Back To Basics

Editorial Letter. We The Cool Magazine.

Lately, we’ve found ourselves thinking about what remains when everything unnecessary is stripped away.

In a world that constantly asks us to move faster, produce more, and keep reinventing ourselves, returning to the basics can feel like a quiet act of resistance. For this issue of We The Cool Magazine, we spoke with artists, designers, and brands and asked them one simple question: What does going back to basics mean to you?

The answers were deeply personal. For some, it meant returning to the hand, the material, or the original intention behind their work. For others, it was about slowing down, reconnecting with nature, trusting instinct, or finding beauty in the familiar. What became clear is that going back does not necessarily mean moving backward. Sometimes, it is the only way to understand what truly matters—and where to go next.

Our cover story felt like the purest expression of this idea.

Paper artist Alla Mydollmallu creates entire worlds from one of the most basic materials we know. Paper is where so much begins: a first sketch, a note, a pattern, a story, an idea not yet fully formed. For the cover, she wears a boat costume made entirely from paper—something ordinary transformed through imagination, patience, and the human hand.

The photographs were taken on film, in Alla’s own living room. There was no elaborate set, no oversized production, and no attempt to make the moment feel more polished than it was. It was intimate, imperfect, and raw. A costume made by hand, photographed at home, on a medium that asks us to slow down and trust the process.

In many ways, that is what this issue is about.

It is about remembering that creativity does not always need more. Sometimes, all it needs is attention. A simple material. A familiar room. A good idea. A willingness to begin.

Always curious,

We The Cool