AN HOMAGE TO FRIENDSHIP. Thomas Persson is a creative director, editor and brand consultant. His understanding of fashion, culture and corporate identity is a resource for global fashion and beauty companies in their visual communication and brand building projects. He created “Acne Paper” an acclaimed magazine published by Acne Studios. He art directed global advertising campaigns for leading fashion brands including Armani and he made two books on the legendary photographer Snowdon. Together with Lord Snowdon’s youngest daughter Frances Armstrong-Jones he founded “Luncheon” a style and culture biannual. In early 2018 he was appointed Creative Director of “L’Uomo Vogue”, and today he is once again at the editorial helm of a reborn “Acne Paper”.
You can listen to the podcast of this interview here.
Thomas Persson, you are a creative director, an editor, and a brand consultant. Which one of these definitions do you prefer?
I would choose editor, although I do work across many different fields in fashion and publishing. But editing is the work that is closest to my heart.
Because in 2005 with your friend Jonny Johansson, the co-founder and creative director of Swedish fashion brand Acne Studios, you created and were editor-in-chief and creative director of a publication called “Acne Paper”?
That’s right. The first version of “Acne Paper” went on until 2014. It was an incredible journey, for Acne Studios and Johnny and for me. It was an experiment to start with. Acne Studios was a fashion brand that wanted to create a publication. But during those first ten years, Acne Studios was moving in a much more contemporary direction, whereas “Acne Paper” in the first incarnation looked a lot towards history, while keeping a keen eye on contemporary culture. We made 15 issues and then decided to take a break, and that pause lasted for six years.
The “Acne Paper” reborn in 2021 has nothing to do with the Acne Studios fashion brand?
Not in an editorial way, but Acne Studios is our publisher. In the beginning of “Acne Paper” we photographed the clothes of the brand only, and then realised that if we were going to be perceived as a real magazine with integrity we needed to open it up and also feature and talk about things that did not have anything to do with the brand directly. It was more like a cultural extension of the mindset of the brand.
“A magazine is a beautiful way to connect with the world.”
“Acne Paper” 4 Cover
Thomas Persson, would you say “Acne Paper” is a very special magazine, a book or even an object?
It is hard to define “Acne Paper”. In the beginning we were inspired by newspaper format magazines like Andy Warhol’s “Interview” and it was Jonny’s brilliant idea to call it “Acne Paper” and include the brand name. More than anything “Acne Paper” is a laboratory of editorial ideas. I had creative freedom so it became a very personal project for me. I could be curious and look around to find people, subjects, things that I was interested in, and to gather all of these in a printed publication. What has always been special about “Acne Paper” is that it’s created around a specific theme for each issue, and this theme instructs us and creates a lens that we have to see everything through. For instance, the latest issue is about the nocturnal, and creative people who are inspired by the night. “Acne Paper” is a cinematic magazine in the way that a film has its own mood, its own kind of light, its own sense of scenography and visual style.
You are Norwegian and were friends with Jonny since you moved to Stockholm. “Acne Paper” is published in Stockholm and Acne Studios is a Swedish brand. Is your taste Scandinavian?
I don’t know if my taste is particularly Scandinavian. I grew up with a grandmother who was French American. I moved from Oslo when I was 26, and I’ve lived in London, Paris, Milan and Athens, as well as Stockholm. The taste is quite international, but maybe there is a purity of design there that might have a Scandinavian sensibility.
Besides beautiful photographs, sometimes of real clothes, sometimes of fantasy images, there are many interviews and articles in “Acne Paper”. I read a beautiful article by Natasha Fraser about the end of Frédéric Chopin’s life in Paris. You have an article on Frederic Malle about perfume, or Paolo Colombo about art. Are you looking for special moments of special people?
I’m very fortunate to have, through all these years of making this magazine, wonderful contributors around me. When I come up with the theme of the issue I share this with people like Natasha, who is a beautiful writer. I talk to her about the subject and she would come up with some brilliant ideas for it. I do this with all my contributors. That’s why I say editor is probably the thing that I identify with the most. I put the subject out there and I gather ideas from these very talented people. With the art director I then put everything together on the page in a way we think will convey the story we want to tell.
Can I find your “Acne Paper” in bookstores?
It’s distributed globally, so it is in all the big magazine stores around the world. We cover a lot of contemporary art and work with museums so it will also be in specialised gallery and museum shops. You can find it online as well as in all Acne Studios stores globally.
Are you now preparing a new issue?
