Wallpaper* Founder Eyes Growth for New Title

Wallpaper* magazine founder Tyler Brule is at the sixth-month point of publishing a Monocle, a high-end, glossy newsmagazine focusing on "global affairs, business, culture & design." The London-based title is now opening its fourth bureau in Sydney, joining New York, Tokyo and Zurich.


The New York Observer writes that in the opinion of Tyler Brûlé, the ever-stylish Wallpaper* founder, the suits are looking at today’s media landscape completely backwards.

These days, he said, news executives and big-time publishers are foolishly closing foreign bureaus, cutting trim size, reducing paper stock, overdoing local news and swapping editorial authority for user-generated content.

“We’re not in the business of trying to build a galaxy of bloggers and churn out copy all day,” said Mr. Brûlé, who earlier this year launched Monocle, a high-end newsmagazine.

While Time redesigns, refashions and rethinks its business model—and crowns “You” person of the year—Mr. Brûlé is now at the sixth-month point of publishing a glossy 225-plus-page “briefing on global affairs, business, culture & design” stuffed with original photography and a “manga” comic book.

And as major newspapers like The Boston Globe shutter their foreign bureaus this year, Mr. Brûlé sees opportunity: next week, he said, Sydney will open as the London-based Monocle’s fourth bureau, joining New York, Tokyo and Zurich.

Mr. Brûlé, now 38, said that for years he’s considered launching a newsmagazine in the tradition of the “confident, robust newsstand weekly” he found in Germany, packed with “60 pages of foreign reportage.” In 1994, while freelancing for one such German magazine, Mr. Brûlé was struck by a sniper’s bullet in Afghanistan.

But the idea for Wallpaper* was also percolating during his recovery in London, and that’s the one that took off first, in 1996—clearing a market for aspirational cosmopolitans (yuppie-porn, to some). The category has skyrocketed since, with upscale shelter mags clogging the magazine racks at Barnes & Noble.

The following year, Mr. Brûlé sold the magazine to Time Inc. for $1.63 million, and founded a design agency, Wink Media (later Winkreative), in 1998. Mr. Brûlé remained editorial director until 2002, before leaving amid gossip about private jet expenses and disagreements with corporate higher-ups.

Before leaving Wallpaper*, Mr. Brûlé was already quoted in the press about his desire to launch a newsmagazine.

“That didn’t make them very happy at Time Inc,” Mr. Brûlé said, laughing. “Norman Pearlstine got so angry at me. I remember being screamed at on the phone in Hamburg.”

New Trade Publication Targets Bloggers, Podcasters

This month Larstan Publishing launched Blogger and Podcaster, a trade magazine dedicated to "new media titans," reports CMS Wire. Allegedly the first of its kind for the "new media" industry, Blogger and Podcaster will operate on a collaborative format, drawing from a number of frontline voices in the blogging and podcasting worlds. It will also be closely edited by two longtime journalists.

CEO Larry Genkin of Larstan expects the magazine to draw hobbyist attention at outset, but the content is dedicated mainly to professional practitioners of digital media.

“There are two things holding back the industry: helping practitioners to earn a full-time living from their craft and providing vendors a cost effective vehicle to communicate with and generate significant sales from bloggers and podcasters. We aim to help the industry on both fronts,” said Genkin.

Like its industry, the publication is fluid, appearing in a number of forms: digital, print and podcast. A yearly print subscription costs $79, while digital and podcast editions will be available at no cost.Genkin projects circulation will leap from its current 20,000 to 250,000 next year. The publication has already been dubbed the official trade magazine of the International Blogging and New Media Association.