Every morning Thorsten Keller starts the day with a cup of good coffee – black or flat white – and a fresh issue of an independently published magazine. Then, he taps into two other personal passions – photography and design – and arranges the hot drink, the chosen title and some fresh flowers in order to take a photo that he’ll post on Instagram @coffeetablemags, which highlights the journals stocked by his online shop.
“I love magazines for the tactile experience, from the smell and touch of the paper to the design,” says Keller, who is a Hamburg-based freelance media designer and founder of Coffee Table Mags.
“Sitting down with a good magazine is a luxury, something that calms and slows me down by providing a welcome pause to counter the fast pace of digital life,” he says.
The niche magazine backstory
It all started serendipitously in 2014, when a friend offered Keller a stand in his Hamburg café to display and sell some of his favourite titles.
Keller, who says he’s been drawn to publishing since he was a student working on the school newspaper, has always consumed a lot of magazines, especially harder-to-find international independent titles. But ordering these was not always easy, as there was no local stockist in his hometown.
Owning his own shop was a dream, so Keller jumped at the opportunity to start a small-scale venture as a side gig to his work as a graphic designer. Keller built that first magazine rack for the coffee shop at home, and the night before the opening he set up an online shop.
Happily, in a dream-come-true turn, there have been so many like-minded folk from Europe to China, Brazil and the US looking for independent titles that business has boomed; Coffee Table Mags is now Keller’s full-time job.
Paper matters for magazine publishing
Keller aims to stock about 100 international independent titles, but says the number is often closer to 150, as there are so many good ones being created ranging from Norway’s Nytt Rom interior design magazine to Australia’s Lunch Lady family and food concept journal.
There are several reasons for the growing appeal of print, according to Keller.
“Well-created magazines capture the essence of the time when they were made,” he says.
“The magazines I stock also capture a time and place outside of the endless stories in other media about the pandemic,” he says. He adds that there’s often far less advertising in independent magazines compared to mainstream weeklies or monthlies, and the standards are very high in terms of content and production.
“The paper quality is really important to me. If the paper is flimsy or poor quality, it detracts from the product, and I’m not interested in stocking such titles,” he says. “Thick, high-quality paper and a luxurious cover, for example, with type embossed and highlighted in metallic foil, make these magazines collectibles.”
Keller sources his selection from social media inspiration on Instagram and blogs such as Stack Magazines. He also receives a lot of queries from publishers and, when possible, tries to buy titles directly from them as that’s one the best ways to support makers of independent magazines.
Armchair travel publishing trends
A recent trend Keller has noticed is the interest in issues that transport readers to exotic countries such as Japan. This is likely fuelled by the global slowdown in travel over the past two years.
Another trend is internationalisation. “For example, The Weekender from Cologne, which is about travel, food, and interiors, recently started publishing in English in addition to German,” says Keller.
Currently, there are two physical locations in Hamburg where Keller’s magazines are available, Public Coffee Roasters (Wexstrasse location) and Balz & Balz, but the majority of business is online, where the slogan says it all: “Happiness is magazines.”
