“Never for money, always for love.” – Talking Heads
The idea for Chisel was hammered out, between my co-founder Ryan and me, across a string of giddy text messages. Ryan lives in Mississippi. I live in Dublin, Ireland. This was asynchronous multiplayer at its most enjoyable. Ideas pinballing back and forth over Slack, excitement compounding. The early brand development was hashed out remotely. Naming the mag. Logo design. Even the foundational design work for the print edition. Zoom calls. Text messages.
All of this long-distance communication, however fun and meaningful, felt somehow contrary to the spirit of the project. Chisel was about texture, about real people imagining what could be, and carving that target object out of atoms.. The magazine had quickly become a gravity well for so many humans that I loved and admired, from every different stage of my career in both print and marketing. This new project wasn’t just about building something great. It was about working alongside friends.
We were making something physical; ergo, some foundational part of the magazine’s construction needed to happen in a room together.
When I looked back on the origin story of this new publication we’d built, I wanted memories of human connection. Something anachronistic, analogue, something real. I wanted a hand-written letter of sorts to pin down in the scrapbook. So Ryan and I bought plane tickets to Atlanta, Georgia, where our design partner for the print edition is based. Bringing along my friends Greg and Joey – two of my dearest friends in Ireland who make films together as The Wonder Brothers – to document the trip may have been financially reckless. Chisel hadn’t yet made a dime. But creating this video artefact felt like a necessary keepsake. Some moments in life require a Sharpie underline.
I needed future Chisel readers to understand how much love went into this thing. I started my magazine career in Atlanta at Paste so there was also a thread of personal history coming full circle. And having Ryan meet the people who’d blessed me with my first job in magazines added yet another layer of personal resonance.
The documentary of that special in-person meeting is the film we’re sharing here afresh.
These talented humans I’m reuniting with in front of the camera. The hugs and laughs and backyard real talk, acknowledging the risk of going all-in. The importance of having not just skin in the game, but soul.
My deepening friendship with my co-founder Ryan. The buzz of breathing the same air again for 36 hours, sharing a joint hallucination.
We dreamed up this private universe called Chisel. And we’re so damn close to putting it in your hands, so you can touch it, because it’s really real.
Love that you shared the project sequence for the documentary. Seeing all those differing layers stacked upon each other to build one cohesive vision seems like the perfect analogy for Chisel.
You meeting up with Ryan and your Paste collaborators is like seeing the Physical Media Avengers unite to save the world’s attention span haha.