Whatever Press is an independent publishing house established as a playground for experimentations through the act of self-publishing. With a perspective of a non-native English speaker and a graphic designer, the founder (Mio) intends to question how unconsciously we use the language in our everyday lives.
Where did the name come from?
It drives from its motto ‘whatever you have in your mind, let’s make it happen!’ I wanted to make a space whereI can say either something stupid or serious with my voice, also a space I can fail with media of prints. In the era of digital devices and social media, when the contents are fluid and easy to modify, it seems more difficult to fail and learn from that as your own experience. Failing and experimenting with the scale and the tangible time/sequence of prints as stable media pushes my practice. Also, I adopt that reliability of publishing to strengthen my voice.
Why is languages your field?
Since I needed to learn a new language, which is English, to study in London, I found intriguing how we rely so much on languages to see the world. We don’t really realise that languages help us to make/unite communities, but at the same time, these limit our perceptions in a certain way. I wonder if we can understand the reality around us from different perspectives by de/reconstructing the languages we use every day. This press started publishing books by looking at ‘language’ in general, and now the focus is on English.
How do you de/reconstruct English?
There are three categories composing this publishing house.
‘System of English’
Books in this category question how we unconsciously interpret forms as letters and automatically put them together to create words, sentences and even find meaning in them.
‘Context and English’
Books in this category have been designed with a deliberate disconnect between words and the meaning. This disconnect emphasises how much we rely on context to communicate, especially with spoken language.
‘Whatever’ (work in progress)
This category is for totally abstract publications that challenge the media of prints and books as well as an act of publishing.
Whatever Press is founded by Mio Yokota.
© 2016-2017 Mio Yokota. All Rights Reserved.