Izz Bachtiar

Real Plastic Love is a publication celebrating the weird, kooky romances that people around the world have with peculiar partners. The inaugural issue focuses on Japan, from salarymen who have married virtual wives to an entomophagist who has taken his love for insects to the next level.

The magazine’s layout is a homage to Japanese magazines of the 1980s, a clue to the origin of these behaviours. The point in time when life in Japan started to advance at a quicker pace, at the cost of some individuals who couldn't manage to keep up. In the end they turned to these unusual companions as their only means of comfort in a rapidly changing environment. The use of collage emphasises the nature of their romances, off-kilter and weird but I still wanted to add an element of charm to their relationships.