Draft magazine

Draft Magazine, was launched in April 2005 and was set up to publish high quality unseen work within the areas of Photography, Art, Illustration, Graphic design and writing. The main aim of the magazine is to inspire their audience by delivering unpublished work produced by the most important practitioners working today.

Paul Smith Jeans and Draft Magazine collaborated to create a limited edition t-shirt and exclusive artwork for the Jeans shops in London, Nottingham, Japan alongside the jeans concessions in all UK Selfridges stores, April 2006.

An exhibition of Simon Holmes prints also ran from April 7th in the Paul Smith Jeans shop, Langley Court, Borough Market and Byard Lane, Nottingham, with the originals showcased in No 9 Albemarle Street.

Info about the Artist
Simon Holmes born London 1973. He left Goldsmiths College in 2001 after completing an MA in Fine Art. Among his tutors were Martin Maloney and David Thorpe. On leaving college he started work as a postman. Throughout his time at the Post Office Simon has continued to make his own work and maintain a studio. In 2005 Draft magazine approached him with a view to publishing his drawings in the launch issue.

"Paul Smith became aware of my work through Draft and asked me to produce some drawings for a set of limited edition t-shirts. I was offered the chance to exhibit my work in his stores both in London and Japan. I figured it was a great opportunity and it was really encouraging to receive endorsement and support from someone like him.

My work is about the situations I'm in, memories of things that have been, how I view people, relationships, self portraits, trying to portray emotions, a way of dealing with life, a way of trying to understand life, dualities. They're autobiographical, they're small, they're intimate, they're where I'm at right now, the drawings are reflecting happy times, sad times, confusing times. They're trying to provide some sort of hope, some sort of understanding, trying to communicate to others that 'they're not alone', trying to scream that I'm here, I exist, trying to give a voice to some of the things I feel inside. In a wider sense they're done to inform the viewer that not everything is right, that things are wrong and that's ok, that's life, it's a cliché, but it's true."

Draft Magazine
Draft magazine was set up to publish high quality unseen work within the areas of Photography, Art, Illustration, Graphic Design and Writing. It was launched in April 2005 by Paul Cohen and John Spinks.

"We wanted to publish a constantly original magazine in which everything featured was genuinely an exclusive, one that worked outside the prevailing systems of PR and syndication and relied on an editorial vision and direction"

"It has to be like this or else it's a pointless exercise," says Cohen. "The world really doesn't need another magazine. If we can follow the model we've set up, then for us it's valid, hopefully we'll earn an audience and the right to exist."

"Publishing never before seen work of this quality is enough of a theme in itself. I'm not interested in the swimsuit issue', or the London issue'. I'm interested in seeing the work people are compelled to produce cause they have no choice. We want to inspire our audience by publishing previously unpublished work produced by the most important practitioners working today, both established and fledgling. It's a strength of the magazine that these different disciplines are seen together. It's great that someone might pick up Draft because they like a drawing by Simon Holmes and then become aware of a photographer of the calibre of Stephen Shore.

"The only criteria for inclusion in Draft is that all work is of a certain quality. If things go according to plan Draft will become a recognised platform for personal work and an accepted record of contemporary concerns."

For more information about Draft magazine please go to:
www.draftmagazine.co.uk