We are actually preparing the 20th anniversary issue that’s coming out in the spring, when it will be 20 years since we first launched “Acne Paper”.
When you paused the publication of “Acne Paper” who became your clients and what did you do for them?
My first client, let’s say after Acne Studios, because I started “Acne Paper” directly after I graduated from Central St Martins, was Hermès. They contacted me because they had seen “Acne Paper” and the magazine resonated with what they wanted to explore for their visual communication for their men’s collections. So my career as an art director in the fashion industry started with Hermès, and I created these booklets where I come up with an idea for how the collection should be shot, suggestions of photographers and also the layout, how it’s going to be designed. I did a few of these wonderful projects with Hermès. But my biggest job in the fashion industry was with Giorgio Armani. I was called to meet with Mr. Armani because they were looking for someone who could work with the brand on all their advertising, so this was a very big job. It was challenging because Armani is a huge brand with so many projects that need to be done.
“There is something about the book and some magazines that, when they are well done, the Internet and social media can’t really compete with it, because it’s an object.”
Thomas Persson, it must have been a very interesting personal experience to work with Giorgio Armani?
Yes, he is an absolutely incredible person: rigorous, extremely talented, completely dedicated to his creation. He was demanding, but also very inspiring. I learned a lot from him, especially about photography, because my job was to come up with ideas and suggestions for how we are going to present every new collection in photography. He’s a remarkable man with a unique vision, someone who knows exactly what he wants. To work for him and tap into his universe and try to understand the Giorgio Armani style and how that can be translated into photography, that was a very interesting time.
You also edited two books on the legendary photographer Lord Snowdon, “Snowdon – A Life in View” and “Snowdon Blue”?
Snowdon is one of the great photographers of his generation, and I wanted to include master photographers in “Acne Paper”. I wrote him a letter and asked if he would be interested in photographing students and teachers at Central St Martins, thinking it was a long shot. I mean, he’s done huge portfolios for Vanity Fair, he shot for Vogue, he’s an incredible photographer, especially on portraiture. But he said yes to do it, so we met at the first time at Central St Martins, the college where I used to study, and spent the whole day photographing students and teachers. From there we started working on other projects together and became friends.
You also worked with Snowdon’s daughter, Frances Armstrong-Jones?
Frances and I had many mutual friends, but for years we didn’t meet. One day I got an email from Frances asking if we could meet, which we did. At that time she was in charge of the Snowden archive and was interested in doing a project about her father’s blue shirts, which he often photographed. If the sitter wasn’t wearing something that he liked he would ask her or him to wear one of his own blue shirts that he kept in the studio. Frances had this idea of making a book about portraits of people photographed in those shirts and also photographed in the colour blue, Snowdon’s favourite colour. Her idea resonated with Acne Studios, having a history in jeans, so the first project was “Snowdon Blue”, a book of portraits of people wearing blue which was published by Acne Studios together with a little collection of shirts that they made inspired by Snowdon’s shirts. It was the first of several books Acne Studios have published, and it became an interesting dialogue between a legendary photographer and a young fashion brand resulting in a very successful project for everybody. There was a synergy between the generations, that these two worlds can merge in a very beautiful way.
How come in 2016 you created the magazine “Luncheon” with Frances?
After having worked with the commercial side of the fashion industry for some time, I was longing to get back to magazines, which is my passion. Frances and I had during this time since we did “Snowdon Blue” become close friends. Frances grew up with photography and with magazines. She had already contributed to “Acne Paper” with the Italian fashion photographer Paolo Roversi who she worked with for many years. The idea of “Luncheon” was that we used to meet over lunch and talk about ideas and creativity and people, and we thought it would be a good idea to do a magazine where we meet people over lunch and to be creative around food: food and fashion, food and art, food and conversation.
Then in 2018 you became the creative director of “L’Uomo Vogue” in Italy. How long for?
I was there for three years. Emanuele Farneti had been appointed as the new editor in chief of Vogue Italia after Franca Sozzani. They closed “L’Uomo Vogue” down in late 2017 and then relaunched it in 2018 and he was looking for a creative director to work with him. Since I was a child, I’ve been dreaming about working for Vogue, the greatest fashion magazine in the world, so I was completely overjoyed by this opportunity and “L’Uomo Vogue” is so different from all the other Vogues. First of all, this is a men’s fashion magazine. It’s Italian. It has an incredible history. It started in 1967. I immediately went into the archives and discovered how innovative “L’Uomo Vogue” was. The challenge was how to translate this into today, which we did by publishing it in English, making it international in a new format, with a new editorial structure and design. It was three very interesting years, but then I stopped because Jonny approached me and asked if I would be interested in starting “Acne Paper” again. Which I was.
