IN CONVERSATION WITH THE BLIZZARD

Print is dead. Long live print. The more we hear on this debate, the more quality magazines seem to crop up. From Manzine to Lost in London - there are plenty of reasons to be cheerful. So we were chuffed to hear about The Blizzard, a new football magazine that isn't afraid to publish lengthy articles on obscure games and how Dennis Bergkamp can be compared to New Labour [seriously. It's in issue zero, available here, and is well worth a read.]

We asked Jonathan Wilson, editor of The Blizzard a few questions about the mag, here's what he had to say:

Why did you opt for the 'pay what you want' model for issue zero?

We were very conscious that our audience was likely to be global, and obviously there are vast disparities in wealth between different countries. With pay what you want, people can set a value they feel comfortable with, wherever they happen to be from. And that, of course, even within countries there’s a scale of wealth. Students were always likely to be a big part of our readership; now they’re not priced out, and hopefully as and when they leave university and find jobs they will up their payments. And I guess with the economy squeezed there are a load of people out of work or whose businesses are struggling who can buy low now and hopefully up their payments as their personal circumstances hopefully improve.

It requires faith, obviously, but our writers, who are being paid as a profit share, had faith in us; now we’re placing that same faith in the public to pay responsibly. We’ve said what the RRP is, what we would be charging if we didn’t have the PWYW model; then it’s up to people to respect that and take it as a marker as to what it's realistic for them to pay. It's a gamble, of course, and if it doesn’t work we’ll be forced to change, but the early signs are pretty positive.

What has happened over the last few years in football journalism that has inspired The Blizzard to start?

The internet. On the one hand it’s squeezed papers who are now chasing the middle ground, increasingly focusing on the glamour clubs and players to try to boost sales. Football magazines, similarly, seem to have shortened the length of pieces; and I’m sure they have sound economic reasons for doing so. And on the other hand the internet raised the model of the long tail. Newspapers are big beasts with large fixed costs; by selling through the website, using social networking sites to raise awareness and selling in digital as well as printed formats, The Blizzard can operate with relatively low overheads and so we can explore more esoteric areas and the sort of more leisurely or in-depth pieces that have disappeared over the past decade or so - although we're able to run articles of greater length than has ever been done in the football press.

How is the magazine going to be different [to the likes of When Saturday Comes and The Green for instance]?

The major difference from WSC is length. We’ll have pieces stretching up to 8000 words long, which necessarily means a different style of journalism and different subject matter. As a quarterly, there’s no point us attempting anything newsy. I suppose the base ethos isn’t that different from WSC, but I think we’re very different products. I’d be surprised if readers saw us an somehow an alternative; I think we’re far more likely to be an addition. As for The Green, I haven’t seen a huge amount of it, but they seem to have placed far more emphasis on design and photography, whereas we’re all about the words. I suspect they’ll appeal to a different part of the market.

Do you think that being based in Sunderland will help you to bring a different perspective on the game?

Aside from our innate north-eastern canniness, I’m not sure. The magazine is based there, and I was born there, but I live in London now, and our contributors come from all over the world. We’re certainly not planning a series of interviews with the likes of Jim Montgomery, Gary Rowell and Gary Bennett. Not yet, anyway.

What magazines/publications have served as inspiration during the creation of The Blizzard?

Well, there was Perfect Pitch, which I suppose attempted something similar back in the late nineties, although it didn’t have the freedom the internet has given us. And there are foreign football magazines with a similar feel, such as Josimar in Norway and Hard Gras in the Netherlands, but I don’t think there was a moment in the design process when anybody got out a copy of a magazine and said ‘we want it to look like this’. It looks like it does because of a series of small decisions based on ‘what looks/feels right?’ rather than having any template in mind.

What is your favourite footballing memory?

1992 FA Cup quarter-final replay, Sunderland v Chelsea. Sunderland had edged the first half and were 1-0 up, but Chelsea, who were then a division above us, had battered us in the second. They hit the post, missed sitters and Tony Norman made save after save, and then, with four minutes left, Dennis Wise dinked in an equaliser. I was sure that was it; I was standing next to Peter, the co-founder of The Blizzard, at the time, and I said to him, ‘Please let them finish it now.’ We were knackered, and all I could see was extra-time being horrible and us taking a hiding. Then Paul Bracewell played a long diagonal towards Davie Rush, who was rubbish but was being hyped because he was a local kid and he’d got the winner at West Ham in the previous round. Steve Clarke intercepted, but, perhaps overestimating Rush, put it out for a corner.

