Andrew Wagner Named Editor-in-Chief of ReadyMade
Andrew Wagner, who most recently led the triumphant relaunch of American Craft with creative director Jeanette Abbink, is ready for a new challenge. The Dwell founding editor has been named editor-in-chief of ReadyMade, the bimonthly magazine “for people who like to make stuff, who see the flicker of invention in everyday objects—the perfectly round yolk in the mundane egg.” Wagner will assume his role at the Meredith title, which is based in Des Moines, on May 4.
“ReadyMade came to life in the Bay Area just a little after the launching of Dwell, so I’ve always watched it and been a big fan,” Wagner tells us. “I’ve known [ReadyMade founders] Grace Hawthorne and Shoshana Berger and have always been thoroughly impressed with the work they’ve done…so this presented an opportunity to continue the good things they’ve been doing with the magazine and to expand on it.” Among his key priorities will be broadening the magazine’s online presence, which currently includes a project archive, a few “web exclusives,” a couple of sporadically updated blogs, and a photo gallery to which readers can upload images of their latest creations, like this fetching wallet made from an 8-track tape. “ReadyMade is perfectly suited to a fantastically harmonious interplay between print and online,” notes Wagner. “We’re just starting to figure all that out but in the next few months expect to see Readymade.com pick up major steam.”
Wagner describes ReadyMade as a magazine for “‘makers’—whether that is someone constructing their own coffee table out of discarded cans and moving boxes, building a chandelier from recycled bottles, building their own home, redecorating their studio apartment or someone starting their own restaurant, record label, clothing line, distribution company, or garden.” The magazine’s how-to/DIY angle sets it apart, particularly now that Craft has departed the print world.
How does Wagner distinguish his new media niche from his most recent one? “American Craft is more about the ‘object,’” he tells us. “And Readymade is more about the ‘process’ and the ideas that go into the creation of something, though obviously the end ‘product’ is extremely important as well.”
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Nadine Cheung
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