If you're a Sunday Zine Review regular, you would have probably read the
previous reviews of Mr. Spoqui. Since Amanda Baeza sent me a copy of the zine 4 months ago, I've become a huge fan of this "family publication".
The latest issue of
Mr. Spoqui is based around the topic "plastic food" and features a great selection of interviews, illustrations and text about what we eat and how tomorrow's food could be. To know more about the 4 siblings behind Mr. Spoqui, I decided to have some Q&As with Amanda, this is what she told me:
Hi Amanda, first of all, thanks a lot for having sent the last three issues of Mr. Spoqui to be reviewed here on the Sunday Zine Review! When I received the first copy I loved the concept and since then I've always wanted to ask you some questions about the zine.
Could you please introduce yourself and your sisters and brother? Could you also introduce Mr. Spoqui?
I’m the oldest, recently graduated in graphic design and now trying to build up my dream (not graphic design!). Milena follows me; she is studying sound engineering while filling our house with music of all kinds. Blanca comes next, a dancer, she is now performing with her own contemporary dance company with only sixteen. And the last one, Tiago, a thirteen years old boy and comics lover that wants to be a trumpet player.
Mr. Spoqui is a family zine, but don’t expect to read about family weddings or summer vacations or newborns. Each issue is the result of an exploration about a random topic. We try to collect interesting information and show the selected topic from another perspective – that’s why we do open calls, so everyone can share their own vision with us.
The concept of a "family zine" is great, how did it all start? Were you inspired by anything?
Lisa Currie once described us like this: «I want to imagine them all in bunk beds when they were younger, staying up way past their bedtime, throwing doodled notes and paper planes to each other over the bannisters...». Lisa doesn’t know how close to reality her imagination was. We still sleep in bunk beds! And that’s how this all started. People make zines because they want to share everything. We wanted to share something between us, to grow and learn from it. Contributions are really important because people enrich this process!
Another great thing about Mr. Spoqui is the topics you guys choose for each issue. So far, I've read about Ceramics, Collections and now Plastic Food! How do you come up with these ideas? How's the process?
At dinner my siblings love to talk about random things. I point out their ideas ("hey, let's make an edition about that") and they discuss whether the topic is boring or not (generally, it is!). At first sight it may seem uninteresting, yes, but you end up learning a lot about something you would never have the curiosity to explore before, at least never through a traditional knowledge source like uhh… school. This may sound very unprofessional...
How do you guys work together? Can you tell me a little more about who's in charge of what?
Our ages and interests are so different that we usually spend our time together making fun of each other instead of working for our zine. But that's how our ideas come up. As the oldest, in the previous issues I was in charge of almost everything, my siblings were only responsible for their own drawings, articles and comics. Now we are going to try a new approach: from time to time, each one of us has to wear the publisher’s mask so I can have a little break. For example, Blanca and Tiago are going to be the next directors and publishers! This will bring a refreshing approach to future issues.
What would you consider your best achievement with Mr. Spoqui?
The social interaction! All the amazing people we meet through the zine, all the people whose work I admire and who agreed to introduce their projects on a particular issue, and everybody who keeps giving us a lot of positive feedback. I feel really grateful for that.
Are you involved in any other projects? If so, could you tell me a little more about them?
I am working on a lot of comics and illustrations right now; burning my brain and my hands to create my portfolio as college wasn’t enough. I would love to tell more about all these projects, but they must remain in secret!
You can find more information about the latest issue of Mr. Spoqui
here.
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