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Spencer Bailey

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Spencer Bailey
Born (1985-08-18) August 18, 1985 (age 39)
NationalityAmerican
Alma materDickinson College,
Columbia University
OccupationMagazine editor
TitleEditor-in-Chief, Surface
Editorial Director, Surface Media
Websitewww.spencerbailey.com

Spencer Bailey (born August 18, 1985) is a writer, editor, and journalist. He is the editor-in-chief of Surface and editorial director of Surface Media in New York City.[1] Bailey wrote and edited the book Tham ma da: The Adventurous Interiors of Paola Navone, which was published by Pointed Leaf Press in 2016.[2]

Early life

Bailey was born and raised in Denver, Colorado. He grew up with his brothers Brandon and Trent in a single-parent household.[3]

United Airlines Flight 232

Bailey is a survivor of United Airlines Flight 232, which crash-landed in Sioux City, Iowa, on July 19, 1989.[4] His brother Brandon also survived the crash, but their mother, Frances, did not.[4] She was one of 112 passengers that died. Bailey's brother Trent and their father, Brownell, were not on the plane.[5] Bailey is the subject of a famous photograph by Gary Anderson showing Lt. Colonel Dennis Nielsen carrying him to safety.[4] A statue based on the picture is part of the Flight 232 Memorial in Sioux City's riverfront development.[6] Bailey noted in a 2008 interview that the experience of surviving the crash "spawned my interest in writing and discovering the experiences of others through writing their stories."[7] Of the statue, in the same interview, Bailey said, "It's strange being 22 years old and seeing yourself in a metal statue. It's something so permanent. And I'm sure often times people go and look at it and they think that I probably passed away. I don't think they probably realize that I'm still alive."

File:Spencer Bailey.jpg
Spencer Bailey being carried to safety by Lt. Colonel Dennis Nielsen after the crash of United Airlines Flight 232.

Education

Bailey graduated from Pomfret School in Pomfret, Connecticut, in 2004. He received a B.A. in English from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 2008 and an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in 2010.[8] Bailey is a drummer, and after high school he spent the summer of 2004 playing in a rock band in New York City.[5] At Dickinson, he served as president of the college's Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter[7] and after that as president of the college's Interfraternity Council[5].

Career

Early work (2005–2010)

Bailey's first interest in journalism "happened in high school studying fiction and poetry, and then in college, realizing I was never going to make a living writing fiction or poetry, and that I needed an outlet. I eventually ended up working at my college's alumni magazine, Dickinson Magazine. It was there that I got to work with an editor, Sherri Kimmel, who really showed me the ropes. I also had a few professors who made me realize I wasn’t that good of a writer and had to push myself to become that much better. I was able to learn the craft of writing a story."[3]

During his studies at Dickinson, Bailey interned at Queen Literary Agency, HarperCollins, and EMAP.[8] Following graduation, in August 2008, he moved to New York City. Just after he signed his apartment lease, Lehman Brothers collapsed.[3] Over the next year, he interned at the now-defunct Tar Mag and after that at Esquire.[8] He has cited former Cosmopolitan magazine editor-in-chief Kate White as a mentor.[3]

In the summer of 2009, he took a fiction-writing workshop led by Gordon Lish. Of the Lish class, Bailey told an interviewer, "The whole concept of the class was basically to learn how to write a story, period. What this class did was basically strip everything down to the barest essential, which was a sentence. Really, a word, actually, and then a sentence, and then you had to build everything from that first word. The idea was that by the 12th class, we would be able to have a full story. Very few people made it to a full story. For some, it was really humiliating. ... I made it to two and a half pages. It was more than a sentence, but I never finished the story. I was inspired by Lish, but also sort of terrified of him. ... What it taught me, really, was the power of language, thinking of words not so much as a poet but really on a base level, making sure everything you put out there counts."[3]

In December 2009, while studying at Columbia, he wrote a story for The New York Daily News on how cupcake shops were contributing to gentrification.[9] From January to May 2010, he interned at Vanity Fair.[8] In September 2010, he published his first major magazine story, a profile in Poetry Magazine of the poet Timothy Donnelly.[10]

Bloomberg Businessweek and The New York Times Magazine (2010–2014)

