March 2025: Expanded practices, thinking through design history, and loud paper

Conversations with Formafantasma and Liz Diller, Mimi Zeiger's Loud Paper, and more.

Mar 03, 2025

In February, we spoke with Formafantasma’s Andrea Trimarchi and Simone Farresin about redefining design and Diller+Scofidio and Renfro’s Elizabeth Diller about how she accidentally started building.

EDITOR’S NOTE

It was not planned but I loved talking to Formafantasma and Elizabeth Diller in back-to-back episodes. Both of them are firmly rooted in design practice but their work breaks clear disciplinary boundaries. Both of them move between design and research and curation and speculation. They both work on self-generated projects and commissions. Not only are these the types of conversation that feel core to the show, this is also the type of work I increasingly find myself working in, and want to do more of. (This type of practice is clearly on my mind lately; I just finished a book project that will be out next year all about this. More on that soon.)

Speaking of polymathic practices, I immediately backed the new Kickstarter project from D.A.P. and Designers & Books that is reissuing every issue of the famed and subversive architecture publication Archigram in a gorgeous box set. In support of the project, we partnered with D.A.P. to publish an exclusive essay from the accompanies the reissues. You can find that below. Also this month, we caught up with former guest Aggie Toppins to celebrate her new book, Thinking Through Graphic Design History. That interview is available for our paid Substack subscribers.

As a reminder, Scratching the Surface is made possible because of those paid subscriptions. If you like what we do here and want to support us, you can upgrade your subscription for just $5/month or $50/year. Paid members get bonus interviews each month and help keep the show free for everyone, all the time. Thanks for listening.

See you next month,
Jarrett

SCRATCH

Recent essays, interviews, and stories published on our Scratch platform.

How Aggie Toppins is Thinking Through Graphic Design History

Jarrett Fuller

Feb 20

How Aggie Toppins is Thinking Through Graphic Design History

For our members-only bonus interview, we catch up with designer, writer, and educator Aggie Toppins to talk about her new book, Thinking Through Graphic Design History.

Read full story

I Remember Archigram, 1963-1970 by David Grahame Shane

In support of a new Kickstarter project from D.A.P. and Designers & Books that is reissuing every issue of the famed magazine, Archigram, we are pleased to publish an exclusive excerpt from the new boxset.

PAST GUESTS

Recent work, writing, and news from former guests of Scratching the Surface.

✅ Craig Mod celebrates six years of his membership program with advice for those who want to start their own.

🐠 James Bridle comes face to face with lionfish to race the unfolding of geology, evolution, and empire. (Emergence Magazine)

🏠 New York’s first ‘Passive House’ School is a model of downtown density, writes Alexandra Lange (CityLab)

🏳️‍🌈 Paul Soulellis on the history of the Pride flag (Survival by Sharing)

🧠 Sara Hendren uses Howard Gardner’s concept of ‘fruitful asynchrony’ to create a framework for interdisciplinary work. (Journal of Arts and Communities)

👍 Twenty years later, Allison Arieff still believes prefab homes are a good ideas. (Dwell)

🤔 Jack Murphy asks what’s the deal with Of the Moment, a new publication about architecture in Los Angeles? (The Architect’s Newspaper)

📰 Christopher Hawthorne also considers Thom Mayne’s Of a Moment. (NYRA)

⌨️ Marcin Wichary on the hardest working font in Manhattan. (Aresluna.com)

🔥 ”Anytime you tell people they must use certain tools to create correct outcomes,” writes Natalia Ilyin, “you are in a situation more fascist than free.” (nataliailyin.com)

❤️ LinYee Yuan announced that MOLD is “divesting from the internet” and ceasing publication. (Mold)

BOOK ROUNDUP

Recent books that have arrived in the studio. All links are Bookshop.org affiliate links. If you order through Bookshop, we get some money to help support the show!

Fail Better by Hal Foster

I first read the great art critic Hal Foster and graduate school and this collection of essays is very much speaking my language. Collected here for 40 texts on both artists and critics that reveal how they shaped art and criticism over the last six decades.

The Outdoor Archive: The Ultimate Collection of Adventure & Sporting Graphics, Illustrations, and Gear

For decades, outdoor brands have put daring and aspirational images on the covers of their magazines and catalogs, pushing the limits of photography and graphic design. This fascinating collection of outdoors covers, drawn from the Outdoor Recreation Archive at Utah State University and spanning one hundred years, features seventy iconic brands including Columbia, The North Face, and Snow Peak.

Homes For Living by Jonathan Tarleton

In Homes for Living, urban planner and oral historian Jonathan Tarleton introduces readers to two social housing co-ops in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Longtime residents of St. James Towers and Southbridge Towers lock horns over whether to maintain the rules that have kept their homes affordable for decades or to cash out at great personal profit, thereby denying future generations the same opportunity to build thriving communities rooted in mutual care.