Stack Magazines

"We wanted to break something..." Dominika Hadelova and Aldo Buscalferri are the editors and creative directors of Matto, a new magazine based in Paris that combines art, photography, fashion and erotica. The artists, designers and other people featured in the magazine are united by their utter dedication to what they're doing, and Dominika and Aldo reflect that with a similarly obsessive commitment ('Matto' means 'crazy' in Italian). All independent magazines are inevitably personal reflections of the people who make them, but for this one Dominika and Aldo have really immersed themselves in an editorial world, admitting that there's often no separation between the magazine and their personal lives. If this is the sort of crazy you want in your life, head to the Stack shop to buy your own copy of Matto: https://www.stackmagazines.com/product/matto-issue-1/

"It's like a little chameleon..." Suze Olbrich is the editor of Somesuch Stories, the literary magazine that covers a vast range of subjects including nature, sex, society and spirituality in its aim to reflect, "the full contemporary experience". It looks a lot like a paperback book, and in this conversation Suze speaks about the pleasure she gets from seeing it popping up in different places, alongside both books and magazines, quietly carrying its short stories and creative non-fiction to new audiences. This issue is built around the theme of redemption, and Suze also speaks about her personal experiences of making the magazine, with all the challenges that entails, and the strategies she has found for overcoming and coping with those difficulties.

"You don't need to be into video games. You just need to like pretty words and pictures..." Caspian Whistler is creative director and editor-in-chief of A Profound Waste of Time, the magazine that uses beautiful illustration and long first-person stories to reflect the experience of making and playing video games. The magazine sold out of its first print run, and has proven so popular that even after a second run it's difficult to get hold of copies. But it hasn't all been plain sailing. In this conversation Cas reveals the difficulties he has faced along the way, from early success with a Kickstarter campaign that raised almost twice its target amount, to the "nightmare" of the reprint, when his Croatian printer went bust, taking his money with them.

"The word 'finance' made me want to run a mile." Elana Schlenker and Mark Pernice are the art directors of Hacking Finance, a new magazine that takes a progressive and provocative look at business and our relation to money. This first issue is themed around 'movement', and features stories on a wide range of subjects, from the man trying to make a commercially viable hydrogen-powered car, through to the disruptive and creative impact that skateboarding can have on cities. For more information and to buy a copy, check Hacking Finance in the Stack shop: https://www.stackmagazines.com/product/hacking-finance-issue-1/

"We approach special issues with trepidation..." John L Walters and Simon Esterson are the editor and art director of Eye magazine, the international review of graphic design. Their latest issue is the second in a two-part special focusing on magazine design, and it's their biggest issue ever, packed with fascinating interviews and comment covering both the mainstream and independent worlds (and the places where those two realms intersect). It's a massive undertaking, so it's not surprising that this double issue has been bubbling away for a number of years before finally emerging onto the newsstand, and I loved hearing the stories behind the stories straight from John and Simon. As I write this we currently have copies of this latest issue available to buy from the Stack shop, so do head over there to pick one up for yourself... https://www.stackmagazines.com/shop/

"My degree suffered a little..." Arne Meyer was one of the editors and art directors on the current issue of Brasilia, the magazine made by students at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts in Hanover. They won Student Magazine of the Year at the Stack Awards, so Arne dropped in at the Stack office the morning after the ceremony to speak about the making of the magazine, and the challenge of keeping quality high when the team has to change each year.

"Magazines tell the story of what's going on right now." Bobbie Johnson is the editor of Anxy, the California-based magazine that aims to break down the stigma around mental health. Anxy won Art Director of the Year and Best Use of Illustration at this year's Stack Awards, so the day after the ceremony Bobbie came over to the Stack office to talk about their evolving mission, and why a group of people based in Silicon Valley use a print magazine to communicate their ideas.

Recorded live at The Queen of Hoxton in London on Monday 19 November, this week's episode features all the winners and commended magazines from the Stack Awards 2018. Hear our judges sharing their thoughts on the stand out titles, hear the winners giving their heartfelt acceptance speeches, and hear our little microphone breaking down whenever we play our walk-on music. See lots of pictures from the awards on the Stack site: https://www.stackmagazines.com/current-affairs/stack-awards-2018-winners-event-party/

"It just became this thing we couldn't shake..." Perrin Drumm is the founder and director of Eye on Design, the initiative launched by AIGA in 2014 as a way to reach designers in the college to mid-career age bracket. Originally a blog that Perrin ran on her own as a side project, it quickly grew into a fully fledged website, and then in 2017 came the first full issue of the Eye on Design print magazine. In this conversation Perrin tells the story of her journey so far, explaining the advantages and challenges of publishing both online and in print ("Now we're running on two treadmills at the same time"), the importance of theming issues, and the experience of working on an all-women team.

"You can't deny there's something bigger than us out there..." Jay Armstrong is the editor and creative director of Elementum, a beautiful biannual journal that draws upon the landscape and folklore of the British Isles to create a totally original sense of place. Filling her pages with stories about nature, identity and spirituality means she could easily cross over into politics and religion, but as she explains in this conversation, she actively avoids those subjects and instead prefers to plough her own furrow towards, "a crucible where academics, folklorists and artists can bring their own responses". She's also a mum, and she speaks about the challenge of fitting the magazine around the rest of her life, and the things she has learned along the way about the practicalities of publishing on a biannual schedule. I love it when a magazine finds an original way of viewing familiar material, and her "genre fluid" publishing does exactly that, crossing over conventional boundaries to bring a fresh and distinctive view of Britain's nature and history.