MILAN — There’s a new bimonthly magazine set to launch here next week, just in time for Salone del Mobile.
The buzzy design event officially opening on Monday is the focus of the inaugural issue of Foster, a new editorial project replete with a digital platform, podcast, events — and big ambitions. The magazine aims to “foster the art of living better” and to be “a trusted friend in a complicated world,” according to its manifesto.
Spearheaded by former Marie Claire Maison Italia editor in chief and local personality Csaba dalla Zorza, its content is centered on all things lifestyle, with curated sections stretching from design to food, from fashion to travels.
Launched under the Phoenix publishing house — which was acquired by a pool of private investors in 2022 and is helmed by finance veteran Maurizio Dallocchio — Foster will debut with a 240-page issue, 30,000 copies and available in select newsstands at 7.50 euros starting Monday.
In her first editorial letter, dalla Zorza underscored how she went back “where I started: quality printed content.” Since her beginnings in the editorial arena in 1993, dalla Zorza worked for the likes of Condé Nast and Mondadori, founded the Luxury Books publishing house and penned 23 books on food and the art of hosting. She further cemented her reputation around these topics with appearances at TV shows, through which she engaged with a wider audience. This turned into a social media profile that on Instagram alone gathers more than 820,000 followers. Meanwhile, in 2021 dalla Zorza was tapped by Hearst Magazines Italia to helm Marie Claire Maison, which she exited at the end of last year.
Csaba dalla Zorza, editor in chief of Foster.
Monica Spezia/Courtesy of Foster
In her editorial letter, dalla Zorza also addressed the magazine’s targeted audience, “those, who like us, consider beauty the result of psychophysical well-being and kindness as a form of personal culture.”
“These are the [values] that monthly magazines used to have when they were written by distinguished authors. The values Foster reinterprets today in a contemporary way, thanks to its curated team,” she wrote.
Or better, the “WonderTeam” as she defines it repeatedly throughout the issue and is made of professionals she sees more as ambassadors of Foster’s values, starting from Margo Schächter, who has collaborated with her since 2007 and whose work has been featured in titles like Vanity Fair, La Cucina Italiana and Apartamento.
Named Foster’s deputy editor and editor in chief for its digital counterpart, Schächter is joined by the likes of Domitilla Dardi for culture and arts; Veronica Orsi for interior and design; Nicolò Milella for fashion and jewelry; Mariangela Rossi for beauty and well-being, and Elisa Ardeni for the art direction of the magazine. Contributors such as Italian fashion’s favorite philosopher Emanuele Coccia and international collaborators like Luke Abrahams also curated features for the magazine’s first issue.
The cover of the first issue of Foster.
Courtesy of Foster
This include profiles on the likes of French interior designer Pierre-Yves Rochon and a deep-dive into the new Palazzo Molteni in Milan; a teaser of Euroluce: sneak peeks into different houses, such as the 1920s Milanese apartment of creative freelancer Bruno Laurenzano, the Parisian one of painter Carole Dupeyron and the nature-filled London home of ceramist Lucille Lewin; arty editorials on fashion accessories and pieces on Profumoir, Tata Harper and Arquiste’s founder Carlos Huber, among others. Curated travel guides and dreamy reportages of close and far-flung destinations, from Basilea and Bordeaux to Tanzania, add to a section set to be a fixture of each issue in which a different hotel concierge shares suggestions on where to dine and what to do in a specific city.
“We write only things that we believe are worthy to read. For real…because time is precious and we respect the trust our readers put in us. We don’t simplify: we select, contextualize, interpret and narrate things explaining them clearly,” reads Foster’s manifesto.
The issue will be previewed on Friday with a takeover of Cova here, ahead of its official launch on Monday. The magazine will be offered only in Italian for the rest of the year, but an international edition in English language is planned to debut next year.
