Colophon 2011

Liebling

Liebling

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Fifteen Minutes GmbH

Berlin, Germany

Monbijouplatz 4, 10178

Email: liebling@fifteenminutes.eu

• Category: Art, Fashion, Music
• Periodicity: Every two months
• Language: German
• Format: 305 x 470 mm
• Circulation: 75,000
• Price: 2.80 €
• Web: http://www.liebling-zeitung.com

Founded in 2005

Exclusive Interview

Liebling

What is your magazine about?
Most of all emotions, something we call "the glamour of empathy". We aim to feature what we really love, what deeply appeals to us. Hence the name "Liebling", which is German for darling. We are striving for a personalized approach to artists, turning "Liebling" into a platform for their ideas and collaborations with us. We simply don't cram ten artists on one page. We dedicate ten pages to one artist. It's all about visual grandezza and intellectual freedom. We want to really delve into somebody's work.

Who's behind the project? Tell us about the founders, their backgrounds and their motivations!
"Liebling" was founded in 2005 by Götz Offergeld and Rahel Morgen. They published four issues in two years, but put "Liebling" on hiatus in 2006. In December 2007, the magazine was revived and reinvented. Markus Peichl, founder of the trailblazing 1980's magazines "Tempo" and “Wiener”, became the new publisher. A bigger team of editors was assembled around editor-in-chief Anne Urbauer ("Tempo", "Stern", "Wallpaper", "Spruce", "NZZ", "Amica") and art director Mario Lombardo ("Spex") to guarantee a new bi-monthly publishing schedule. In 2008 Moritz von Uslar ("Tempo", "Süddeutsche Magazin", "Der Spiegel") joined the team as second editor-in-chief.

How do you produce one issue? How much time do you spend on it? How big is your team?
The team consists of two editors-in-chief, the art director, one graphic designer, three staff editors, one fashion director, two managers handling ads, printing and distribution, and a steady circle of freelance contributors in art, design, photography and writing. We spend six weeks per issue, with roughly two weeks of intensive production time before we are going to print.

What have been the important steps in the life of your magazine?
When Alek Wek, Adam Kimmel and Terence Koh called at the same moment and said: “We have to be in this magazine.”

Which are the key ingredients for the success of your magazine?
Love and care for the people and things we embrace in the magazine. Finding the angle to a story that no one else has. And the ability to go 48 hours without sleep every two months.

What are the difficulties you are confronted with? What would be "the" thing to help the magazine to improve?
The same as in all creative start-ups: Making a living of it and making it sustainable. Independent magazines are efforts of love and self-exploitation. We are thinking about how the various independent magazines in Berlin or internationally could cooperate in the fields of distribution and even revenues. We are not rivals; our audience reads all the creative, inspirational magazines. We'd love to pay our contributors better and to have an English translation in the magazine, since the response in foreign markets is very good, regardless of whether they read German.

Where do you want the magazine to be in five years?
Still here, of course, as a fertile ground for new talent, new thoughts and visuals and in the middle of the hearts of its readers.

Tell us about your audience! Who are the readers of your magazine?
We want to reach everyone who's interested in what we are doing. Every age, every scene. Curiosity is the basis. "Liebling" readers possess a finely tuned radar for aesthetics, beauty and the vigor of life in all its shapes and sizes. A used piece of soap may appear as beautiful to them as the latest Gareth Pugh fashion collection.

Is remaining independent important to you? Is it part of the strategy?
Independence is a state of mind. The future of print lies in the niches of our culture, selling less or more. It is the analogue version of what we know from the Internet as The Long Tail. And big publishing houses still haven't realized this development. They are too inflexible, which shows very much in the current economic climate.

What's your relationship with advertisement? Does it influence your content? Do you care about advertising-driven-editorials?
The support of advertisers who respect independent and credible voices in an otherwise stalling magazine market is crucial. Our clients understand our concept and appreciate it. Just as we strive for collaborations with artists, we collaborate with advertisers who share our vision as well. However, advertisers have no influence on our editorial content. It might well be the other way round since we are working with them on new concepts to communicate, e.g. with Coty Prestige. Savvy readers are tired of fake editorial pages selling out to advertisers and they are jaded by what we know as print advertising. It's time for something new and genuine.

Do you think that magazine readers still need to watch TV?
Why not. There is sex in the city, and there is sex on paper. Both can be hilarious.

Which is your relationship with your printer? Does he play a main role in your development?
Our printer is a very important partner for us. They are amazed every time again at what their machines can achieve in print quality on newspaper format and paper when we push their settings to the limit. And we get the idea that they are turning us into a reference product for their skills.

Which magazines did influence you most? What are you looking for in other magazines?
All magazines that fight for sincerity in beauty and the beauty of sincerity.

What do you think of your issue 01, when you look back at it?
It conveyed the idea and it still holds its own.

What question did you never ask in your magazine but would have liked to?
Who is the art director of the “L’Osservatore Romano”?

How many magazines do you buy / get / read each month? Do you qualify yourself a maniac?
We spend a lot of money on magazines from abroad. While we professionally scan almost every magazine, we only spend time with what is interesting. There are too many me-too products out there.

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