Photo Credit: Derrick Coetzee

Printed materials of a disposable nature is something I’m quickly wondering why there hasn’t been a more conscious effort to eradicate them. One can probably argue that print often gets lumped into a category of collectibility, but I would disagree on some accounts when it comes to the likes of catalogs and invities. The two are certainly something almost better served to be left purely digital if possible. As always, there are exceptions to the rule, I won’t deny that a seasonal visvim print release is just as much a book as it is a catalog and that many of the Ura-Hara bretheren put together some neat and durable materials worth keeping around. But I’ve seen some pretty elaborate paper materials grace my desk at Hypebeast that left me scratching my head. Maybe it’s a regional norm to send through invites made of paper heavy enough to slice an artery or even the odd Plexiglas invite, both hopes of drawing attention to an otherwise lame event. But ultimately, I would not be hurt if I was given the invite in a different, more eco-friendly format. But half of the allure of invites is that it probably comes down to penetration as a physical format, something that is harder to ignore. Sure Facebook, Twitter and Email are all aspects of our lives on overload, but I’d like to believe that the overlap between the three ensures that events that are worth being promoted or ones of interest cross your radar anyways. But returning back to catalogs, I still subscribe heavily to the idea that there’s no need to keep them around. The Internet is by and large the greatest collector of data and serves as a great archival tool. The notion of investing in these “press materials” with finite lives has to stop.

-Eugene