Smith Journal – Volume Five

There’s American illustrator Frank Soltesz, whose cutaway artworks provide intricate snapshots of post-war industrialisation: a steamship, an office building and a ‘modern’ brewery. There’s Italian teacher Ettore Guatelli, whose collection of 60,000 tools championed rural working life in Northern Italy. And there’s chocolate maker Josh Bahen, who roasts his beans in a quiet part of Western Australia, but is reshaping his industry from El Salvador to Madagascar. Four lifelong locals – from Hoxton in East London, Portland in Oregon, Redfern in Sydney and Woodstock in Cape Town – explain how their areas have changed; and a Belgian photographer captures last drinks at his country’s ‘lounge room bars’. We look at the life (and cult following) of inventor and visionary Nikola Tesla, meet two Japanese guys making coffee and sushi in a remote part of Australia, and investigate the traditional garb worn by Mexican cowboys. Sunday Times restaurant critic A.A. Gill talks about things he’s learnt, journo Jon Ronson pulls out his film and literary influences, writer David Astle climbs a mountain with a group of Esperantists, and Sydney brewer Richard Adamson helps us make a Smith Farmhouse Ale (recipe included). Last but not least, there’s a poster: it’s back.