Books by Kinfolk

Kinfolk 30 (30)

by Kinfolk

The winter issue of Kinfolk revisits one of our guiding principles: good hospitality. Featuring a special section dedicated to the art of hosting, Issue Thirty looks beyond recipe repertoires and honed housekeeping to unearth the secret ingredients of having a good time.

Drilling down into the heart of hospitality, we investigate its five pillars: acceptance, comfort, empathy, entertainment and trust. How has the rise in peer-to-peer services such as Airbnb changed our relationship to having strangers in our home? Does a lack of formality translate into a more comfortable environment, or do subtle rules actually make it easier for people to know how to behave? And, how do you get a guest to leave?

We receive expert advice on hospitality from leading hoteliers, culinary artists, salon hosts and party planners, and meet wunderkind chef Flynn McGarry—host of New Yorker-reviewed dinner parties since the age of thirteen. Elsewhere, we speak to actress Teyonah Parris—star of the forthcoming James Baldwin adaptation If Beale Street Could Talk—explore seasonal subjects such as hunkering down, hometowns and ghost stories, plus much more.

Kinfolk 31

by Kinfolk

Issue Thirty-One



The spring issue of Kinfolk builds on our foundational interest in design to consider the discipline in its most ambitious manifestation: architecture.



Mid-century architect and furniture designer Charlotte Perriand, whose archives we delve into in this issue, once wrote: “The extension of the art of dwelling is the art of living.” We interrogate this close relationship between external surroundings and interior wellbeing and meet the architects chipping away at the partition wall between the two.



Buildings affect the mood and behavior of their inhabitants. Equally, the things we build—or wish to build—reflect our own state of mind; blueprints of the ways in which we hope to reinvent the world. This issue of Kinfolk will pay homage to the architects with dreams too big for city planners to swallow—from an investigation into the history of utopian design to a photo essay about the most visionary projects that have been demolished, or simply never-built, over the last century. We also interview those who have bridged the divide and made their strangest whims a reality: like Asif Khan, whose belief in a future where architecture is “light, intelligent and simple” inspired him to build with bubbles.



Elsewhere in the issue, we meet Sharon Van Etten, who talks about why she chose to study psychology while writing her new album, and we spend a day in the studio with Kyle Abraham—the choreographer making history at the New York City Ballet. As the weather turns warmer, our thoughts follow; this issue’s essays find our writers lingering on balconies, musing on the impossibility of “turning over a new leaf” and biting down on the juicy history of the peach.

Kinfolk Volume 28 (28)

by Kinfolk

Issue Twenty-Eight

The summer issue of Kinfolk untangles the theme of hair. Beyond a narrative of love and loss, we examine the ways in which hair has come to hold deep and powerful meanings in daily life: its presence as a unifying and defining symbol in cultural, political and spiritual spheres, plus its intimate rituals and rich, eccentric history.

We meet Jagmeet and Gurratan Singh, two politicians—and brothers—taking on Trudeau in Toronto, spend a day at work with the imam leading Copenhagen’s first feminist mosque, comb through a history of Diana Ross’ hair, and examine the appearance of hair in everything from forensic science to food.

Elsewhere in Issue Twenty-Eight, we pay a visit to the Antwerp studio of painter Rinus Van de Velde, meet professional problem solver Helen Nonini, speak to rising Korean fashion designer Shinhye Suk, and unpack subjects as diverse as matchmaking, regret, rocks, and more.

Issue Twenty-Eight

The summer issue of Kinfolk untangles the theme of hair. Beyond a narrative of love and loss, we examine the ways in which hair has come to hold deep and powerful meanings in daily life: its presence as a unifying and defining symbol in cultural, political and spiritual spheres, plus its intimate rituals and rich, eccentric history.

We meet Jagmeet and Gurratan Singh, two politicians—and brothers—taking on Trudeau in Toronto, spend a day at work with the imam leading Copenhagen’s first feminist mosque, comb through a history of Diana Ross’ hair, and examine the appearance of hair in everything from forensic science to food.

Elsewhere in Issue Twenty-Eight, we pay a visit to the Antwerp studio of painter Rinus Van de Velde, meet professional problem solver Helen Nonini, speak to rising Korean fashion designer Shinhye Suk, and unpack subjects as diverse as matchmaking, regret, rocks, and more.

Kinfolk Volume 25 (25)

by Kinfolk

Issue Twenty-Five

The fall issue of Kinfolk explores one of life’s simplest pleasures: sharing a meal. The act of eating together––whether at a well-appointed table or in the simple breaking of bread––is an essential element of a well-lived life. As MFK Fisher famously wrote, sharing a meal can be more intimate than sharing a bed.

In this issue, we examine the role of food in forming and sustaining relationships, its place in art and political history, and its significance to the arbiters contemporary culture. We visit a breadmaker in her Brooklyn studio, test a curated selection of recipes by a celebrated chef, thumb the pages of Dali’s surrealist cookbook and revisit MFK Fisher’s seminal writing on the joy of simple meals.

The Touch (New Edition) Spaces Designed for the Senses

by Kinfolk, Norm Architects

The Touch is a new collaboration between Nathan Williams of Kinfolk and Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen of Norm Architects that welcome readers into over 25 inspiring spaces where interior design is not only visually appealing but engages all of the human senses.

Through beautiful homes, hotels, museums, and retail stores -- from contemporary designs by Ilse Crawford and Bijoy Jain to classic cases by Arne Jacobsen -- readers are invited to explore how experiencing elements such as light, nature, materiality, color, and community can deliberately bring us back to our senses and imbue every day with a richer quality. In addition to stunning photography and interviews with design industry leaders as John Pawson and David Thulstrup, the book also details philosophical and art history references that reflect the tradition of design and color theory.

For a deeper understanding of the concepts explored, The Touch includes an appendix which profiles architects such as Lina Bo Bardi and Richard Neutra. Heritage design pieces that helped influence this movement are also listed in the book.