Brand New Retro
Brand New Retro is an award-winning online library of vintage Irish pop culture, and advertising managed lovingly by Brian McMahon.
Brian came to us with his great idea of making a book from his vast collection of Irish pop culture which he has built up with his Brand New Retro blog. He wanted our help with the cover image. Alongside his friend Joe Collins, they had the idea of using one of Dublin’s famous newspaper kiosks and stocking it up with his collection of retro magazines and newspapers. He negotiated a deal with Fran Fox (Foxy) who owns the newspaper kiosk which trades outside Pennys on Dublin’s O’Connell Street. We had to hand back Frans kiosk by 7 am before his trade began. We got up at 4 am on a beautiful clear Sunday morning in April leaving our friend Sean on the sofa to mind our children when they woke up. Brian picked us up and off we drove through the rare quiet streets of Dublin. Foxy and his trader Chris were already there. We pushed the kiosk outside the GPO where we could use the brickwork as the background. It was fantastic to see some of Brian's collection in the flesh as we laid them out on the kiosk.
Brian McMahon, Brand New Retro
Micky was setting up his camera for the shot, and then away he went. Everything went to plan, and we got the kiosk back to Chris by 7 am. Seeing as it was still so early and our children would still be asleep we decided to wander around a few car boot sales with Brian leading the trail. A great way to start any day.
The book looks fantastic, and we're delighted the way the cover turned out. We were thrilled to be asked to be a small part of this exciting project, and it was a pleasure working with them. His book is a unique Irish collection of over 700 images, adverts and articles featuring the best bits from brandnewretro.ie along with lots of new scans.
The book is published by Liberties Press and is available in all good book stores.
Article on Brian in Dundalk newspaper The Argus.
