Portland Monthly

Hector Sanchez, new Creative Director for SagaCity Media's Portland Monthly, shares some details about, well, beards:

The great thing about working on a city mag is the opportunity to observe and document a city's native culture. Having worked for three great city mags, I found that Portland is home to an amazing creative community and is truly, as we recently called it, the "beardiest city in America!" Shortly after arriving here, Editor in Chief Paige Williams and I noticed all these "beardos" (localspeak for beards + weirdos) and wanted to explore why beards are so rooted in the Pacific Northwest. We asked them how they felt about their beards and not only were surprised by their candor and creativity and eloquence--these guys really thought about their whiskers--but also by the response in Portland and around the country. Who knew beards could be so zeitgeist?

All the beards in our photo essay (January 2009 issue, Portland Monthly) were gathered by local photographer Chris Hornbecker. Also check out designer Thomas Cobb's illustrated beard timeline, "Whiskery History."

Here's a sampling of our subjects' musings on their facial hair ...

"A beard is many things for me.
"A beard is a bullshit filter. It keeps me from working at lame places and interacting with lame people.
"A beard is a reminder that I am wild, that my roots are from the wilderness.
"A beard is a scarf that works great while bike riding in this climate--it's better than wool!
"A beard is a confident vote for manliness.
"A beard is a friend who is always there to give you a hug.
"A beard honors all the loggers who lost limbs and died harvesting the timber that built our great city--these buildings are made of old-growth Douglas fir and gravel dust from Mount Hood.
"A beard helps solidify the cultural significance of the Pacific Northwest and the rugged people who live here."

-- Justin "Scrappers" Morrison

NEW WORK is a new recurring feature. We'll welcome anything that's gone to the printer recently, something you're especially proud of and think might be inspiring to the membership and readers of Grids. We'll note the credits and the publication and shine a little light on the latest and greatest in publication design.

Please reduce your layouts to no larger than 1200 pixels wide and don't forget to include all relevant credits and a little background (if you feel like). Send your submissions to tips@spd.org and we'll post them as we get them.



PREVIOUSLY: Hockey Challenge
PREVIOUSLY: Inked
PREVIOUSLY: TV Guide