From 2010 to 2013, Bailey was a frequent contributor to Bloomberg Businessweek, and from 2011 to 2014, The New York Times Magazine.[8] His first assignment for The New York Times Magazine, in October 2011, led him to spending a night at Zucotti Park and a nearby McDonald's during the Occupy Wall Street movement.[11] Over the next three years, he interviewed authors, celebrities, politicians, and cultural figures such as Al Sharpton[12], Tony Hawk[13], Rodney King[14], and Cyndi Lauper[15] for a “How To ...” column in The New York Times Magazine.[1] Bailey's interview with Rodney King was one of King's last before his fiancée found him dead at the bottom of a swimming pool. Bailey wrote in a June 2012 blog post that, of all the "How to ..." interviews to date, the one with King "has stuck with me the most." In the interview, King told Bailey, "When I leave here, when my final day on this earth is up, I want to leave in peace. I want to have peace in my heart."[16]

Surface Media (2010–present)

From May to August 2010, Bailey worked at The Daily Beast, and in September 2010 he was hired as assistant editor at Surface.[8]

At Surface, Bailey has interviewed hundreds of leading architects, artists, designers, and others, including David Adjaye[17], Tadao AndoCite error: The <ref> tag has too many names (see the help page)., Thom Browne[18], Zaha Hadid[19], Frank Gehry[20], John Pawson[21], Ian Schrager[22], Philippe Starck[23], and Kanye West[24]. In June 2013, Bailey was promoted to executive editor of the magazine, and in January 2015 he became editor-in-chief.[8] With the June/July 2013 issue—Bailey’s first as editor—Surface unveiled a major design overhaul created in partnership with the consultancy Noë & Associates.[25] In August 2013, Bailey helped launch the Design Dialogues conversation series, moderating a talk between Ian Schrager and George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg of Yabu Pushelberg.[26] He has since moderated Design Dialogues talks with Michael Kimmelman and Annabelle Selldorf[27], Stefan Sagmeister and Jeffrey Deitch[28], and David Rockwell and Marcel Wanders[29], among others.

Prior to Bailey taking over as editor of Surface, the magazine was known for covering the "design world"; he pivoted it to covering the world through the lens of design, to appeal to a wider audience. As he told Politico, "We're not a shelter title. We're not a 'lifestyle book.' We're not a trade journal. We're an American general interest magazine and we're bringing design into the larger conversation. Its important that our readers understand that [...] design is deep-seated and connects how we live now. I don't think it’s ever our agenda to stand out to advertisers, but at the end of the day, the strongest thing we have in terms of attracting advertisers is authenticity. We're actually talking about craftsmanship and creativity and going directly to the people who make these things, who are creating the physical world we live in. When you can tap into that culture and have a voice that is streamlined, focused, and thoughtful, you have a power."[30] In an August 2015 interview with WWD, Bailey described his approach this way: "I look at Surface as a start-up, even though we’re a 23-year-old media company."[31]

Surface interviews by Bailey have garnered attention in the media. An interview he conducted with the artist Julian Schnabel, published in the November 2013 issue, was quoted in Page Six: “I find less and less that I care if people understand me," Schnabel told Bailey. "I didn’t want to do this interview, but I did it because if people are interested in your work, then you should support them."[32] In an interview Bailey reported for the June/July 2014 issue, real estate developer Aby Rosen called Tom Wolfe a “buffoon.”[33] His interview with Kanye West, published in the December 2016/January 2017 issue, was covered internationally. Page Six called the conversation between Bailey and West "strange" [34]; Billboard called it "thoughtful."[35]

In 2014, with CEO Marc Lotenberg, Bailey formed Surface Media.[36] In May 2016, Lotenberg and Bailey created the Surface Studios brand marketing unit[37], which has partnered with companies including Adidas Originals[38], Leica[39], Nike[40], and Tumi[41].

