, a select shop for artist multiples, collaborations, printed works, and an ever-changing collection of vintage ephemera, books, periodicals, and objects. The current collection, Hand-to-Hand: Cinema Japan, showcases of rare, vintage film posters from Japan and unique items inspired by them.

Visit Special Collections

The Octet may only be six months old, but I took a brief pause to reflect on whether it’s evolving as I’d hoped and what directions I might explore in 2025. Originally conceived as a hybrid diary—part creative journal from my studio practice, part spotlight on objects and happenings that catch my eye—I’ve realized it may have leaned a little too heavily on pure consumables.

This issue marks the first in a new format I’m experimenting with: guest contributions in the form of a simple questionnaire, answered by people I admire, respect, and, in some cases, have the good fortune to call friends. There will be other formats, too, but hopefully each will continue to offer you moments of interest and inspiration. Thanks for letting me experiment.
— Hamish

So here goes. Eight questions for my good friend of over a decade, David Rager. A multihyphenate through and through, I know David as a designer, thinker, dad, husband, gardener, wine enthusiast, sparkling water stan, bass player, and intermittent skateboarding coach to my daughter. He also squeezes in being Creative Director of NASA. The space agency, not the raves or waste management dumpsters. All while currently being displaced from his Altadena [California] home.

8: How do your surroundings influence your creative work?

DR: Enormously, I've been lucky to have a variety of surroundings to work in and explore, and over the years have adapted to being able to set up a functional working space fairly quickly, as we've had to recently after being displaced by the recent urban fires in Altadena.

At my home office, which is nestled in the hillside in Altadena, it's calm and tranquil. I work in a space with a view of the back garden where nature — birds, squirrels, lizards, and plant life — are in my peripheral view. It faces south, so the sun is constantly changing the shadows cast into the space. It makes the daily deluge of meetings and quick-turn requests less stressful and also allows for my mind to drift into creative solutions. At home, I also have direct access to beautiful trails and mountain paths. If I'm stuck on a project I can walk out the door and be in the woods within minutes. I also have a great friend and neighbor, artist Jon Pylypchuk, who I enjoy hiking with and is incredibly good at accommodating my spontaneous requests for a hiking bud — one quick text saying “loop?,” and I almost always get a “yep, see you in 5” reply. After a good loop through the woods I find that most of my creative problems have worked themselves out through our conversations or by just letting my subconscious do the hard work.

We also have a studio space downtown in the [Los Angeles] Arts District which we've kept for over a decade. Our space has four offices which we share with other creatives, so it fills my “water-cooler” needs, and is a great space to go to when I need to be productive and to feel engaged with a larger creative community and get inspired.

8: What tools or techniques have transformed the way you work?

DR: Books, podcasts, and DIY.

I have a dog eared copy of Debbie Millman’s Brand Thinking that I reference when I need to articulate to non-designers. I also find Seth Godin's Akimbo podcast constantly insightful for thinking about audiences.

Mostly though, growing up in an indie/punk DIY scene with a strong ideology was the most transformative tool in my life. It was way more common to hear a friend say “why can't we do that?” than “we can't do that.” The scene had its own economy: publishing, merchandise, and music/anthems. It was open and accepting and self-reliant, and a part of that has always stayed with me. Later, working professionally in design, it's encouraged me to try to tackle a project myself or internally before looking outside, and taken the teams I've managed from a “creative services” or service-oriented position to a broader enterprise function — and broadly expanded the definition of “design.”

8: Where do you turn when you’re feeling creatively blocked?

DR: Nature and music.

There's not a lot a hike can’t cure. And there's something flexing the muscle of playing music with other people that makes me better at everything else in my life.

8: Can you share a film or piece of music that always inspires you?

“The Only Living Boy in New York” — Simon & Garfunkel. Mostly played loudly while driving."

8: What reading material is currently on your nightstand?

Actual Air by David Berman.

The Corfu Trilogy by Gerald Durrell

Orbial by Samantha Harvey

8: What’s a question you wish someone had asked you earlier in your creative life?

DR: It's hard to think about regretting something that didn't happen. I've been incredibly fortunate and never planned or thought I'd get to have the experiences I've had in my life and career so far.

8: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?

DR: “The winning lotto ticket numbers are…”

I’d probably remind myself to take a breath, especially in those pivotal moments, to zoom out and take a mental snapshot and appreciate what is happening, to be generous, and give without condition or expectation, and that friends and relationships are everything.

8: Tell us three people you’d like to see answer these questions.

