21 Balloons presents FOUND Magazine!
Perhaps 21 Balloons Productions’ most notorious project is the magazine FOUND, published annually by Davy Rothbart and Jason Bitner.
So, what’s this all about?
We collect found stuff: love letters, birthday cards, kids’ homework, to-do lists, ticket stubs, poetry on napkins, doodles– anything that gives a glimpse into someone else’s life. Anything goes.
We certainly didn’t invent the idea of found stuff being cool. Every time we visit our friends in other towns, they’ve always got some kind of unbelievable found note or photo hanging up on their fridge. We decided to make FOUND Magazine and a bunch of related projects so that everyone can check out all the strange, hilarious and heartbreaking things people have picked up and passed our way.
And how’d this all start?
One snowy winter night in Chicago a few years back, Davy went out to his car and found a note on his windshield — a note meant for someone else, a guy named Mario:
We loved this note — its amazing mixture of anger and hopefulness — and so we shared it with as many folks as we could. Each friend we showed the Mario and Amber note to seemed to have a few finds to show us in return; clearly we weren’t alone in our fascination with FOUND stuff! As a way for everyone to join forces and share their finds with everyone else, we decided to start a magazine called FOUND, a showcase for all the strange, hilarious and heartbreaking things people’ve picked up.
We spent a year spreading word about the project and collecting great finds, then with scissors and tape we slapped together the first issue of FOUND in June of 2001. Each year since, with help from our friends and finders all around the world, we’ve put out a new issue of the magazine. We hope you’ll enjoy checking out the FOUND website and the magazine and FOUND books, and that you’ll join in and send in your own finds!
FOUND Magazine
3455 Charing Cross Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48108-1911
U.S.A.
Buy a signed copy of FOUND book I or II here, and we’ll add a personal inscription!
Pick up FOUND Magazines and other cool stuff at the official FOUND store.
Check out thousands of finds and other FOUND madness at the official FOUND Magazine website.
Take a peek at this clip of Davy sharing some favorite finds on The Late Show with David Letterman.
Hit FOUND up on myspace.
Meet FOUND Magazine’s sketchy cousin — Dirty FOUND.
