Exclusive Interview with Wallpaper*'s Creative Director—Sarah Dougla

Wallpaper* is one of the world’s most important design and style magazine. It has readers in 93 countries and has enjoyed unparalleled success in reaching the design elite right across the globe. Wallpaper* is a Time Inc. publication focusing on design and architecture, fashion, travel, art and lifestyle.

On the T China International Style Conference , Luxe.Co had a very interesting talk with Wallpaper * creative director Sarah Douglas.

About Wallpaper * & Sarah Douglas

Wallpaper * magazine was launched in London in 1996 by Canadian journalist Tyler Brûlé and Austrian journalist Alexander Geringer. Brûlé sold the magazine to Time Warmer in 1997. Apart from publishing the monthly magazine and website, the Wallpaper* brand also creates content, curates exhibitions and designs events for luxury clients. It offers a high-end interior design service, Wallpaper* Composed, and has published over 100 travel city guide books in partnership with Phaidon Press. 2015 saw the launch of the Wallpaper* STORE, an e-commerce platform offering the Wallpaper* audience the opportunity to purchase a carefully curated selection of the products seen on the pages. The Telegraph Newspaper called it 'the Net-a-Porter of interiors'.

Sarah joined Wallpaper* as art editor in 2007, and was appointed creative director in 2012. Sarah was previously Art Director of The Architects’ Journal and was awarded Art Director of the Year at the Periodical Publishers Association Awards in 2005.

Luxe.co: where have you worked before Wallpaper*?

S: Actually I’ve been in Wallpaper for ten years. I was an art director for 5 years in the British architectural magazine The Architects’ Journal. And I have a graphic design degree background, mostly design for magazines.

Luxe.co: You’re so stylish and I’m wondering about your everyday fashion style, such as your favorite fashion brands?

S: Yeah I do have several favorite brands, such as Hiller Bartley and 12by5, a UK-based brand, whose founder is a girl and now she makes mostly unisex clothes and the style is very minimal and simple. That is my kind of work wear.

Luxe.co: As the creative director, for you what is the biggest challenge? To do more innovative things or more inherited things?

S: To be honest, we’ve never stopped changing and innovating. Especially with our 20’s anniversary cover, we had Thomas Heatherwich design something and it was kinetic. And this is the first time any magazine cover moves like that. So we always do things like this, whether it’s experimenting with print or experimenting with digital. As for the digital we have an activity for readers to design covers online by themselves, using different elements of texture and color and they actually receive the cover themselves. It’s kind of experimenting and pushing boundaries. They keep us alive.

(Wallpaper * 20 anniversary features have two covers, the first designed by Thomas Heatherwick, can be cut into stripes and recombination to create a dynamic design. The second function is from Published in 1996 magazine cover of the image of Gucci)

Luxe.co: What are  Wallpaper*’s advantage or difference comparing with the other magazines or medium?

S: We’ve covered everything from architecture to fashion, art, travel, food and others and in every area we do well. I have never found any other printed magazines or websites can crossover as thoroughly as we are.

Luxe.co: Do you have any secrete knowhow of keeping the high quality of contents even when you’re covering so many sectors. Like how to select your people or do you have a system of assuring the high-quality contents?

S: I think is the mental attitude, which makes you irreplaceable. You can’t stop and say, I did that , that’s good and I’m fine now. You can always be better by questioning yourself and challenging yourself. And I think by doing that your boundaries have been pushing above further higher.

Luxe.co: Because Wallpaper has already owned lots of readers in China , what is your ambitions or market goals in China?

S: It’s really to engage further in China. I think we need a team based in China to do that in a more thorough way. And from the feedback we know that the translated version would be popular in China, too. So that’s what we’re looking into.

Luxe.co: we know that you have collaboration with Chinese artists and furniture brands, like Zaozuo. I’m wondering that when you planning to do a content about China, how do you find, explore and select the target people. Is there a procedure?

S: There are lots of different resources we have like our writers in China, mostly freelancers, and we often talk to lots of people in lots of cities and trying to get engaged into the points. So it’s all about gathering all the information and make an informed decision.

Luxe.co: But do they share some elements in common to in order to be reported in Wallpaper*.

S: Yeah, they need to have something to do with architecture, or fashion, or art, or travel or food. But the common is art integrated and making something interesting for our readers.

Luxe.co: I read this very interesting saying in China about Wallpaper“To be shown in Wallpaper, at least you have to be beautiful”.

S: Haha, It’s not true. On the supervision level people may think that because we have very beautiful pictures. But we are really in depths of it, nothing specious.

Luxe.co: We heard Wallpaper also do things like curator, right? What’s it like?

S: So for example we have a program called “Wallpaper* Handmade”. We’ve had 8 years of it where we commission between eighty and hundreds of pieces of products a year. And we accommodate and show them in Milan and sell them in Salone del Mobile. And we have the products maybe shoetree, and we have fashion designers doing tables, architects doing clothes. It’s really pushing people’s boundaries.

Luxe.co: Do your have a huge team?

S: We have a quarter of 50 people in UK. Other offices are small with many freelancers.

Luxe.co: So how is the daily workday for your team? Do you meet up every morning to talk about topics just like the other magazines?

S: Yes. So we have different designers doing different projects. Magazine designers have to read the words and think about how we can communicate visually on that and talk to the professional photography. We have a team doing that. Then we have website designers, who really think how many stories, which are relevant, shall be put up online, . We have a commercial department that works as advertising agency. So clients and brands come to us for creatives with our advertising campaigns. So there are lots of revenues from the creative.

Luxe.co: You also have a store, right? How’s the sale?

S: Yes, we have an e-commerce Wallpaper* Store to sell curated selection of objects. But at the moment bags are the main products. But we may change. The sale in the store is extremely good. I’m also surprised and shocked by the fact that so many different countries come and buy our products, especially Australians. In Australian there are few design stores so in our store they don’t have to search through many products and they are also happy for picking us.

Luxe.co: So do you have a communicated daily events on e-commerce?

S: It’s not daily. I would say it’s weekly.

Luxe.co: where the most of your revenues come from?

S: Yeah, but most of our revenues come from advertisement, which enables us to produce.

Luxe.co: We all know UK is very strong in creative industry so what’s your opinion about UK creative industry to tell Chinese people?

S: I think what UK is doing is really successful in the last certainly 20 years. It’s really developed and focusing on the process of making and to provide resources and research into craftsmanship. So rather than going straight to the manufacturing, it’s really thinking of every stage of making, why it is made, and what material it is and why using that material. And I think we’ve got into a good position in UK with knowledge and respect for material design and culture.

Luxe.co: And are you interested in Chinese fashion designers?

S: Yes absolutely. We would like to explore that.

Luxe.co: So what do you care most when buying art pieces or clothes in China?

S: That’s very emotional for me. It’s not like I go to an art affair because someone is showing. I don’t suddenly think they are artists and they’re really good. It’s very intuitive. So I think coming cross the Internet is really fantastic because you come across some many different things just by going down over the avenues. I found the Chinese artist, a lady called Chen Zhao by a very meandering process and I really love her paintings. I think all come from my feeling for something.

Luxe.co: Have you been China before? Or is it your first time?

S: This is my first time. Because every time my team came here, I happened to be travelling elsewhere.

Luxe.co: What’s your opinion about Chinese people or Chinese readers?

S: I think it’s really a tempting moment. China has very thrilling and interesting cultures in different aspects.