Catalogue studio is back with a 136-page zine in support of Foodbank for NYC

Catalogue studio never ceases to impress us. It’s been a year since we last spoke, and during this time the studio’s founders Oliver Shaw and Tom Pratt have kept themselves more than busy. They’ve released a “bunch” of new titles, from artists and friends including Adam tickle, Braindead and Mellow Forever, Casper Kent, Chris Glickman and Fahim Kassam, plus many others that launched at the LA Art Book Fair, as well as NY Art Book Fair and Offprint London. What’s more is that the duo held an exhibition earlier this year at Saturdays NYC, called Catalogue and Friends. Coinciding with the launch of the expansion of the store’s flagship, it consisted of over 50 artists, merchandise and a commissioned typeface by Violet Office.

And it doesn’t stop quite there, either. In addition to this already impressive roster of projects they have also worked on a selection of identities and websites for both small and larger brands, have carried on their partnership with Brick Magazine, have taken over the design direction for Vice Magazine, and commenced work on CR Fashion Book and CR Men. “It was a busy and fun year with a lot of momentum,” Oliver tells It’s Nice That, “and we were able to work with a ton of amazing people.”

Most recently, however, is the launch of Quarantine Zine. Pretty much what you’d expect from its title, the project is a publication made during over the course of life in quarantine. Not simply a lockdown creative outlet, the duo decided to proceed with the project for a couple of reasons: “We knew we had a platform to be able to provide much needed help and support for Foodbank for NYC,” says Tom. “So we put our heads together and made something we wanted.” Like many, Catalogue has experienced the effects of the current pandemic, what with a loss of jobs and book fairs being cancelled. In response, the founders decided to fill this “creative void”, rather than let it sit untouched. “We were able to put together one of the best publications we’ve ever made, showcase work and provide meals for the food bank during the Covid-19 pandemic,” continues Tom. “It’s something we’re incredibly proud of.”

You can usually find Oliver and Tom curating the pages of the publications that they work for. But this time around, it was an unexpected mix of curatorial and open submission-based work. Asking contributors and accepting submissions became new and fun way of working, and something that they hadn’t expected to come across for the making-of. “It certainly shows a diverse mixture in the pages of the book,” explains Tom. It was certainly a more curatorial project for them both, whereby they needed to to devise a plan that would limit and constrict the guidelines, be cost effective but, of course, “still look good”. As such they decided to keep the inner pages black and white, while the cover shines in a bold yellow and black palette. “This makes the inside cost effective and the cover is punchy and paired back,” adds Oliver. “Using these guidelines, we were able to keep the insides consistent, the book itself beautiful and it made it so we could give as much money as possible to Food Bank for NYC.”

Inside you can expect an array of contributions from both friends and colleagues, as well as features based off an open submission. In an explicitly black and white aesthetic, the zine’s 139 pages is filled with a diverse range of disciplines – anything from photography, design, art and writing, all that sits in between. With everything that they called upon wanting to get involved, the duo count themselves “lucky” to have been surrounded by such an “incredible” community that contributed to the zine. So much so that Oliver tells us that each page is “as good as the last” – “we love everything in there, but more-so that the book is an entire piece of art and there is nothing to single out.” Instead of picking out specific parts, they both heed to the fact that it’s the project in its entirety that is the most impressive, and with its 133-strong collaborator list and meals provided to those in need, we couldn’t agree more.