Linseed Journal - The Olive (Vol. 2)

A celebration of cultural crossover and local identity, through the lens of The Olive.

Across five chapters, we wend through market stalls in Izmir, punt amongst the reeds of Iraq’s southern marshlands, climb the precipitous hillsides of the West Bank, and emerge into the light of Italy’s Victorian-era riviera. 

Elsewhere, we venture for inspiration and nourishment: striking out with a foraging-map into the hinterlands of Marseille, or tracing New York City’s original olive oil gelato, with its well-travelled inventor. 

In vivid pastels, artist Dessy Baeva conjures the botanical wisdom of Kapka Kassabova, both steeped in the folklore of their native Bulgaria. Photographer Emma Hardy offers a bittersweet lament to the diseased olive trees of Puglia, Maggie Wang knits fragments of poetry, and Sardinian-based cook Letitia Clark pens a love note to harvests past and present. 

Soon we circle home to Edinburgh – finding comfort in the pebble-spirals of Jim Ede – before settling on the harbour side of Newlyn, on a salty-aired summer’s eve.

vegetable-based inks and carbon neutral printing.
Creative & Editorial Direction: Louise Long; Design: Émilie Loiseleur

The beautifully-put together, large-format Linseed Journal is named for linseed (also commonly known as flax seed) and is an ‘almanac of seasonal graft, and a larder of local lore.’ In practice, that translates to essays, art, illustration, crafts, history, culture and more.

Appearing biannually, each issue will be themed around a single organic material. 

Stories of nostalgia, cultural connotations, traditional medicinal solutions, recipes and artwork accompanied by serene photography encircle what an olive is beyond just its physicality and taste.