Spenta Multimedia launches Domus in India

The 80-year-old international design magazine’s blueprint for the Indian market targets design professionals, as well as consumers.

Spenta Mutlimedia launched the Indian edition of the Italian architecture, interiors, art and design magazine on November 12. The magazine was originally scheduled to be launched in May 2011.

The monthly title will have a cover price of Rs 150, and have an initial print run of 20,000 copies.

The Indian edition of Domus is targeted at India's well-qualified design professionals and consumers including architects, designers, artists, curators, photographers, builders, engineers, advertising professionals, students, and teachers.

Conceived in 1928 by architect Gio Ponti, Domus is an eight-decade-old Italian brand. Distributed in 88 countries, the magazine also has Russian, Arabic, Israeli and Chinese editions.

The inaugural edition of the magazine will have 140 pages in total, of which about 60 per cent content will be picked up from the international version of the title, while the remaining 40 per cent will be generated locally.

Speaking about the launch, Maneck Davar, proprietor and publisher, Spenta Multimedia, says, "Domus is not the typical architecture magazine featuring trophy homes. It is a serious magazine with over eight decades of reporting on trends in international architecture and design. It is in sync with Spenta Multimedia's philosophy of introducing products to the Indian market which have tremendous educational value. Domus is that one magazine which can influence future trends in the Indian-built environment space."

The magazine will be available through subscriptions and leading bookshops, art institutions, newsstands, and universities and colleges across all major metros, Tier 1, and Tier 2 cities. Interestingly, all ads in the magazine will be clubbed together in a section in the front of the magazine to give it an appearance of a magazine within a magazine format. "This will provide higher recall and reach for advertising and advertorials, because advertising is read as a curated document, and is almost independent of the main magazine," adds Davar.

The magazine will be sent out to the company's database of architects, designers, art professionals and relevant commercial organisations in the country, apart from being on the newsstands.

For the record, Spenta Multimedia's portfolio includes 36 custom and six consumer titles. The group publishes magazines across genres including travel, retail, lifestyle, hair and beauty, pharma, finance, insurance, gem and jewellery, apparel, and management.