Stack Magazines

"We're just a big group of friends who make a magazine together..." Daniel Milroy Maher is the editor of Swim, the art and photography magazine that takes a refreshingly unpretentious approach to the work on its pages. As Daniel explains in this episode, the magazine was initially intended as a way to showcase the work of friends, and while it has grown since then and now also includes some really big names, it’s managed to keep that same feeling of easy accessibility.

"I've never found anything interesting to read about soil..." David Reeve and Luciane Pisani are the editors and art director of Where the Leaves Fall, a magazine that focuses on our contemporary relationship with nature. It’s the sort of subject that can easily feel overwhelming, but they explain that they’re on a mission to tell stories about sustainability and the natural world that feel human, and which ultimately inspire readers to take positive action. They’re also keen that their magazine should help give a platform to voices that aren’t normally heard, and so they search far and wide, looking particularly to the global south for local stories about these global environmental issues.

"We wanted to do something that was ours..." Jessica McGowan and Coco Cassibba are the art director and fashion director of photography magazine Primary Paper. The title started without any grand plan – the word they use to describe the process is “impulsive”, as they set out to make something based on the work they love. In this conversation they speak about what they've learned along the way, why print is so important to the project, and why they love not having a client.

Published by a group of British students studying overseas on the Erasmus programme, 34minus1 is a showcase of creative projects made by fellow Erasmus alumni in 2018. The magazine has a political motivation – concerned that Brexit could mean the end of British involvement in Erasmus, 34minus1 was launched to show what British students would be missing out on.

"We don't ever do controversy for the sake of it..." Maria Dimitrova is the editor of Mal, the journal of sexuality and erotics that was started in 2018 by the Feeld dating app. In this conversation she speaks about that origin story, the importance of editorial independence, and how they’re “following the thread”, taking advantage of opportunities as they arise and allowing the project to take its own direction.

"The web is ephemeral – a server goes down and you're gone..." Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee is a filmmaker and the executive editor of Emergence Magazine, the California-based title that explores our relationship with the natural world. Published in four online issues per year, and then in one beautiful, thick annual print edition, it's an ambitious and forward-thinking publication that wants readers to slow down and reflect on the way we live. In this conversation Emmanuel explains how he came to be editing a magazine that operates at the meeting place of ecology, culture and spirituality; why it was always essential to the project that there should be a print output; and how they go about transforming their stories into print.

"The cover is the playground for design..." Ariane Spanier is the designer of Fukt, the magazine for contemporary drawing. She makes it it along with her partner Björn Hegardt, and it has become renowned for its fantastically creative, fun-loving covers. Their current issue won Cover of the Year at the Stack Awards last week, and Ariane dropped in at the office the day after the ceremony to speak about the process she went through in creating an eye-catching concept that embodies their take on the theme of systems. In this conversation she explains why she’s attracted to such a playful design style, why she thinks it works so well for the cover of this magazine, and how this long-running title has changed over the 20 years it has been published.

"We're not National Geographic..." Josef Shaw is editor and designer of Bumble, the magazine that raises awareness of the plant and animal species that are currently under threat, and offers simple, practical things that readers can do to help. It was started last year by Josef and editor-in-chief Rachel Nellist, and in this episode he tells the story of how they funded that first issue, how they’ve managed to make it self-sustaining since then, and how they started out aiming at younger readers, but found that they have a broader readership than they expected.

"I see the appeal in holding something..." Karl Henkell is editor-in-chief of Record Culture, the magazine that visits vinyl lovers in their homes and studios. Long interviews give them the space to talk about their passion, and they're photographed surrounded by piles of vinyl, giving a lovely intimate picture of who they are and what music they listen to. In this conversation Karl talks about his first impulse to create a print magazine, his pursuit of the perfect interview, and how he's working to put Record Culture in front of the right readers.

"These are the stories you won't find in Singapore's mainstream narrative..." Pang Xue Qiang is one of the founders of Meantime, the magazine that explores the history of Singapore via the love stories of its citizens. It’s a lovely, sweet and affecting magazine that also has a deeper purpose hidden just below the surface – flying below the radar of Singapore's strict government controls, it specialises in telling tales that you wouldn’t hear in the country's mainstream narrative.