In January 2017, Bailey was named editorial director of Surface Media.[42]

Boards and juries

Bailey joined the board of trustees of the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City, Queens, in 2015.[8][43] He serves on the New York honorary committee of the L'Ecole jewelry-making school, which is supported by Van Cleef & Arpels. He was on the juries of the 2016 James Beard Restaurant Design Awards, the 2016 Rado Star Prize, and the 2017 Swarovski Designers of the Future Award.[1]

Family

Bailey's great-great grandfather, the American painter Frank Guild, was the art director of Ladies Home Journal at the turn of the 20th century. His great grandfather, Herbert Kieckhefer, was a cardboard pioneer and inventor who held several patents, including one for an egg container (1943)[44], another for a method of banding cardboard cartons (1961)[45], and another for a pouring spout (1961)[46]. His twin brother, Trent, is a photographer and artist.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Spencer Bailey". spencerbailey.com. spencerbailey.com. July 7, 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  2. ^ "Tham ma da". Tham ma da: The Adventurous Interiors of Paola Navone. Pointed Leaf Press. 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "IN DIALOGUE // SPENCER BAILEY & TRENT DAVIS BAILEY".
  4. ^ a b c "Flight 232: Snapshots of tragedy and triumph". Retrieved 30 March 2011.
  5. ^ a b c "Spencer Bailey, alive and well and ... a journalist, of course". Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  6. ^ Flight 232 Memorial and Statue – Sioux City, IA
  7. ^ a b "19 years later, crash survivor is college graduate". Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h "Spencer Bailey LinkedIn".
  9. ^ "Harlem specialty cupcake shop Tonnie's Minis part of growing number of gourmet bakeries in New York". Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  10. ^ "Head in the Clouds".
  11. ^ "Occupying McDonald's, About 4:30 A.M., Near Zuccotti Park, New York".
  12. ^ "How to Give a Speech".
  13. ^ "How to Take a Risk".
  14. ^ "How to Find Inner Peace".
  15. ^ "How to Stay Famous".
  16. ^ "What Rodney King Said During One of His Final Interviews". spencerbailey.com. nytimes.com. July 18, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  17. ^ "David Adjaye on Architecture, Africa, and Atmosphere". Article. Surface. September 22, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2017. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ "Thom Browne's Steady Hand". Article. Surface. February 1, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2017. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  19. ^ "Legends: Zaha Hadid". Article. Surface. March 31, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2017. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  20. ^ "Frank Gehry Is Still Building His Legacy". Article. Surface. November 2, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2017. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ "The Best of John Pawson". Article. Surface Magazine. May 1, 2015. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  22. ^ "Ian Schrager's Massive Appeal". Article. Surface. June 7, 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2017. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ "Philippe Starck Claims He's Created the World's Best Beer". Article. Surface. June 13, 2017. Retrieved July 7, 2017. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ "Kanye West: Free Form". Article. Surface. November 20, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2017. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  25. ^ (June, 2015). “Two Years Surface Magazine” Noë & Associates. Retrieved August 10, 2016
  26. ^ "Design Dialogues No. 2". Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  27. ^ "Surface and Pratt Design Dialogue with Annabelle Selldorf and Michael Kimmelman". Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  28. ^ "Pratt Presents Series Features Jeffrey Deitch and Stefan Sagmeister in Conversation". Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  29. ^ "Design Dialogues No. 20". Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  30. ^ "The 60-second interview: Spencer Bailey, editor in chief of Surface magazine".
  31. ^ "Surface Magazine Increases Fashion Content".
  32. ^ Page Six Team, (October 21, 2013) “Julian Schnabel to have first large-scale art show since ’87”. Page Six. Retrieved August 10, 2016
  33. ^ Mohr, Ian. (June 3, 2014) “Aby Rosen blasts Tom Wolfe as ‘a buffoon’”. Page Six. Retrieved August 10, 2016
  34. ^ "Kanye gave strange interview before canceling tour dates".
  35. ^ "Watch Kanye West's Thoughtful Interview on the Music Industry, Emojis & Design With 'Surface' Magazine".
  36. ^ "Surface Media".
  37. ^ "Surface Studios".
  38. ^ "Adidas's Signature Pared-Down Sneaker Gets an Update".
  39. ^ "How It's Made: Leica M Camera".
  40. ^ "NikeLab Air Max 1 Flyknit Royal x Arthur Huang".
  41. ^ "Surface and Tumi Celebrate Launches with a Dinner in New York".
  42. ^ "Surfaces Promotes Spencer Bailey".
  43. ^ "Surface Magazine Editor-in-Chief Spencer Bailey's Favorite Works from NADA New York 2016".
  44. ^ "Egg container".
  45. ^ "Method of banding cardboard cartons".
  46. ^ "Pouring spout container".