The Showroom | Designer Rose Nordin presents OOMK’s collaborative publishing practice

Designer Rose Nordin presents OOMK’s collaborative publishing practice.

One of My Kind (OOMK) is a collaborative publishing practice led by Rose Nordin, Sofia Niazi and Heiba Lamara. Working together since 2014, we make, publish and distribute books and printed works which arise from self-initiated projects. We also commission new works by women artists and co-curate DIY Cultures, one of the UK’s largest annual independent publishing fairs. OOMK Zine is a highly visual, handcrafted small-press publication. Printed biannually, its content pivots upon the imaginations, creativity and spirituality of women. Each issue centers around a different creative theme, with more general content exploring topics of faith, activism and identity. With a focus on self-publishing and education, we founded and run a community Risograph printing press in East London, Rabbits Road Press. We also work with galleries, museums, educational institutions and self-organised groups to deliver workshops and produce collaborative publications. OOMK are currently based between Old Manor Park Library (Rabbits Road Press) and Somerset House Studios.

Image: OOMK recent publications, courtesy of OOMK ZINE

Rose Nordin is currently a freelance graphic designer and illustrator based in London with a particular interest in self publishing and DIY culture.

This programme takes place within Theaster Gates's installation Black Image Corporation presented by Prada, The Vinyl Factory, and The Showroom. Collective Intimacy is inspired by Gates’s ethos of collaboration and The Showroom’s commitment to togetherness and communal knowledge, taking on multiple trans-located narratives of the current Black experience as a point of departure for a cosmopolitan worldview. In response to Gates’s reactivated spaces in Chicago and how his socially engaged projects enable communities to connect and grow, Collective Intimacy aims to create a new space for people to gather, listen, converse, and contemplate amongst a fusion of art, design, music, and everyday life.

Black Image Corporation presents distinct spaces creating a myriad of possibilities for collective engagements, featuring an installation of Gates’s art objects, furnishings, and new films that capture the methodologies of urban renewal and community activation founding his practice. Pieces from Chicago imbued with powerful histories, uses, and localities resonate with distinctive lounge design from here in London – like a love letter between two cities, under the roof of a new House. Taking place at both 180 The Strand and The Showroom, Collective Intimacy hosts interdisciplinary interventions by artists, musicians, designers, writers, thinkers, collectives and members of the public, who are all invited to distort notions of selfhood and togetherness in the spirit of creating a global community.