Maker Quarterly

Mohawk Maker Quarterly Issue #13: Disruption

Words
Mohawk
Mohawk Maker Quarterly magazines arranged in a grid pattern

Each issue of the Mohawk Maker Quarterly relies on a single word for its creative framework. In issue thirteen, that word is “disruption.” 

Issue thirteen may have been the most challenging issue to date. That’s because the term “disruption” is so commonly used that it’s lost its meaning. Bandied about business culture as the term-du-jour, disruption has earned more than a few eye rolls and for good reason. Despite this troublesome ubiquity, disruption’s essence of exploration, discovery and revolution are successfully recaptured in issue thirteen. To do this, the team at Hybrid Design went looking for thinkers and doers who are upending the world as we know it. These iconoclasts are reframing the way we consider such basic concepts as time, ownership and success. They’re redefining images, spaces and perceptions in radical ways.

a page turning in an open Maker Quarterly
The inside of Issue 13
Issue 13 contains a one-of-a-kind print, a zine and the main book

“Let’s shed our assumptions about disruption and get back to its fundamental concept: that opportunity often hides in plain sight. Disruption happens when we pay deeper attention to what we think we know,” says Dora Drimalas, Principal of Hybrid Design. “Disruption is sudden and unexpected – that’s what makes it so powerful. And it’s ephemeral – disruptive ideas and products eventually become ordinary, so enmeshed in our culture that we can’t remember life without them.”

“We at Mohawk have never lost sight of this word’s meaning and relevance; disruption is part of our DNA. In an industry that some people consider outdated, we have a history of introducing new technologies and products before the market recognizes their potential.”
Chris Harrold
VP Creative Director, Mohawk
close-up of foil stamping on Maker Quarterly cover
Cover detail of Issue 13
Offset printed on Mohawk Options die cut and foil stamped
close-up of marbled paper in Maker Quarterly
Spine detail of Issue 13
The main book was printed on Mohawk Superfine and tape bound to the carrier
Covers of Mohawk Maker Quarterly with tear-off closure partially removed
Carrier of Issue 13
The carrier features a tear stripe to gain access to the content

For issue thirteen, the team at Hybrid chose a 9.75×13.25” format which is perfect-bound and affixed to a cover/carrier featuring a tear strip which (metaphorically) forces the reader to “disrupt” the cover to gain access to the content. Inside, a pocket holds a one-of-a-kind 9×12” art print along with a small, 5.5×8.5” zine as well as the main book which is tape bound. Each element in this issue could be a stand-alone print and paper demonstration: the cover/carrier features mirror foil and rich, black print along with structural, die cut elements that evoke packaging; the main book is all about conventional offset printing at its finest on Mohawk’s flagship Superfine Eggshell (Beautiful Collection); the zine insert uses three very different types of Mohawk paper along with simple offset printing alongside UV white ink and 4-color printing; and last but not least the 9×12” art print captures printing disruption at its 2017-best using HP Mosaic randomization software to create 20,000 one-of-a-kind, numbered art prints imaged on Superfine Eggshell i-Tone (Beautiful Collection) and printed on an HP Indigo 12000 press.

Close-up of Maker Quarterly page with printed demo and marbled paper
Article: Chopped and Screwed by Erin Osmon
How groundbreaking innovation (and creative hacks) democratized music making
Close-up of printing showing the word "time" in pink lettering
Article: Hacking Time by Caleb Kozlowski
Time is more fluid than we all realize – and we may be thinking about it all wrong

Feature articles include:

  • Future Islands by John Dugan
    Repurposing America’s dying malls by bringing urbanist thinking to non-urban environments
  • Art & Algorithm by Bryn Mooth
    Leveraging design and variable-data technology to produce one-of-a-kind art prints
  • Give it Away by Patrick Sisson
    Can democratized ideation and production become a designers best friend?
  • Course Correction by John Capone
    How Lou Preston’s family winery evolved to become Preston Farm and Winery
  • Chopped and Screwed by Erin Osmon
    How groundbreaking innovation (and creative hacks) democratized music making
  • Hacking Time by Caleb Kozlowski
    Time is more fluid than we all realize – and we may be thinking about it all wrong
  • Perfect Imperfection by Jesse Kuhn
    Reframing the way we think about food with California-based Imperfect Produce
  • The Movement: Look Again
    Every issue we celebrate makers of all types, in this issue we chose makers whose work challenges our expectations
  • Fat Tire Flyer by Charlie Kelly
    The introduction of the mountain bike and how it changed the bicycle industry
open page of Maker Quarterly with blue backdrop and black and white print
three mini books from inside the Maker Quarterly
Fat Tire Flyer Zine by Charlie Kelly
Printed on Strathmore, Mohawk Via and Mohawk BriteHue
Detail of the Fat Tire Fly Zine
The introduction of the mountain bike and how it changed the bicycle industry

Mohawk Maker Quarterly issue thirteen features the following makers:

  • Emerging Objects, 3D Printing Studio, San Francisco, CA
  • Zero Likes, Visuals created by AI, @zero_likes, Sam Hains, Melbourne, Australia
  • J Henry Fair, Photographer, NYC and Berlin
  • Gordon Matta Clark, Photographer, New York, NY
  • Flavor Paper & UM Project, New York, NY
  • KUF studios, Multidisciplinary Design Studio, London, UK
  • Kouhei Nakama, Visual Art Director, Tokyo, Japan
  • Melissa McCracken, Artist, Kansas City, KS
Maker Quarterly inside spread showing a print demonstration made with an algorithm on digital press
Article: Art & Algorithm by Bryn Mooth
Leveraging design and variable-data technology to produce one-of-a-kind art prints
an "art and algorithm" design
Art & Algorithm
Print #7,054 of 20,000
another example of an "art and algorithm" design
Art & Algorithm
Print #7,100 of 20,000

Production Notes

PN-print-process
Print Process
materials_techniques
Materials + Techniques
bindary
Bindery
digital_oem
Digital OEM
PN-printer
Printer
Sandy Alexander
PN-designer
Designer
Hybrid Design

Materials Used

Suggested Articles

Front cover of Maker Quarterly 10 viewed from above
Maker Quarterly

Mohawk Maker Quarterly #10: Beauty

Beauty isn’t a superficial aesthetic trait; it inspires, moves and engages us. It triggers emotion. It attracts. It gives pleasure. 

Cover and notebook from Maker Quarterly 11
Maker Quarterly

Mohawk Maker Quarterly #11: Process

The process of making something — method, materials, ingredients, artistry, experience — is the squiggly line between idea and object. In issue 11 of the Mohawk Maker Quarterly, we celebrate makers who take conscious paths to get from Point A to Point B.

A stack of all three Maker Quarterly colorways
Maker Quarterly

Mohawk Maker Quarterly #12: Partnership

We tend to romanticize the mythology of the solo creative genius. However, humanity’s greatest achievements have happened when people—two or two thousand—worked together.