Stack Magazines

"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.

"It's not looking outward for approval..." Helen Jennings is editor of Nataal, the magazine of global African creativity. Launched online in 2015, the project grew steadily until last summer the first print edition hit shelves around the world, immediately impressing with its lavish production values and its fresh approach to the fashion, music and visual arts coming out of Africa and the diaspora. In this conversation Helen speaks about the new sense of confidence she’s seeing amongst young African artists and creatives, and why, when they finally started working on the print product, they really didn’t have any choice but to go all out and make something spectacular.

"People actually read magazines!" Anna Broujean is the editor and art director of Club Sandwich, the Paris-based title that uses food as an absurd and accessible way into exploring anthropology, sociology, psychology and other social sciences. The first two issues were published in French, but issue three, dedicated to the humble pickle, features both French and English. In this conversation Anna speaks about the ideas behind her eccentric magazine, the reason why they decided to add English, and why she has been pleasantly surprised by the results.

"Sometimes it just needs to be big..." Ben Clement is the founder of Good Sport, the magazine that launched out of Melbourne in 2014, fusing sport with art, food, fashion and other facets of popular culture. In this conversation he explains how his love for sport and his career as a photographer came together to create the magazine, how it has evolved over the years, and why sometimes sports photography just has to be big.

"It's for the people who love dusty record shops..." David Holt is one half of the joint venture that is bringing cult music magazine Wax Poetics back to record and magazine shops across Europe this summer. Created by its original editorial team, the magazine, which was launched in 2001 but switched to print on demand in 2018, will return to the format that was so beloved of music enthusiasts, and the relaunch begins with a collector's edition that combines archive material from the vaults with fresh pieces on London's thriving jazz scene and 90s acid jazz. In this conversation David speaks about his original interest in the magazine, and why he thinks the time is right for its return to the newsstand. This is the last episode of the Stack Magazine podcast for a little while, but we'll be back in September with a new season of conversations with independent magazine makers.

“We love pregnant men!” The first Temple Arles book fair was held in the South of France last week, and we were there selling some of our favourite independent magazines. Organised as part of the photography festival that has been held in the town for the last 50 years, the fair included some extraordinary photo books and zines, so we took the opportunity to speak to the people behind some of the most striking titles. Brilliantly bizarre, the three zines we picked out embrace the ease, accessibility and unpretentiousness typical of the format, using their unassuming pages to explore unique obsessions: Album by Eline Mugaas and Elise Storsveen uses a vast archive of found photography to create unexpected associations between images, challenging conventional ideas on subjects like gender roles and encouraging the viewer to question what they see. Boyz II Men is a collection of photography shot by the artist Thick Nina, exploring the formation of masculinity and considering the role of men, often in relationship with women. Narco by Lina Ibáñez presents images of the various actors who have played Pablo Escobar in film and on TV, and comes complete with a plastic baggy of white powder (Colombian corn flour, not cocaine).