Tell us a little about yourselves. How did you meet and end up in Montauk?
We met eight years ago working in the New York artworld. Yasha was Emily’s boss. We got fired at the same time. We have been best friends ever since and at the same time transitioned out of the artworld into our respective fields of writing and designing - Yasha went on to work in publishing and Emily sold her soul to advertising. Together we have created magazines and books for various clients, so it was a natural fit that we’d work together on The Usual. We were going out to Montauk all the time, and we wanted to find a way to celebrate all the amazing, creative people we were meeting out there, as well as our love for surfing and the surf culture out there.
Surfing is the jumping off point for us, we’ll never be great surfers but what we lack in talent, we make up in enthusiasm – that’s what we take into all our all aspects of the magazine – general stoke for the people and places we’re showcasing.
Why did you choose to make a magazine?
Creating a tangible, print publication seemed like the perfect outlet for sharing the stories of the unique individuals we come in contact with. We wanted it to be free and therefore it had to be cheap to produce and we loved the throwback style of newsprint. And since we were on the beach all the time, we wanted something people could easily read there.
We also wanted to create something that was more tongue-in-cheek and different in voice to the typical local beach town paper—something that would appeal to our friends and a cultured demographic.
What is the inspiration behind the magazine? How do you choose who is in each issue?
Before each issue, we’d decide on a loose theme and brainstorm an editorial wishlist. We then contact those people and see if they were interested in participating and take it from there.
When it comes to inspiration, we don’t talk about it too much. Montauk was our muse for Issue No. 1 – the colors, fonts, the paper and the quirky things we choose to highlight.
Photography is really the main thing that leads our visual style – the kind of photos we choose for the covers. We don’t need to show high performance surfing, Lauren Malloy is on the cover of our current issue, because we loved the feeling you get when you look at the photo, and her killer swimsuit.
The Usual is a passion project, we don’t have a budget and so are incredibly grateful to photographers and writers that are supportive of us and let us show their work.
Our most recent issue is a collaboration with Patagonia, who we couldn’t be more excited to work with. They are opening a surf store on The Bowery in New York this spring/summer, so with them we created our first NYC wide issue, highlighting other areas in the city and beyond where there’s an interesting surf scene. For this issue, their ambassadors, like the Malloy brothers, Kim Diggs, and Dan Ross were really our inspiration. The company and everything they do for the environment and the sport is really in line with our ethos, so we were thrilled to work with them to create a (hopefully aesthetically pleasing) window into New York surf culture. We’re stoked to now also be working with them on an offshoot publication about climbing called The Vertical.
Tell us about Montauk.
Montauk, which is three hours from New York City, is known as a “drinking village with a fishing problem,” but it could also be known as a drinking village with a surfing problem! After May, it’s like the best summer camp ever—everyone is at the beach, surfing, having BBQs, drinking, watching sunsets, and eating lobster rolls. The rest of the year it’s still beautiful, but quiet – we’re still surfing but there are only a few people left in the lineup, we take walks, read books and play games by the fire. The joke is there are more deer than people in Montauk in the winter.
How can we get our hands on The Usual?
The Usual is available for free in New York and surf spots nearby, and select locations like Patagonia stores and Lightning Bolt on the West coast and Colette, Paris. In the meantime you can read the current and previous issues online at theusualmontauk.com or paypal info@theusualmontauk.com with your name and mailing address. ($5 USD Domestic, $10 USD International to cover shipping.)
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