The Scoop
A new culture magazine overseen by veteran journalists is launching with aspirations of demystifying the creative process.
On Monday, a group of digital media veterans, led by former Pitchfork and Spin editor-in-chief Puja Patel, is launching Totei, a publication dedicated to “craft and craftsmanship.” The online magazine will publish content weekly, including profiles of artists and musicians, photo essays, reported features, and interviews. Crucially, Totei aims to spotlight rarely seen materials showing how art is created, such as archival notes from artists, behind-the-scenes imagery, sketchbooks, drafts, and reference documents.
“It’s a magazine about the creative process behind the work that we feel is compelling across disciplines, mediums, generations,” Patel told Semafor in an interview on Saturday. “It’s really focusing on the process and the journey between an idea and the thing that we all see at the end.”
Totei is the vision of founder Gaurav Kapadia, the founder and CEO of long-term investment fund XN. Kapadia, a prominent New York philanthropist who sits on the board of the Whitney Museum, wanted to launch a high-quality publication that focused on artistic creation, but was also easily accessible to readers. In a statement to Semafor, he said he’d “always been inspired by those with a deep devotion to their craft — across every discipline.”
“Making something truly remarkable requires extraordinary dedication, and the creative process behind it is rarely seen,” he said. “My hope is that everyone who reads it feels the same sense of inspiration I do when getting inside the minds of exceptional makers.”
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Patel said she had initially connected with Kapadia’s team in September to advise on the types of stories that could work in Totei, but began talking with the founder about taking on a big role later in the fall.
She told Semafor she was encouraged by Kapadia’s willingness to financially support quality journalism, as well as his investment in the magazine’s visual design; Totei has been working with the design agency Pentagram, and Line Break Studio, the design and technology firm, on a custom content management system that will allow Totei to showcase art more effectively than other digital media outlets.
While the publication is not structured as a nonprofit, Patel said Kapadia has insisted that the publication be free for anyone to access, and for now it will not be supported by advertisements.
Totei will have a small full-time staff, including Patel, managing editor Olivia Horn, and staff writer Naomi Xu Elegant. The team has brought on art director Rob Vargas, photo editor Alis Atwell, and video editor Alyza Enriquez, and enlisted prominent writers to contribute well-reported pieces and essays. On Monday, the magazine will publish a profile of acclaimed Kabawa chef Paul Carmichael by Jazmine Hughes, with photography by Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet showing how Carmichael makes the restaurant’s roti. It’s also rolling out Max Read’s interview about AI with artists Trevor Paglen and Holly Herndon, and Delia Cai’s interview with writer Susan Orlean, among other pieces.
Under Patel, Spin and Pitchfork published deeply-reported investigations revealing malfeasance and misconduct by prominent figures in the music industry. While Patel said Totei is not focused on that type of investigative work, she said that the writers working on Totei projects are expected to produce high-quality journalism with the same type of attention to detail and rigorous fact-checking.
“It’s not a place to like, reveal scandal or something, but the depth of reporting and the rigor behind that is definitely a big part of this publication,” she said.