What was VIZ magazine?

Throughout history there have been many publications that experienced their "5 minutes of fame" and then disappeared among the crevices of tall bookshelves in old libraries, only to be found (often by chance) by the occasional print collector or magazine lover. These titles, though short-lived, were often ground-breaking for their time, ushering in new ways of formatting pages, presenting images, editing photos and featured innovative typography designs. They often represented a specific creative group or alternative art movement and served to promote the work of the artists and writers who created the publication in the first place. A few known examples could be Andy Warhol's Interview Magazine, Ver Sacrum from the early 1900s, Fleur Cowles' Flair Magazine, the Czech-language EVA publication, or even the German edition of early Vogue. But has anybody heard of VIZ?

I found out about the publication through a friend on instagram who was conducting research in a private collection. She posted a couple of photos online and it immediately caught my eye. I was lucky to find a listing of a complete run of the magazine on the internet auction site, Catawiki, otherwise it would not be possible for me to share the privately held images.

VIZ had a 15-issue run, from 1978 to 1981. It appeared in print following the downfall of DELUXE -- a publication that lasted for a mere two issues and established a style that inspired the likes of i-D. DELUXE was edited by Caroline Baker of NOVA, a British magazine known for its provocative subject matter, which ran for a decade from 1965. It is incredibly rare and difficult to find. VIZ blossomed within this environment of the punk-rock scene of the late 1970s establishing itself as a radical, confident publication.

DELUXE Magazine, issue 2 of 2, artwork by Allen Jones, 1978, sold on Catawiki.

Established by Ferry Zayadi, VIZ covered a plethora of topics, from music, art and fashion, to architecture, set and shop design. Nonetheless, the focus of the publication was always people and many issues feature interviews with fashion designers, such as Kansai Yamamoto, Zandra Rhodes or Claude Montana.

A short, slightly bored figure in his early forties, publisher and editor Ferry Zayadi draws nonstop the smoke from a chain of menthol cigarettes from his neat, pursed Cupid-lips. VIZ is basically just a superior brand of this peculiar breed of magazine. It is concerned, says Zayadi, with advertising, graphics, fashion, photography, architecture, the visual side of the music business, jewellery design, stage design -- all the visuals that make up our environment [...] Even so, Zayadi comes close to summing up the genre when he confesses, "in the end I think it's people that matter more than what they're doing." The Italian-born Zayadi, a self-confessed "magazine freak" who changed course from the profession of architect that brought him to England and used his graphics-steeped background to enter this rarified end of publishing, has about him a hard-nosed, perceptive professionalism.

- The Face Magazine, 1980

VIZ was printed in London and is the same size as a record sleeve, a stylistic choice that is symbolic of the strong influence of music on the contemporary artist.