Dumbo feather von Kate Bezar
In einem kleinen Cafe am Strand von Newcastle, Australien, habe ich dieses Magazin entdeckt. Ohne den Titel Dumbo feather zu verstehen spricht mich die Titel-Typo, die Bildsprache und die matte Haptik des Magazins an. Zurück in Sydney besuche ich Kate in ihrem kreativ-chaotischen Gemeinschaftsbüro mit dem Namen “The Trophy Room.”
How did you get the idea to do this magazine?
Really long story but I'll try to keep it short. I literally walked into a newsagent wanting to buy a magazine I liked, but I couldn’t. It was a small newsagent about 5 years ago. Back then the magazines were all the same, the fashion magazines looked alike, the architectural magazines were the same, they were same-same-but-different. I was at a pretty lost point in my live. I had this corporate career and I knew that I didn’t want do that anymore but I didn’t know what I wanted to do. So I desperately wanted to read stories of people who had found what they are passionate about and how they’d found it, how they’d done it, how they had made it work. I wanted to read about the architect rather than the house or the baker not the bread. And I just couldn’t find it. I left the newsagent and I knew what I was going to do, I was gonna make a magazine that I wanted to read. And the irony is I now can't read it. So I had no background in publishing at all.
Where did you work before?
I was a management consultant with a company called Booz Allen in Melbourne and later Sydney, doing high-end problem solving. I got frocked up in a suite every day and shut off all my creativity and personality and went to work.
What did you study?
Chemistry and I started an economics degree, which I never finished. In high school my best marks were in english and painting, but I was never encouraged to think I could make a living out of it. I did the very sensible thing, and stayed more on the left brain stuff. I got to a point where my right brain just screamed out: “use me, use me.“ My heart and my soul, all the fun stuff I knew I wanted to do and just wasn’t doing.
How do you describe your magazine?
It has got a pretty basic structure it has five conversations with fascinating individuals.
Did anything change since when you first started it?
No it’s pretty identical, we've kept the structure the same.
You did the magazine concept with Saatchi and Saatchi?
Yes I hired them to do it. I came to realize that to design a magazine is the wet dream of every designer, and they did me an amazing cheap rate. They only designed 5 pages; the cover, contents, spread pages, what fonts we use, and since then I've had a wonderful art director Jim Parry who used their template and pushed it to a higher level. He works on the magazine 4 times a year for two weeks.
Do you work full time on the magazine?
Yes I do.
How do you make money with it?
There is little bit of advertising in it, but I think it is better for the customers and readers if it is limited. We have a very high subscription rate. We have a 40 to 50 % subscription rate, which is a lot for Australian magazines. I print 5.000 copies.
Do you have a favourite story?
Usually the current ones are my favourite.
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Kate’s local tipps:
Buchshop: Ariel Books (Oxford Street Paddington)
Cafe: Cafe on The Other Side (33 Albion Ave, Paddington), the Bourke Street Bakery (corner Devonshire & Bourke St.s, Surry Hills)
Inspiration: Paper stores, stationery, art galleries like Object gallery (417 Bourke Street, Surry Hills)
Favourite Australian clothing designer: Alistair Trung (445 Oxford St Paddington)
Favourite Australian jewellery store: Pablo Fanque (1 Oxford Street, Paddington)
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Magazine printed on: 100% post-consumer recycled paper using soy-based inks. Carbon neutral.
Editor: Kate BezarArt Direction: Jim Parry
Erhältlich in Berlin bei do you read me?!
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