The Last Magazine

In a time where the traditional paper format of magazines has increasingly come under siege by online media, a new biannual magazine, provocatively titled The Last Magazine, is released this Fall and addresses this issue head-on. The result of the collaboration between Magnus Berger (from design branding powerhouse, Baron&Baron) and Tenzin Wild (from Visionaire and V) and some of the most intriguing creatives working today; The Last aims to “be a platform for a new generation of talent in all kinds of artistic expression”. New York Fashion Week sees the launch of the print version, while the website goes live in October.

Dazed Digital: Your magazine shares the same name as a book that came out last year by David Renard that extolled the death of print, and embraces a digital future.  How do you respond to that?
Magnus Berger: Quite a coincidence huh? We actually didn't realize that until we started doing online searches of the name. It doesn't bother me, but it's rather ironic since this magazine in a way is a response to the debate of the death of print. The magazine as an object and phenomenon needed to be redefined. I see The Last more as a cross breed of a newspaper and an artbook.

DD: What inspired you to start your own magazine?
MB: I've always had it there in the back of my mind. Guess I was just waiting for the right time, right partner, and also figuring out an interesting format. The print edition is an oversized news print format, printed by Steidl. The online version will launch in October and that's gonna be really exciting. It's really about using each media to it's full advantage. It was always the idea of print and web as two equal parts that complement each other. I also felt that especially in New York, there was a whole generation that didn't have a voice. Of course there were people out there but they weren't working on there own terms. It was rules that was set by a previous generation and their references. Now I really feel like New York is getting interesting again so I believe the timing is perfect to start it from here.

DD: You work with Fabien Baron who has virtually defined a modern visual language for magazines today. What did you learn from him? What advice did he give you?
MB: I've learned so much from him. I think the most important thing is that "everything matters". His work is very meticulous. He really takes that extra time to make things perfect. It's a very good school, and the fact that B&B work in so many disciplines is very inspiring and gratifying. On a general level what attracted me to the company in the first place was the aesthetics. Whether it's magazines or product design, it's always clean and minimal. In a sense The Last is quite clean looking but it's also very messy in some ways. Which is important too. Otherwise it gets boring. But in the end a magazine is about content. Design with bad content is just really lame.

DD: How exciting is it to work with a new generation of artists and creatives that are coming out of America at the moment? How will The Last tap into that energy? Tell us some of the collaborators you've got lined up.
MB: It's really exciting. The basic starting point was to involve our friends and then their friends and so on. The first issue is very much a family affair. Contributors like Camilla Akrans, Maciek Kobielski, Martin Lidell, Nicolas More, Keegan Singh and Paola Kudacki are some of my best friends. So it was natural to start from there. Then we have guys like David Mushegain who did great images of his friends and people that inspire him. My girlfriend (Julia Restoin Roitfeld) photographed a couple of bands that her friend jewelry designer Pamela Love interviewed. Writers Aimee Walleston and Katie Kitamura have featured a really cool group of artists. Young architect photographer Adrian Gaut did a great feature together with Pin-up Editor Felix Burrichter. The sum of all parts feels like a great start of something new. Our own little movement.

DD: Besides the magazine, any other projects you're working on that you are excited about?
MB: Just launched Givenchy's website which I'm very happy about. They are such a great team over there. Really excited about thelast-magazine.com and to start working on the video projects for that. And at B&B, they always keep you busy with all kinds of projects so I'll be fine.