Brian Atkinson swung it in, and Gordon Armstrong, with his big shiny forehead, got on the end of it. I was at the opposite end of the ground, and you could see the ball was looping towards the corner, that Dave Beasant wasn’t going to get there, but it seemed to take forever, the ball looping, Beasant diving... what we couldn’t appreciate was that Armstrong was about 18 yards out and that’s why it took so long. And eventually, after what seemed like minutes of anticipatory silence, the Roker End went up, and we knew it was in. And then of course it was absolute mayhem. And there was still time for John Kay, the hardest man in the world, ever, to nail Vinnie Jones. I well up even thinking about it: there’ll never be another night like that.

IN CONVERSATION WITH MARWOOD

Marwood is a brand that we have been keeping an eye on for some time now. This summer sees the launch of its first collection of ties, all beautifully handcrafted in the UK.

Today seemed a fitting day to publish an interview with Becky French [the lady behind Marwood] as she is presenting the brand at London Fashion Week's menswear day.

Where did the inspiration for Marwood come from?
Inspiration came from a friend venting his frustration at not being able to find a certain tie. It got me thinking that I see so many bad, cheap looking ties... too shiny, too puffy, too brash. After that conversation I kept coming across really lovely vintage patterns in a slimmer width with a matt finish and interesting patterns and colour combinations and started to collect them. I had wanted to work on my own project of some sort and this evolved from there.

How did you turn Marwood from an idea into a brand?
I started Marwood by creating a blog. It was a simple way to start putting something down on paper, but in a more official and considered manner. It has been an effective and disciplined way to record research and make me think about what Marwood could be if there were no boundaries. The branding had been integral to Marwood from the start and I worked closely with graphic designer Sarah Carr (who designed all of the branding) to create a clean, non fussy, strong framework for the product.

Why did you decide to make neckties?
Neckties became a vehicle to explore all the elements of design that interest me - acute attention to detail, pattern, colour and proportion. It also needs experienced craftsmanship to be made properly and so allowed me to work closely with skilled manufacturers in the UK and learn their process.

Patti Smith - Horses [1975]

If you could pick anyone to wear a necktie who would it be and why?
Patti Smith will do nicely. Or Jack Kerouac in his day would have been the perfect man for the job. As muses they have the right sensibility and attitude to design for - independent and individual to the core.

What are your plans for next season and beyond?
Next season is currently in the development stages. We are still going to be working with English lace and the silk mill that we have started with... But we are moving it forward. We also want to add complimentary products to the range but it will be gradual. Ideally it will evolve steadily so that each product can have the type of attention that the necktie is having.

How important is local manufacturing to Marwood?
Local manufacturing is really important to us. To have constant and accessible contact with your manufacturer ensures a considered, quality product. Also it feels right to use the genuine skill and experience of a historically English product rather than imitating it for a cheaper price point. I think it is about finding the best people to do the job and if that's on home turf then that will always be the first stop.

What is the perfect accompaniment for a Marwood necktie?
A sharp looking tie bar. Some of this seasons silk and wool patterns would look great with a grey chambray shirt or tattersall - anything textured. I would love to see the lace mesh bowties used as a new take on the dinner suit [black/white tie] as well.

What keeps you busy when you're not at the helm of Marwood?
Outside of Marwood I still freelance. Aside from work I am trying to make time to train for a half marathon in May - however this feels ambitious at the moment!

What have you learnt that you would have liked to have known when you set out with Marwood?
A crash course in business/sales/press would have been great. Saying that, I am not sure I would have embarked on it if I had known the extent of the jobs needed to get a product out there. It feels good to have learned so much already.

Do you think that making in the UK is viable for small businesses?
I think it is viable but in my experience it produces an expensive product... So it is for a high end product using quality cloth.

What challenges do you envisage for Marwood?
Challenges are definitely price points. Ensuring that we don't out price ourselves and stay honest to our customers. They will want to know that, if they are paying a lot of money, they are getting an individual product that will last.

Do you have plans to sell online?
We are currently offering a personal order service online and this will eventually lead to an online shop. Marwood has moved so quickly since launching in January, so we are going to watch and learn this year to time any big ventures properly.

Marwood will be stocked at bStore from April for an exclusive Spring/Summer 2011 collection for them. The Autumn/Winter 2011 range will also be available in bStore and Edifice [Japan] from the end of May/June.

If the the Marwood blog is not in your bookmarks we highly recommend it as a source of sartorial splendor: marwooduk.blogspot.com

joes[a]fiend

Marwood photography by Emilie Bailey