MacGuffin – 16: The Mirror

MacGuffin is a new and unusual design & crafts magazine. It features fabulous stories about the life of ordinary, often anonymously designed things. Each biannual edition takes an object and explores the manifold stories it generates. Like the MacGuffins in Hitchcock films, these things are not the main characters, but the plot devices that set the story in motion.

In this issue:

“The tool of every self-portrait is the mirror,” observed filmmaker Agnès Varda. “Turn it the other way, and you see the world.” This issue of the magazine does exactly that, exploring a realm of seasonal darkness and manipulated sunshine, facial recognition and fit checks, Claude glasses and mirror balls, fleeting reflections and idealised selfies, narcissistic echoes and confessional essays. Featuring photographer Shahram Saadat, novelist Peter Delpeut, design educator Ghalia Elsrakbi, fashion researcher Aude Fellay, chemist-turned-curator Fulvio Ferrari, architect Sam Jacob, designer Sabine Marcelis, visual artist Iriée Zamblé, writer Kandace Siobhan Walker, and many more.