DR: I’d ask my dear friend and bookseller Alex Thumerelle (Ofr.), designer and thinker Jo Rocca, and creative thinker at NASA’s JPL, David Levine.

The Octet is supported by SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, a select shop for artist multiples, collaborations, printed works, and an ever-changing collection of vintage ephemera, books, periodicals, and objects. The current collection, Hand-to-Hand: Cinema Japan, showcases of rare, vintage film posters from Japan and unique items inspired by them.

Visit specialcollections.org

Copying my last issue to draft, here, I was struck by the optimism and general air of a fresh start for this year. Cut to a fortnight later, having evacuated home from urban fires and toxic air, to feeling both heartbroken for our Altadena (and Palisades/Malibu) neighbors and an immense sense of gratitude and pride in our greater Los Angeles community. This one will be short but with much to explore and share ways to help. Let’s keep this kindness constant, it’s a long road ahead. — Hamish

Altadena Girls — Read eigth-grader Avery’s inspiring story, here.

WalkGoodLA — Solidarity through the arts.

Compton Cowboys — local horsepower.

Baby2Baby — disaster relief from day one.

Project Camp — making brighter memories in times of darkness.

Inclusive Action for the City — benefiting street vendors, landscapers, and recyclers, especially in this time of compromised air quality.

Team Rubicon — putting neighborhoods back together.

Pasadena/Altadena Coalition of Transformative Leaders — when we all come together.

The Octet: October 2024, poster edition of 88. Available at hamishrobertson.com

The Octet is supported by SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, a select shop for artist multiples, collaborations, printed works, and an ever-changing collection of vintage ephemera, books, periodicals, and objects. The current collection, Hand-to-Hand: Cinema Japan, showcases of rare, vintage film posters from Japan and unique items inspired by them.

Visit specialcollections.org

Happy 2024. I hope you all had as peaceful and restful a holiday as possible and are looking forward to the year ahead. I’m planning to kicking off a number of new projects and share them with you, here, along with the usual assortment of links and recommendations. — Hamish

Humbug, pastel on cotton paper, 25” x 18”, by the Yorkshire-based artist, Anna Roberts.

Overshare, a full-career survey of Sophie Calle’s work, wraps this month at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. I’ve loved her work for 25 years—in fact she’s somewhat instrumental in my being in the United States at all, but that’s another story—and I’ve collected a good number of her books over the years. For those who can’t make the show, the exhibit has been collected beautifully into a new book published by the Walker, and come March the show will move to the Orange County Museum of Art in Costa Mesa.

Above right: Sophie Calle, North Pole (detail), 2009. © 2024 Sophie Calle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris. Photo by Steven Probert. Courtesy of the artist and Paula Cooper Gallery, New York.

I’m currently teaching my 9-year-old Adobe InDesign and in restraining myself from stressing pixel perfection and encouraging the wild abandon of imagination, I’ve been revisiting the George Brecht-edited Fluxus newspaper, with works by Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Joseph Beuys, and others. There’s a great collected facsimile of all issues in a book published by Primary Information.

I added some more Japanese movie posters to my ephemera store, including a rare 2021 Eric Rohmer festival one-sheet and a beautiful Roman Holiday sheet from 2023.

A mid-issue pause to marvel at the beauty of the 1960 Porsche 356 B Zagato Coupé 'Sanction Lost' — one of only nine produced. Easily the most Italian-looking Porsche ever made. (Here’s one that got away.)

My sister gifted my this charming David Hockney egg cup, sent over from London. The Morgan Library was selling them stateside, but seem to have sold out, however the UK’s National Portrait Gallery still has some.

Enjoy Thomas Flight’s deep-dive into the return to Neo-expressionism in cinema.

Ending on a song. Still can’t get enough of Courtney Barnett’s duet with Paul Kelly, covering Archie Roach’s “Charcoal Lane,” during her MTV Unplugged set.

The Octet: October 2024, poster edition of 88. Available at hamishrobertson.com

The Octet is supported by SPECIAL COLLECTIONS, a select shop for artist multiples, collaborations, printed works, and an ever-changing collection of vintage ephemera, books, periodicals, and objects. The current collection, Hand-to-Hand: Cinema Japan, showcases of rare, vintage film posters from Japan and unique items inspired by them.

Visit specialcollections.org

Tired of shopping carts and special offers, here is a list of eight images and posts I’ve liked and saved over the last week or so on my Instagram. Some will serve as escapism, others as inspiration, and some just a reference of beauty. Enjoy. — Hamish

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