Date of Premiere Issue : Autumn 2004
Co-Founders : Angel Chang & Claudia Wu
Editor-in-Chief & Creative Director : Claudia Wu
Editor-in-Chief : Angel Chang
Publisher : Me Publications
Dimensions : 6 11/16"W x 9"H
Frequency : Four Issues / Year
Country of Origin : New York, USA
Website : www.memagazinenyc.com
Statement
The idea for this magazine started one early winter morning as a result of a conversation that is probably familiar to most of us - the one where we vent about out jobs and figure out ways to give ourselves a creative outlet. We had experienced working in publishing before, and starting a magazine seemed easy enough. We were being completely naive, but it felt great at least; we would be doing something we wanted to do, with our own ideas and our own vision.
While discussing concepts for our new project, we realized that we hung out with some incredibly talented and remarkable people. Some were still assistants working in the shadow of some prominent names; some were promising individuals on their way to becoming big; others were already established and embraced the underground. We were impressed by their professional achievements and wanted to learn more about them as people.
So we decided to start a magazine based around one person we wanted to get to know better. We would interrogate their friends for gossip, rifle through their closets, peek into their medicine cabinet, and chat with them about their past and they arrived at the present stage in their lives.
Joshua Abelow, thankfully,took a leap of faith and agreed to be our first Guest Editor. Without really knowing who we were or if we could actually pull it off, he was incredibly helpful, supportive and patient. He also managed to convince his very busy group of friends - fellow artists, photographers and designers - to answer our many questions and requests, and Jason Frank Rothenberg was a saint for photographing everyone on very short notice and funds.
It's something of a miracle that you are holding this in your hands and reading these words - there were a few more steps that go into publishing a magazine than we'd originally anticipated. But the most important thing that we learned was that making magazines, like a lot of things in life, is something you can't do alone. You need your friends.
Angel Change & Claudia Wu