Is “Acne Paper” now your full-time job?
No, I do other things. At the moment, I work with a few Italian brands. Italy has been the country where I’ve been working the most in terms of fashion, but I also do other books. I am doing my second book with Robin Muir on Cecil Beaton and I have been doing books with Dolce & Gabbana. I did two books with the photographer Mary McCartney. I’ve been working a lot with print, not just the magazine which is only once per year and even if it’s 500 pages you still need other work to pay the bills.
Nowadays newspapers and magazines are less important as people get their news online, so why have physical books retained their allure?
There is something about the book and some magazines that, when they are well done, the Internet and social media can’t really compete with it, because it’s an object. It has a physical presence in your room, it is also a warm home with books. It has an edit that is very considered, from the cover to the opening, to how things are structured, how it feels, the paper, all of that. That is a tactile sensory experience as well as the content inside. For me it’s very much about the edit, because when a book is beautifully done – let’s say an illustrated book or a book of photography – it is considered, and someone has really thought about how we are going to open it, what is the first image one is going to see. On social media you just scroll and it’s a cacophony, a huge noisy situation, whereas a book is a silent, much more meditative experience. That is something that people will always want. I don’t believe that we always just want to have a screen.
Acne Paper 3 Cover
by Snowdon
Acne Paper 3
Photograph by Eric Boman
Acne Paper 17 Cover
by Paul Kooiker
“There’s always one favourite image that sings to me, so it’s not a difficult choice, it stands out.”
Thomas Persson, does it take you a long time to choose the right cover?
There’s always one favourite image that sings to me, so it’s not a difficult choice, it stands out. For “Acne Paper” it belongs to a series, so it’s always in the context of what we’ve done before. It’s more difficult to know how we are going to show this image and the typography, the colour, the quality of the paper. All of those things takes longer.
Is it an intellectual luxury to own a considered book or a quality magazine?
It is, because many of these books are quite expensive, but it’s something that definitely I want to have in my library. I want to look at it. I want to have its presence. It’s an interesting time for magazines, because before magazines were made to make money with advertising and to earn money was one of the most important reasons for making them, whereas now it’s a little different. A new generation of magazine publishers are more about the making of a magazine, how it’s printed and designed. It’s not just about the content. It’s not necessarily about selling something, it’s more about the passion for the creation of a magazine in itself. A magazine is a beautiful way to connect with the world. You have an opportunity to reach out to people that you’re interested in: artists, photographers, writers, people you are curious about. When you do something on the printed page, I think it means more to people than if it’s only online.
In the magazines of the past fashion was moulded into a cultural environment by famous writers or poets. Do you want to recuperate this tradition?
I spent a lot of time in the Vogue archives in London when they were still on Hanover Square, and you are blown away by the contributors and the artistic integrity of these issues because they involve the greatest writers and artists of the time. Artists were commissioned to do covers. They were experimental. They were groundbreaking. They were doing something that the world had never seen before. Today, it’s a very different picture, much more commercial, about celebrity. There’s still brilliant writers and photographers working for magazines like Vogue, but it’s not a magazine for me personally anymore. I would rather look at the old editions, it’s more interesting for what I do, because with “Acne Paper” we have an opportunity to be experimental, to include great contemporary artists, to do a cover. We’re much more aligned with how a magazine like Vogue used to be.
Are you looking to show the importance of sophisticated beauty in this world?
Yes. We have a great luxury because we don’t have to get into the politics of finance and power, and that allows us to choose what we think is the best right now, independently of everything that’s going on. I don’t know if that is sophisticated, but we can cherry pick a little bit.
Why did you and Jonny decide that it was time to bring “Acne Paper” back?
Maybe the time just felt ready. Maybe we missed each other as well. We missed working together and seeing each other and doing this magazine, which was such an important part of both our lives. It’s great to be back and it’s great to be doing it, and I hope that people think the same.
Can we say that it’s an homage to friendship?
Absolutely. That’s beautiful.
Thank you very much for this conversation. I wish you a very happy 20th anniversary next issue of “Acne Paper” and your readers must be very happy that you came back.
I hope so. Thank you.
ENJOY THIS INTERVIEW? SHARE IT WITH A FRIEND.
