Mixing the mysticism of Alejandro Jodorowsky and the boujie opulence of suburban Palm Springs, creative duo Mathery is launching a wittily unsettling and uber aesthetic Instagram photo book set in Milan.

Exploring a nation’s culture and aesthetics through its design and photography is what moves Japanese Avant-Garde Books, the online project that in less than a year has gathered international appraisal. Lorenzo Ottone chats to its founder and book collector Shunsuke Natsui about studying magic in Africa, exporting old Soviet texts and what makes Japanese books so unique.