http://www.musotrees.

com

Musotrees

Kerol Izwan - Editor-in-chief

1. First off, tell me a bit about yourself?

a. You seem to be a well-travelled person. How does travelling contribute to your
outlook in life, your worldview and your professional life?
2. What was the inspiration behind creating and publishing this magazine, Musotrees?
a. What does Musotrees mean and what was the inspiration behind this name?
b. Were you not worried of creating and publishing a physical magazine in an age
where their relevance has been questioned?
i. What were the reasonings behind it? Why not blogs or websites? What
made you take that leap of faith in pursuing a creative magazine company
in print?
3. Magazines typically publish weekly or monthly but Musotrees claims to be a periodical
print. How often is “periodical” and why did you decide to go this route?
4. Your first volume was published in May 2015, and you have just published your 5th
volume. What has changed about Musotrees, in regards to style, content, creative
process and direction?
5. Musotrees focuses on travel, journey and destination. Why did you choose to centre
around travelling?
a. What message about travelling do you aim to get across?
6. You guys are very well-travelled as this issue discusses big American cities like New
York and San Francisco, as well as humble areas like Nairobi and Kathmandu. Do you
guys travel to gather content for the magazine, or are the stories of these foreign places
a side project from all your travels?
7. The theme behind the most current volume is “Chemistry” which was inspired when you
were drinking coffee and thinking about how productivity is measured. Tell us more about
the inspiration and principle behind this 5th volume?
8. Looking through your magazine, there is such a wide range of lifestyle content: from
travel to cuisine, from fashion to interior design. How do you find your inspiration for
these places/people, and how do you decide which interview/photos will make it to the
final cut of the published magazine?
9. You have this chapter called Musotrees Inventory, where you select and promote small,
local businesses. Do these businesses contact you to help promote them, or do you
carefully search and curate independent businesses which you think are unique and
worthy of wider exposure? Walk me through this process.
10. So Musotrees comprises of 4 friends: you are the editor-in-chief, Nita is the Editor,
Nicholas is the designer and Mas is the proofreader. Tell me more about how you guys
met and decided to start a magazine together? What’s the team dynamics like?
11. Some of the words and photos produced are done by other creatives (or contributors)
besides the 4 of you. How do you get in touch with all these various people from around
the world? Is it difficult to get them to agree to publish their content in your magazine?
12. Now that we are living in a very technologically-driven era, it can be argued that working
in the magazine industry can be a risky move, especially in Malaysia, where the arts
industry is still developing. What made you take that leap of faith in pursuing a creative
magazine company in print?
13. You have a very minimalistic style, that can be compared to slow, independent,
international lifestyle magazines such as Kinfolk, Monocle and Frankie Magazines. Do
you draw inspiration from these magazines or elsewhere?
14. Musotrees’ style follows that of a typical Scandinavian/Nordic magazine, which is
popularly characterized by big, still-images, serif typography and an abundance of white
spaces. What about these stylistic choices appeal to you? Do you think all independent
lifestyle magazines typically use this format? It’s slightly sleek and minimalistic, right?
15. The pictures and layout of the magazine really evokes feelings of sitting in a quiet, trendy
coffee shop, while editing a blog post. I know Musotrees appeals to the coffee culture,
Instagram users, young travellers and photography enthusiasts. Who are your target
audience? What is your current demographic like?
16. Since your magazine is very cosmopolitan-oriented, were / are you afraid that it won’t
appeal to the local audience as much?
a. Are they even your target audience? Why not?
17. Musotrees seems to be doing very well as you have stockists all around the world, from
Australia to Korea, and Sweden to Brazil. Could you walk me through the process of
publishing and distributing Musotrees worldwide?
a. How do you get international stockists to be interested in your book?
18. What do you think made your company so locally and globally successful
19. What were some obstacles you had to overcome to get to where you are?
20. The type of paper you use for your magazine feels very high-quality and almost
expensive. What kind of material do you use and why? Is the cost of the magazine
mostly derived because of this aspect?
21. Having travelled far and wide, and seen a lot of other countries, how has this made you
reflect on our own capital city?
a. Do you think that it’s fair to compare cities across the world?
22. What do you hope for in the long-term for your brand?
23. What can we expect next from Musotrees?
24. Where can our listeners find you?