Michael Mugambi founded Paper Café in Nairobi in the summer of 2022 to promote the crossbreed of European independent magazines and the African cultural scene
A story from Nairobi
Michael Mugambi has been a Communication and Graphic Design student. He developed his passion for commercial art and started working in the field. It was through this process that he learned the value of paper and its differences. Magazines and print were just a short step away. More than anything, he is fascinated by the combination of them and digital technology.
At the same time, he realized that there weren’t stores providing people with a collection of independent magazines ranging from around the world. During the summer of 2022, he realized he could create it by himself and, at the same time, built a community with people who have similar art passions.
Nairobi’s citizens have welcomed the idea and were curious to discover new titles and cultures, buying by surprise more than one copy per time. In fact, Mr. Mugambi discovered that his community was eager to meet in real life the titles that they were only able to look up on Instagram before the establishment of Paper Café, showing how vital is the visual component in this field.
Nairobi’s cultural scene
Mr. Mugambi chose the capital of Kenya as his base for Paper Café since it is one of the most prolific art scenes in Africa. Many young people are developing new creative languages, especially in the literary field. In recent years Kenyan people are finding ways to express their creativity through books. The public is also responding well to this new cultural wave while paying attention to new magazine production by Africans.
However, much space is also available for visual art, which has gained new attention in the digital era. For this reason, new photographers were born and began to capture the rising of the capital. Mr. Mugambi has decided to become a patron for arts through the store. This ended up in the postcard project. He included a postcard created by a young photographer, Ian Gichohi, with each package he sent.
A worldwide selection of independent magazines at Paper Café
Even though Mr. Mugambi has decided to highlight African artists by promoting their publications, its first mission was to create a global magazine pool. To be featured in Paper Café, he mostly selects publications in English, but it isn’t the only requirement. In fact, the founder strongly believes that the language component is in the background compared to their visual side.
Mr. Mugambi has built his criteria that allow his collection to be on the standard. In addition to magazine covers and photographs, other factors are also relevant. Most magazine features on their pages work from major photographers and are for inspiration to those who want to pursue the same path.
The second aspect he takes into account is the number of pages for each editorial. In fact, he believes that magazines should provide topics and discuss them in depth. As a result, he always reads through every page before putting a product online for sale. In terms of the last criterion, Mr. Mugambi believes each magazine must be relevant for at least ten years to be considered. By doing that, he always ensures that each issue is about matters that are fundamental for its audience and can reflect on the future.
Nevertheless, he ignores the country of origin. As a matter of fact, the primary target of customers are journalists, artists, and graphic designers who are there to discover the world in every shape and form and find inspiration for their work. Mr. Mugambi thinks of social media and how they present visual content and how people use it to create a bridge between their culture and the one outside Africa to fill a gap that it’s impossible in another way.
Mr. Mugambi: the Kenyan community and the magazine world
During this work, Mr. Mugambi was able to collect feedback from his community and realized how its focus on green matters and whether one magazine has environmentally friendly policies in place. In order for people to better understand this matter, he realized that they needed a physical approach to self-educate themselves or dive deeper into it.
Thus this selection, the founder is also creating a magazine archive. The result of this careful selection was the creation of a collection of the best copies he has ever purchased, which will one day be available for public viewing.
Mr. Mugambi has always been fascinated by how social media operates, especially its algorithm. He realized that browser navigation is sometimes difficult for people who are just starting out in e-commerce. Therefore, he started to do that personally. Customers are always in touch with him to discuss the magazines. When they want to buy something that is not yet available, it is enabled to become a human algorithm and advise according to the person, a magazine that he can love.
The future of Paper Café
This year was only the beginning for Paper Café. In fact, Mr. Mugambi has many business ideas to pursue. Firstly, he is planning on collaborating with Nairobi’s coffee shop. This was already planned when he opened his online store and was included in the name since the beginning. However, it’s only the first step because the bigger picture is to include a magazine corner in every relevant place in Nairobi. In Mr. Mugambi’s vision, magazines are for everyone, and people just have to come in touch with them to start reading and appreciating them.
In the end, Paper Café will be more than a shop but a cultural hub for Kenya, where artists, designers, journalists, and citizens can come together and find a safe place to express their art. Moreover, the founder looks forward to the cultural exchange that this bridge between Europe and Africa can expand and create a collaboration between the two editorial worlds.
Paper Café
Paper Café was founded in 2022 by Michael Mugambi, a graphic designer from Nairobi, fell in love with independent magazines during his university studies. He then decided to open the first magazine e-commerce store in the city. He decided to establish the first cultural independent magazine shop to create a creative hub for artists, promoting creative talents from his city at the same time.
