The Thousands

Creative types doing their best work when left free to their own devices is a story so long, and so often told, it seems a wonder people ignore it (I’m looking at you Hollywood). It is a story told in the pages of Epicurean magazine, a publication that helped to cement Australia’s then burgeoning food and wine culture. Les Mason (the designer, not ‘the mason’ in French), expatriate American and all-around enfant terrible was appointed as the art director of the publication and with characteristic gusto went on to use the subsequent 77 issues as a canvas for his art and forward-thinking design ideas. Besides proving how welcome it is to find good design in otherwise unexpected places (see also: George Lois at Esquire), it goes to show that publisher Alan Holdsworth had nuts larger than a Woombye pineapple. – KD