Niche Media: Meet Air Afrique

PARIS, France — A couple months ago, Bottega Veneta announced its support for the newly-established print publication Air Afrique. At the time, it was described as “a platform dedicated to afro-diasporic art and conversation” and followed in their nascent tradition of capitalizing smaller-scale publications. Alas, the first issue of Air Afrique has arrived.

Based in Paris, the publication was founded by a collective of creatives, leveraging the original IP behind the pan-African airline of the same name, that operated flights between Senegal, Central African Republic, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Niger, Congo, Chad, Benin, and Burkina Faso from 1961 to 2002.

Bottega Veneta x Air Afrique Blanket by Abdel El Tayeb courtesy www.bottegaveneta.com

To commemorate the partnership, Bottega Veneta unveiled a capsule of blankets designed by Franco-Sudanese designer Abdel El Tayeb, building on the heritage and contemporary expression in Sudan (which feels like a tiny bright spot considering the rather dire human rights concerns ongoing).

This recent wave of niche media publications has been well-documented, especially in a time period marked by what feels like a bland-ification of mainstream media and a rise of independent voices focused on tender subcultural commentary. Other new publications, such as Blanc Magazine and to a lesser extent, the new-and-improved Dazed Magazine (led by Ib Kamara) offer a window into a slice of contemporary diasporic life — in particular, a picture of glamour, fantasy, and/or realism that may not be presented in broader media outlets.

Air Afrique Issue 001 courtesy Air Afrique

While there is strength and power in uncovering or reframing subcultural narratives, the very nature of the medium necessitates a narrow audience. The funding contribution highlights a key pain point of independent print media and Bottega Veneta’s involvement surely assuages the concern in the short-term. Plus: the brand can be associated with desirable creatives who ultimately drive the underlying cool and zeitgeist the bigger luxury brands require to feed the machine. When scaled properly, smaller publications can be quite profitable with the right distribution and the right advertisers. You can order your copy today.