Now in its seventh issue, the French zine, FAST discusses, illustrates and pontificates about emerging urban cultures. Unfortunately for all those non-Francophiles, you’ll need a translator to fully enjoy FAST but, what it lacks in the English language it more than makes up for in stunning graphics. The zine collaborates with different designers for each edition to celebrate the quick change of cultures and style. Previous issues have looked at the art of street eating, a portrayal of an atypical Parisian female and the work of nomadic photographer Dimitri Coste. Dazed Digital spoke with editor Gwendaline Chauvin about the latest beer themed issue, to pick her brain about the magazine’s unique approach.

The goal of FAST is to share a culture that we like. A rock, urban, and light culture that defines us. Each topic we chose for FAST responds to these standards

Dazed Digital: Where did the idea of focusing on one specific idea/feature per magazine come from?
Gwendaline Chauvin: Every three months, FAST addresses a societal or cultural issue, inspired by a trivial but repetitive insight or by a new trend that has attracted our attention. FAST is a magazine produced by BORN TO RUN a French advertising agency, strategy planning is core to our process. I guess it has an impact on our work on FAST. Today more than ever, it is the trivial detail that makes the whole story, a story that needs to be written in our magazine. We want FAST to be an expression tool for a trend we depict as new, interesting and striking. The magazine is an opportunity for us to talk about a trend we like and to express our point of view, our style via our content.

DD: Does your style limit you when producing content for the magazine ?
Gwendaline Chauvin: The goal of FAST is to share a culture that we like. A rock, urban, and light culture that defines us. Each topic we chose for FAST responds to these standards.

DD: You obviously like to experiment different styles of design, what inspires you ?
Gwendaline Chauvin: We are open minded people. We share what we like.

DD: The main feature of the magazine is Q&A interviews, what do you look for in an interviewee? Gwendaline Chauvin: The interviewee is obviously directly concerned by the topic, we need those people insights to stay real. FAST is about real life, real people and character, having those Q&A interviews allows us to stay relevant/pertinent.

Text by Rhiannon Wastell