Beloved Caught by the River contributor and circular route-walker Mark Hooper recently wrote to us to tell us about his new editorial job at Stan. And because it’s pretty cool, we’re now writing to tell YOU about Stan — a publisher that seeks out and tells the stories of collectors and collections.

^{Angelica Paez’s collection of photo mirrors}

Stan puts it thus: At Stan, we are fascinated by the nature of collecting. Why do we collect? What is the meaning behind our collections? And what little gaps in history do they sometimes fill?

Founded in 2022, Stan is a specialist publisher and curator dedicated to collectors, run by a small collective obsessed by the power of objects to tell stories about people.  With plans for a regular fanzine and some one-off events (which our community will be the first to hear about), we aim to fully explore and celebrate the nature of collecting, and over time create a repository of modern folk history – the ordinary; the low and the high; often the ephemeral; but always the wonderful. 

Stan rethinks the past in the modern world. Stan collects collectors.

There is already a rich and colourful archive to explore, detailing collections as disparate as maps, bootleg action figures, crap oil paintings and pencils.

You can subscribe to Stan’s weekly newsletter, and follow them on Instagram. You can also, of course, tell them about your own collection — the more random or personal the better!