Pinning down what Further Reading is as an entity can take time and effort. While it gives off the air of a constraining, small-scale operation, Further Reading is an all-encompassing entity with a strongly independent mindset.

The publishing house started as a small online initiative putting out a series of references in the design field for budding designers to read through (hence the name). Further Reading expanded into the world of printed matter, organically forming a namesake-publishing arm.

Now on its third printed issue and a new series, Serving Suggestion, the self-described “independent multi-format publishing platform” is slowly becoming a household name among Indonesia’s design crowd. It plans an ambitious year ahead after participating in New York, the United States, and Tokyo art-book fairs this year.

Reading between the lines

“The objective was, initially, for designers. So that they would read,” said Further Reading’s founder Januar Rianto, speaking to The Jakarta Post on Nov. 19. “A lot of my designer friends, when they were taught theories back in school -- most of the time they were told to memorize and not to look for the substance of what it was that they were reading. They’d get confused when test day came, and the questions differed from what they had memorized. [...] I mean, design is not a memorized subject.”

Januar noted that Further Reading was only pulling already-existing articles and materials referenced in its Instagram account under four themes, which are “Bookmark”, “Bookshelf”, “Profile” and “Select”.

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