JOIN the AFICIONADOS
Get the insider news and lowdown on what we've been up to, where we've been, and who we've met along the way. Be the first to discover new places and get the scoop on our favourites.
Vienna remains one of the few bastions of the independent storekeeper, a trade threaded deep into the cultural DNA of the city. Walk its streets and you find standout makers, antique handlers, art galleries and, of course, the book and magazine stores that carry on a long history of brushing against the tide of sameness. I suppose that is what I love about Vienna, and about Athens too: it is not the thing you recognise across the globe, but the thing that makes a place stand out.
In a corner of Vienna's sixth district, behind a lovingly restored Art Nouveau shopfront on Stumpergasse, Sebastian Gansrigler has built something that runs against the grain of the age. Softcover is a small, fiercely curated shop for independent magazines, art books, photo books and zines: publications you cannot order on Amazon or find on a mainstream shelf. A photographer and designer by trade, Sebastian opened the doors in December 2023, drawing on years spent building his own collection through the photography magazine Auslöser and the OFF GRID Photo Festival. What he has made is less a retail space than a gathering point, a room where paper is allowed to slow everyone down. We asked him about screens, senses, curation, and the whispered community that keeps a place like this alive.
I think especially nowadays, when we are all constantly staring at screens, at work, at home, on our smartphones, in cars, in malls, everywhere else, it is getting more and more important to look the other way. We are all human. We have the five senses: smell, touch, taste, sight and hearing. Touching a screen, or a keyboard and mouse, always gives you the same haptic feedback. It cannot change depending on its source or its story. Working with paper is far more flexible. It can be something different every time. Each book or magazine has a different haptic experience, and it always smells differently. We can play with formats, binding, cover materials, colours and special refinements. It has a far bigger impact than you think. And especially now I see a big trend among younger people, who all want to move away from screens and create something more long-lasting and tactile.
You can always just design something and print it. But the potential of something well crafted is so much more. When I pick up a new magazine, the thing I look for is whether everything comes together. You have to keep in mind the printing quality, the colours, the size, the number of pages, the binding technique. All of these things are very technical and also very visual, but in the end they should really support the story of the publication.
Especially in the category of art books and photo books, a lot of designers play with very creative ways to produce something. Take the small book Until Death Do Us Part by Thomas Sauvin. It is all about people smoking at Chinese weddings, where it is a tradition for the bride to light the cigarettes for all of the wedding guests: the more cigarettes, the more luck it should bring to the couple. The book is packaged in a real Chinese cigarette box, and it even smells of tobacco. It is really an art object, a collector's item. That is what happens when a maker truly thinks in paper.
At some point, I think, we reach a certain over-consumption of digital content. It is very fast, it is gone quickly, and nobody pays much attention. I would even argue that it is too fast for us to keep track of. It is an endless void. Holding a printed magazine or book in your hands allows for a certain peace and quietness. It has a clear beginning and a clear end.
That is also why, in a store like Softcover, the curation matters so much. There are endless numbers of books and magazines out there. The big challenge is to choose carefully among them and bring them together into one physical space.
It is tricky to curate a special selection of books, magazines and small print. At Softcover we focus more on art and culture, design, photography and creativity. Most of the publications have a smaller print run, are self-published, or are made by small teams. These are things you cannot find everywhere. They come from all over the world: from Tokyo, from New York, from Amsterdam, and so on. We curate them carefully into a very niche and unique selection, mostly publications you cannot order on Amazon or find in mainstream bookshops. They are off-beat and very special. Some, of course, are a little larger and more famous, closer to pop culture, like Interview, 032c, The Gentlewoman or Apartamento. We try to keep a good range of small print alongside the more famous names, to strike a good balance.
The events are the other half of it. We host artist talks, book presentations, readings, workshops and pop-ups with artists and the local community, and we invite specific people for specific occasions. It is important to me, and to Softcover, to be a community space and not just a static retail store. Over the last two and a half years we have built a hardcore, passionate community of fans, and it is a big pleasure and an honour to work in that field. The store is always packed when we have an event. At some point we will probably need a bigger space.
The best feedback I get from people is that they love the atmosphere, the relaxed, cosy space. Many want to browse for a long time, or find inspiration for their own projects. We are a very inclusive and open-minded place. The music matters too. Everything has to work together. Some people just want to browse; others are looking for something very specific. Many check our online shop at softcover.at first to search for something, and then come by in person anyway.
The independent publishing scene is a really lovely community. I think the more niche, the better, and people genuinely love these hyper-focused publications. Independent publishing also means a lot of work and little money, and it is the same for independent book and magazine stores. But the passion, the fun and the dedication to the craft are what matter more.
Softcover, Stumpergasse 53-55, 1060 Vienna. Online at softcover.at.
With more than 9000 artworks, Vienna's Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, MUMOK for short, sits au courant against the vast MuseumQuartier designed by Ortner&Ortner Architects.
read more
Browse our unique Vienna Art Guide below for all there is to know about Austria’s art and culture capital. Once the epicentre of the longstanding Habsburg empire, Vienna is awash with galleries, artists, museums and odes to moments of age-defining culture, as well as a new generation of creatives call this city home, once again.
read more
Josef Frank’s Villa Beer reopens in Vienna in 2026 following a careful restoration, offering rare access to one of his most important architectural works and a deeper understanding of the ideas that later shaped his celebrated interiors and textiles for Svenskt Tenn.
read more
Two Michelin stars, vinyl spinning, and flavour turned loose — Mraz & Sohn is Vienna’s boldest table, where fine dining misbehaves beautifully and creativity dances between chaos and control.
read more
A mid-century espresso bar with brass curves, strong coffee and stronger character — Die Cafetière is Vienna’s quiet charmer where nostalgia, flavour and Peggy Strobel’s warm wit blend effortlessly.
read more
After more than twenty years of returning to Hotel Altstadt Vienna for film shoots, the Austrian actor Harald Krassnitzer has been given a suite of his own on the top floor.
read more
Beneath the gilt and the whipped cream, Vienna is quietly arguing with itself. Our round-up of the designers, makers, kitchens and coffeehouses reinventing the imperial city on its own terms.
read more
With an extraordinarily creative mind, Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (1846 – 1923), was known for taking his own approach which can be seen in this revealing museum which showcases his graphic arts, caricatures, ceramics, object design and decoration.
read more
Radical, sometimes political and always on the pulse of Athens’ ever-evolving art scene, The Breeder Gallery is housed in an old ice cream factory, redesigned by architect Aris Zambicos.
Definitely off-radar, ‘an insider’s boho art den’ best describes this series of lavish apartments, suites and rooms dressed in a plush melange of period styles, furnishings and artistic installations. This discreet little number is famed by writers, artists, actors and thinkers alike.
read more
Director of internationally acclaimed Vienna Design Week, Lilli Hollein had never yet turned her eye to interior design until Vienna's Hotel Altstadt came knocking.
read more
Turrell’s latest skyspace is such an iteration, located in Lech, a little skiing town in the Arlberg mountains, Austria. At a height of almost 1800 meters above sea-level, The Skyspace-Lech, a lightroom inside a stone building at the end of a 15-metre tunnel, is set in alpine terrain, and is only accessible by foot or by skiing – so wear your walking shoes and your best raincoat.
read more
Get the insider news and lowdown on what we've been up to, where we've been, and who we've met along the way. Be the first to discover new places and get the scoop on our favourites.