A Yellow, an expanding magazine that lives and celebrates the culture in Brazilian, at the end of 2021, it opened its first temporary and itinerant store. The space brings a 360-degree experience that unifies all the brand’s fields of action. In a kind of ephemeral scenography, the architecture and art direction dialogue with the codes of each location. In São Paulo, the environment is open for visitation until January 10th, presenting its expanded universe to readers. With the proposal of having a fixed point for every two collections of its online fair, the Yellow intends to reach other Brazilian states soon.
The movement can be considered daring, especially at a time of so many difficulties for those who live in culture in Brazil. All initiatives are designed by the magazine’s founder, Tomas Biagi Carvalho. With a degree in advertising and a postgraduate degree in editorial design, he divides his time between the publishing world and his creative studio. Learn more about Amarello through Tomas’ words:
– How did the idea of expanding the project to multiple platforms come about?
TBC: As soon as the pandemic started, we had all advertising contracts cancelled. This triggered in me the need to rethink the entire business model of the magazine and the first step was a radicalization of the digital, which until then we had only worked on organically. Therefore, we created a new website, where we made available online, for the first time, all the content of the magazine’s 11 years of existence so far, with digital subscriptions, newsletter, etc… As the investment in an online sales platform is high and we had only one product being launched every three months, which is the magazine’s periodicity, the account would not close. Therefore, I decided to take on the fair’s initiative – an old project I had to launch product collections in collaboration with brands, designers and artisans I like, in a periodicity that was interspersed with the magazine, so that we could gain pace with product launches in the online store. After two product collections launched on digital, I felt a great need to have a physical point of sale that would provide feedback to the site. It is increasingly challenging to set up and communicate a business on the internet, and nothing replaces people’s physical contact with the products.
– Tell us a little about Amarello’s presence in other fields – digital, fair, store and Prêmio da Canção.
TBC: Amarello is a physical and digital magazine, which believes in the power and capacity of individual transformation of the human being, in addition to seeing the world through the eyes of “Brazilian culture”. An ecosystem that materializes in the printed magazine, on the website, in the fair’s collections, in temporary stores and soon in the Prêmio da Canção, which is a natural evolution of a project of ours called Febre Amarella, which we used to do at Casa de Francisca, in São Paulo. Paulo, where a new generation musician performed a show in honor of an idol, creating a dialogue between the two bodies of musical works. About the award, since we debate and defend so much “Brazilian culture”, we want to transform it into a cultural agent that validates and gives light to this new generation of musicians who have an excellent work, release their records on streaming platforms and finds it very difficult to stand out from the industry giants.
– What does this daring expansion movement mean for Amarello at such a difficult time for Brazilian culture?
TBC: I believe that the only way to get out of this hole we are in, to try to minimally stem the precariousness process, due to neoliberalism and the domination of Silicon Valley, under what we buy, what we want and who we are, is to culture. As we have been a country highly ruled by foreigners for centuries, either we look now at who we are and what we can offer the world, or there will be no way to resist and everything will become one thing, pasteurized. I see a strong movement to value what is ours happening in recent years, but we need more. A lot more.
– What are the next steps for the traveling store? Which Brazilian cities should receive the space?
TBC: The plans are to open, in 2022, a store in Rio de Janeiro and another in Belo Horizonte. Each space respecting the traditions and local codes, to propose novelties based on them. Our mission with the magazine’s physical centers is to put Brazil face to face with Brazil, opening temporary spaces in cities all over the country, understanding and adapting to what makes sense for each place. That’s why, at the São Paulo store, we started from the idea of rethinking a São Paulo warehouse from the 19th century, which is very much here, and, on top of the traditional and classic products that still exist from that time, to propose a new look and a new way of consumption. Contemporary. Which in fact isn’t new, but it’s been lost.
– Do you believe that this experience should generate even deeper exchanges with local creatives?
TBC: I have no doubt. This idea was born from the contacts I make with people, institutions and places when I travel around Brazil. As we started during the pandemic, I didn’t have a lot of travel, and I’m creating with people I already knew or who were introduced to me remotely due to social isolation. When things normalize, we will gain greater breath and scope.
– In which publications were you inspired to take Amarello beyond the magazine, contemplating a physical space?
TBC: For over 10 years now, niche magazines, especially international ones, where the reader market is infinitely larger than in Brazil – due to the fact that they have an effective educational system and, consequently, culture and reading habits – have had a business model that is no longer a large newsroom with many employees and high fixed costs. Several publications have been making this move to seek a second source of income in addition to the magazine and its channels. These titles are increasingly specific in their subject matter and, consequently, speak more directly to their readership: Kinfolk, which caused an aesthetic revolution in the publishing market, had a catering service and a clothing store; Holiday, which is a French travel magazine from the 60s, was reactivated by Franck Durand, the art director, and they opened a clothing brand that parades in Paris, as well as a really cool cafe near their store/studio; Monocle has stores in several cities, with super delicious coffees and products they create with brands from around the world; Gentlewoman has products too, but only on the site. They host meetings in galleries, museums, dinners and lunches for subscribers, in addition to producing a literature magazine in collaboration with Penguin, and making the COS branded magazine; Finally, Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop website is for me the biggest success story. It started as a newsletter where she gave travel and gastronomy tips to friends. It was so successful that this newsletter turned into a website, which after a while began to launch lifestyle products, until it became a print magazine that is sold throughout the United States. Today they have temporary stores in vacation spots, culinary meetings, classes, etc…
Yellow store:
Address: Rua Joaquim Antunes, 392, Pinheiros, São Paulo – SP
Hours of Operation:
Sun – 1pm to 7pm
Mon to Wed – 10 am to 7 pm
Thurs to Sat – 10 am to 9 pm
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