Desired Landscapes 7
Delivered to Stack subscribers in
Feb 2024
A magazine that doesn’t really look like a magazine, Desired Landscapes is modelled on a pocket-sized travel guide and inspires readers to see the world differently, setting out on journeys of the mind in far-flung cities.
Name
Natassa Pappa
Job title
Publisher
What is Desired Landscapes?
Desired Landscapes is a pocket-sized magazine reading into a diverse mix of cities. Print co-exists with walking tours, collectively exploring the sense of place through visual culture. Each dispatch is a collection of person-to-place bonds, critical texts, maps and archival material, seen through the eyes of people shaping today’s cities.
What makes it different to the rest?
First its size. It is pocket-sized to be carried anywhere and take you to distant vistas from the comfort of your city. And then, the fact that content emerges – and expands to – walking tours, to transform the reading experience to a bodily one.
Who makes Desired Landscapes?
It is basically me – most of the days from my home studio – with a network of remote creatives coming from different backgrounds. Through the years, a small team of regular contributors has started to form, and that helps the magazine’s voice to become more and more ‘Desired’.
Who reads it?
Urban travel and design enthusiasts. People who love cities, oral history, urbanism, walking, travelling, tourism, and who look for a more personal, yet informed take around these topics.
Why do you work in magazines?
It is a medium that creates a snapshot in time, a documentation of a ‘here and now’, without expecting to be too serious and strict like a book. This constant bind to a context of time creates a loose space for reflection, experimentation and emotion. And there is always the next issue, to evolve that state of being, understanding and expressing. I feel that magazines is a place where I am allowed to grow and change.
Aside from the print magazine, what else are you involved in?
I started as a graphic designer, then I was teaching design, and now my focus has shifted mainly to publishing. The magazine has created the framework of producing and distributing publications about cities, so now I’m preparing a couple more titles. Recently, I launched our first physical space in the heart of Athens, the Desired Pocket Space, hosting all Desired publications, walks and workshops.
What would you change about Desired Landscapes if you could?
The number of pages. We publish every nine months, and I’d like to keep it that way, so our subscribers’ bookshelves won’t feel cluttered. Adding more pages per issue would create a more timeless object and would allow for more stories to be shared.
Where do you see Desired Landscapes in five years?
That would be issue 15! So close, yet so far! I see us, Desired writers, being more skilful and bold about sharing our inner voices; our subscribers would be meeting in intimate gatherings around the world to discuss cities; and our Pocket Space in Athens will still be a desired place to be.
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