EDITOR’S letter
My how time flies. It’s difficult to believe that we’re already halfway through 2009 and just over a year away from the FIFA World Cup; an event that will thrust South Africa into the global spotlight in a major way. Personally, I feel very excited about this. one small seed was founded on the idea that South Africa has an infinite amount of talent to show the rest of the world, and this is a chance for millions of people to experience what this country has to offer in terms of culture. In a sense we’ve been pre-empting this with our magazine and our online platforms, providing both the local and international community a taste of South Africa’s best art, fashion, music, architecture, photography, writing and design for nearly four years.
Speaking of brands, this issue takes a closer look at the origins and histories of some of the world’s most iconic brands in an effort to understand their success and the effect they have on popular culture. Furthermore, we explore in some depth this notion of something or someone being labeled ‘iconic’. What does it mean to be an icon in the modern era? What criteria do we apply for this lofty title? And how, for example, does a small company selling running shoes from the back of a car go on to become the world’s largest sportswear retailer and a street fashion icon? By speaking to a cross-section of iconic artists, musicians and trend-spotters, we hope to lead you towards a greater understanding of this tricky-to-define phenomenon.
It’s encouraging to see the rate at which these ventures are growing. onesmallseed.net, for example, encourages local photographers to showcase work that the rest of the world would otherwise never see. The response has been so overwhelming and of such a high quality, that we’ve recently launched Picture This, an online publication that puts together the very best images posted on onesmallseed.net in a beautifully designed digital magazine. By mid-June we’ll have launched an equivalent project to showcase writers, collecting the best blogs posted on our social network and collating them in a magazine format.
Latent excellence is dormant within every one of us. Hopefully, by exploring the origins of some major icons we will inspire you to seek out and express your own potential for greatness. The truth is, we never really can predict what form an icon will take: a man, a woman, a shoe, a handbag, a car… Who knows? It may even be in the shape of a simple magazine with a vision well beyond mere paper and ink. Only time will tell…
It’s even more encouraging to see brands and companies taking note of these ongoing submissions. Levi’s South Africa recently ran a competition through onesmallseed.net to find a photographer to shoot their 2009 advertising campaign, and were thrilled to discover the talents of Romi Stern. You can read more about Romi and see the work she produced for Levi’s on (pg 28).
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one small seed
Giuseppe Russo Founder | editor-in-chief