156 words or less about...
Jessica Rose is a Canadian-born, London-based creative director and writer who loves making magazines. She is formerly the in-house Art Director of Wallpaper*, where she told stories of the global design brand to global readers, Tatler, where she chronicled society on Conde Nast’s glossy pages, and Toronto Life, where she turned stories of the city magazine into city wide conversation. She has redesigned newspapers for the times, literally, on the The Times and The Sunday Times digital redesign, and Rihanna posted about her first cover for The Sunday Times Magazine. She is a contributor of written and visual journalism to national, newsstand and independent publications from cover art to a weekly visual column to award-winning long reads. She is the author and graphic artist of How To Sweep A Room for Laurence King Books, and the debut memoir Just Us Kids In the Dark (HarperCollins). She is represented by Curtis Brown Books in London.
Jessica Rose loves magazines is the editorial studio of Jessica Rose. She works with words and pictures to create timeless, impactful, beautifully crafted and unputdownable editorial for media and clients in art, culture, hospitality, luxury and publishing.
Illustration by Oriana Fenwick, commissioned for Wallpaper*
Just a few bits you ought to know first*:
––My first magazine cover tanked on the newsstand. It remains the worst selling Toronto Life issue of all times. It also sparked a city wide conversation, then a national one. It won Cover of the Year at the National Magazine Awards, which likely helped the publisher’s decision to keep me on.
How The Gun Has Changed Torontoby John Lorinc, Toronto Life
––My first magazine cover for The Sunday Times Magazine was picked up by Rihanna (“When your face is pic-stitched to Princess Diana's on the cover of The Sunday Times.... I mean... #extraordinaRIHbehavior”). It went viral, made the news, and made the top of the Drudge report, sparking a global conversation.
Why Rihanna is the New Diana by Camille Paglia, The Sunday Times Magazine
––The first magazine story I wrote about hiring a private detetcive to find my missing origins went viral, won a writing award and landed a book deal. What is most remarkable, to me: hundreds of readers wrote to me – for years after – to talk about the article and share their experience of reading it.
Lost & Found edited by Emily Landeau, Toronto Life
––I got my start at The Drake Hotel in Toronto straight out of art school. I was given a test to do something with the picture frames proposed as serving trays for the hotel’s cafe. I sewed text into lettuce and other leafy and/or edible items as art for the tray’s illuminated surface that directly addressed – and enticed – the hotel’s guests. This became the basis for the voice of Drake, (a story which Wallpaper* later picked up). Needless to say I got the job.
Eat Me, Bite Me, Take Me Trays for The Drake Hotel
––I’ve run art institutions around the world, literally, with The Movement Movement. From the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto to the Melbourne Museum in Australia, we invited the public to join the movement by running institutions together, 5 kilometres at a time – making headlines around the globe.
The Movement Movement Runs the ROM! with Mercury Films for the Royal Ontario Museum
––Once I invited an entire city to a civic slumber party located in an abandoned subway station. More than 5,000 guests turned up, pyjamas, sleeping bags, toothbrushes and all. Below the city, we built subterranean forts in subway cars to both welcome and ward off the inevitability of sleep, and we collectively dreamed, together.
A City Sleepover / A Sleepover City for Nuit Blanche with the City of Toronto
––The flightiest and most fanciful thing I (almost) did for a magazine was to be the first human in the air on the Aerocene Explorer. Instead of getting carried up and away by an aerosolar sculpture, I navigated take off – and breaking the story – from the ground up, literally chasing the flight team as they ran back and forth to inflate the fossil free ride. Tomas Saraceno’s Guest Editor issue of Wallpaper* about how the air belongs to everyone reimagines our relationship to the sky.
Aerocene and Flight Companion, Guest Editor Tomas Saraceno for Wallpaper*
––I commissioned the Belgian designer and sculptor Xavier Lust to make a piece of furniture with the manufacturer of the Queen’s toothbrush. Their love child: a chaise longue covered in natural boar hair bristles which debuted at Salone del Mobile in Milan. Due to the production time of hand stitching bristles, only one edition exists. The story of how it was uniquely made is commemorated in the Handmade: Wellness and Wonder issue of Wallpaper*.
La Belle et La Bete Chaise Longue, Xavier Lust x Kent Brushes since 1777 for Salone del Mobile
––I curated the cover of each issue of Wallpaper* magazine like it was an exhibition space. I invited Lorna Simpson to consider, and effectively take over, the cover of the fashion issue. The artist’s double take was a double cover: two collages made from magazine pages cut out of old issues of Ebony. The result was an original artwork transforming the magazine into collectable art. The first, for me, wasn’t just making a cover with one of my foremost influences, but that the cover gave a wink to the Why Rihanna is the new Diana cover. [See above]
Older Queen & Adrift Limited Edition Covers, Lorna Simpson for Wallpaper*
––The last first is my first magazine: I was appointed the youngest female Art Director of Toronto Life having never worked a day at a magazine. The Canadian magazine blog post announcing the appointment sparked the most comments, ever, though most highlighted my appearance and/or one and only qualification of “roller skating backwards through museums.” The first cover I made for Toronto Life magazine tanked on the newsstand but sparked a national conversation...
Jessica Rose loves magazines.
*Yes I love lists and this one and only is an ode to all the firsts
Who I work with
(a relationship history, in brief).
- Media
- In-House + Contributing
- C-magazine
- Die Zeit
- Elle
- Elle Collections F/W
- Elle Collections S/S
- Frieze
- Luxx Magazine
- Misery Connoisseur
- Monaco
- Tatler
- The Sunday Times
- The Sunday Times Magazine
- The Times
- Toronto Life
- Wallpaper*
- Women’s Health
- Zeit Magazin
- HarperCollins
- Hearst
- Laurence King Books
- Morel Books
- Studios
- Esterson & Associates
Douglas Coupland x The AA
Mercury Films x The Movement Movement
Ruckl since 1790 x Marine Julie
Xavier Lust x Kent Brushes
Cultural Sector
The Architectural Association,
School of Architecture (The AA)
- Birch Contemporary
- City of Toronto
- The Drake Hotel
- English Heritage
- Goldsmiths, University of London
- Jaan Poldaas Estate & Archive
- The London Festival of Architecture
Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art
Melbourne Museum
National Lottery Heritage Fund
Newham Borough of London
Newham Archives & Local Library
Newham Heritage Month
Nuit Blanche
Royal Ontario Museum
