Blueprint magazine celebrates 30th birthday in style


Doyens of British design and architecture including Richard Rogers and Terence Conran attended a special party this month to celebrate the magazine they helped establish 30 years ago


 

In October 1983, Blueprint - then describing itself as 'London's magazine of design, architecture and style' - made its newsstand debut. This month, the magazine celebrated its 30th birthday (and 330th issue) in style, with a suitably glamorous party in the penthouse suite of NEO Bankside, an exclusive residential development beside London's Tate Modern and designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.

A lot has changed since that first issue rolled off the press. But many of those involved in establishing the magazine, including its first publisher Peter Murray and longest serving editor (and now director of London's Design Museum) Deyan Sudjic, were there to join in the celebration, as were designer Terence Conran and architect Richard Rogers, both of whom helped get Blueprint off the ground by providing financial backing.

The event also marked the magazine's relaunch as a bimonthly premium publication.

Speaking to DesignCurial, Murray gave his opinion on the new format: 'I think it's really interesting to see this new concept of a much bigger magazine, a sort of coffee-table magazine, and I think that is a way of responding to the issues relating to the digital revolution and the impact of the internet. I think that in the future, cheaper production magazines will disappear because people can access all that information over the web; what people will be looking for is more presence, [and] quality of product will become much more important.'

Blueprint editor Johnny Tucker said the magazine had evolved through the years to become what it is today, 'the magazine of architecture, design and art'.

'The beauty of Blueprint is that the content covers these three areas,' said Tucker, who joined the magazine in 2011. 'Although the readers may be designers or architects or artists, none of them operates in a silo. They all have interests outside their own field and that's what we cater for.'

The evening also saw the presentation of three Blueprint awards, which went to architects Richard Rogers and Norman Foster and designer Terence Conran.

Signing off, Tucker promised that Blueprint would continue to uphold its reputation for honest, unbiased reporting and erudite, often acerbic commentary: 'The beauty of Blueprint is that it has always been a commentator on the industry in a way that doesn't pull any punches: it's acerbic - it really tells is like it is. We're happy to give people accolades when they deserve them; we're equally ready to put the boot in if necessary, where a lot of people won't.'








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