NICE HOUSE

NEST! what a weird magazine! i bought issue 8 at the time of its release in the spring of 2000, but did not see it around much after that. i read that it lasted a total of 26 issues, and folded in 03 or 04. nest called itself “a quarterly of interiors”, but it was definitely not a stodgy, glamorously styled, or “tasteful” magazine. it was strange and irreverent and funny - the memphis of magazines, perhaps?

i recently came across issue 13 from summer 01 (no “13” on the spine, is that an elevator joke?), and issue 15 from winter 01 - 02. i snatched them up happily for a few dollars each.

issue 13 has a hole punched straight through the magazine, close to the spine, and a half circle cut through the entire side. a black ribbon is passed through the hole and semi circle, it is woven with the word and number “nest 13”. there are a few layouts on the inside of the magazine that incorporate the holes and semi circles, including one of andre leon talley “recovering” in a hospital bed decorated by mica ertegun. particularly hilarious is the credit page that lists (as in fashion magazines) and then tabulates everything used in the shoot, including “flowers from well-wishers: white orchid, est $150 (helmut lang); parrot tulips, est $200 (anna wintour)” etc etc. other contributors to the issue are karl lagerfeld (photographing his childhood bedroom and study), lois maffeo and hisham baroocha (writing about and photographing a rhode island artists’ space - lightning bolt et al), janine gordon’s mosh pit photos (which kind of make me think of something hedi slimane would do) and rei kawakubo’s white house design for the cover.