The future of print, according to The Rake
The argument over the future of print and how it can survive the current digital boom is one I am well acquainted with.
In a world where everything is instant, how does print fit into the market? I was recently reading The Rake and the magazine's founder Wei Koh has put perfectly how and why print can have a future.
What should a magazine be in an era dominated by the internet?
Well, to my mind, it should be everything that social media is not. Because just as the world has changed, the definition of a magazine, and even its purpose in society, has to change. It should militate against all things ephemeral. It should champion understated elegance in an era where outré has become the norm. It should reveal authenticity in all its glory. It should have a wonderful tactile quality and be printed with a cover stock reminiscent of a classical oil painter's canvas and engineered to fade and patina like a good book jacket. The paper inside should be lush and almost lasciviously rich in quality. It should be filled with long-form journalism that reminds people what a joy it is to read, and how the English language, when wielded by a masterful hand, can be transcendental, epiphanous, edifying and enriching. It should have stories rich and instructive in moral and sartorial code and reveal the connection between the two. It should unveil the seductive pageantry of lives lived without a shred of compromise. It should be impossible to discard, and collectable in the same way a coffee table book is. It should be read and shared and read again. It should champion the beauty of luxury objects not because of what they represent from a material perspective but because some very brilliant human being gave over part of his or her finite life energy and imparted some of his or her genius into that object. It should be filled with amazing photoshoots with men who inspire you to reach for more glory in every dimension of your existence.
Wei Koh, founder and editorial director, The Rake, issue 50