The Unpublishables, an independent architectural fanzine based in the UK, seeks to offer a platform for young architects - as well as designers and makers - to publish their own writing. About to launch their second edition, the zine has provided an outlet for ideas of young people who have the commitment and vision to develop their own design philosophies, polemics and research outside of full-time education or employment.
The zine was initially founded as an experiment. Editor Zoë Berman had often found herself "hearing about or stumbling across interesting writing by young designers" without an appropriate outlet for their work. "Whilst in the last few years there has been a rush to re-establish the fanzine as a means to disseminate ideas, I couldn’t find one committed specifically to young designers, or one which was wholly open to publishing a wide range of points of view. Rather there was the tendency to set a theme, belief system or an aesthetic, which the writings should satisfy."
Removing the requirement for pieces to fit into a theme ordained by a controlling editor felt risky, yet necessary. As the founder of the publication I felt nervous: what if we created something rather ugly, or too fractured to make sense? But by operating independently, free of commercial constraints and without any responsibility to external funders we could be playful and test the concept.
