Breaking Down Barriers With BRICKS Magazine: In Conversation With Tori West
Tori West is the founder and editor of BRICKS, an independent arts and culture publication based in London. Beginning from West’s bedroom floor, the magazine has featured the likes of Paramore, RAYE, beabadoobee and Phoebe Bridgers. The founder is known for their candid approach to the realities of being a Welsh working-class queer creative in the industry. Utilising her success and background, West forged the BRICKS Learner Platform, a monthly or annually subscription containing over fifty creative opportunities via email every week. Drawn to her honesty and relatability, I was keen on having a conversation with someone who I shared a similar background with and has carved out their own place in the creative industry.
Many working-class people who start a successful career are given the chance to discard their class label and assimilate into a new identity. Contrary to this, Tori West champions the struggle in raw social media posts and through the undercurrents of BRICKS Magazine. I was curious what influenced West to showcase being unapologetically ‘working-class’. West explains, “I’m a massive believer in ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’ and I really struggled understanding what I wanted to gain out of the creative industry. Growing up in Wales, I didn’t have access to that - I didn’t see journalists. My mother was a seamstress and I first went to university to do fashion design as it felt accessible. It was the wrong course for me - I hated pattern cutting. I’m not a maths girl.”
After much discussion with her tutor, West changed their course to fashion communication at university. She defines her path as “non-linear” and initially never believed creating a magazine counted as a genuine and realistic “job.” On entering the industry, West states how they experienced “microaggressions in the office drastically impacting my self confidence.” These encounters led her to conclude “If I can get through and push as many people as I can with me - there is a slightly selfish reason for that. In all honesty, I needed something different. I couldn’t find it, so I built it.” By building the BRICKS community and encouraging working-class individuals to inhabit it, West is not only creating opportunities for others, but fulfilling a desire to work with her working-class peers.
Only 16% of the creative industry is made up of working-class people - Tori West is working to change these odds. She states, “I read that statistic and was like ‘I’m off.’ That’s my whole career.” West addresses how class is not protected under the Equalities Act, “Class is not widely considered as a marginalisation. It feeds into so many other things like racism and ableism.” She discovered “how hard it was to break through to the creative industry as a working-class person. A lot of people kept assuming I was a rich bitch - I was actually a full-time cleaner. I found it so offensive - I would love to be a nepo baby. But of course they think that. It’s so rare for [someone like] me to be in this position.” Using the creative industry as a means to survive is a rare and often impossible task, hence it can be wise to pick an occupation in the service industry that can provide a steady stream of income, running parallel alongside riskier creative work. Yet, in the cost of living crisis, many creatives are forced to prioritise this steady income over their true passion.
Using Bristol as a “stepping stone” to bridge the gap between South Wales and London, West highlights the change in their accent. “People in Bristol used to say ‘I don’t understand what you’re saying.’ Or say, ‘What do you mean?’” After fourteen years of life in England “I shifted my accent to sound less Welsh - I was sick of hearing comments about it. It’s a massive regret of mine.” West trained herself to be what is considered “more well-spoken.” In Britain, accents and regional colloquialisms are class signifiers, leaving many to shift or change their speech to become more ‘professional’ or universally understood. When West admitted to this alteration, I recalled my first year of university when I made sure to pronounce my Ts and Os so other people would understand me better. The speed of my speech caused other’s expressions to go blank at its sound, burgeoning a new worry - I felt too dull to string a sentence together and too dull to make sense to the average professional. Associations between intelligence and regional accents permeate professional environments, giving others an impression of you that may not qualify your manner of speech as ‘eloquent.’ After I made this change, I interacted with a Welsh customer at a London bar where I work, who commented “well I would have never guessed you were Welsh.” I decided to keep my Valleys accent.
I was intrigued by Tori West's day-to-day experience working as an editor: “It changes constantly. I’m always switching roles. If we’re making the print, I’m heavily involved in production on set. When I’m not, my work is very social media driven. I'll often think about the Learner Platform and we’ve also just started a talent agency. So, I’m very split across the board. One day I’m the talent agent for the day, the next I’m a social media girl, then it’s tax day. That’s what running a business is like - it’s crazy. I’ve had to become so business savvy. I need the calmness to put out little fires every day. You have to be ready for that.” BRICKS is a unique publication due to the nature of its independence, “editorships aren’t usually doing the accounts, running the socials, and looking after their entire workforce and contributors.” Creating and running an independent publication demands a substantial amount of responsibility, which scares creatives towards working for established media outlets. It is much easier to work in an office where higher-ups control what you say or do, to fit in line with the ‘brand’ they try and execute. Alternatively, West constructs her own brand which aligns with her morals completely. BRICKS is valued for what it says and does, displaying how independent publishing can be a principled pay-off.
Social media allows us to connect and gain opportunities, yet we feel constantly surveyed and put in front of the spotlight; Tori West spoke about the burden of being online, “I really struggle with it. I started the magazine because I wanted to be behind the scenes - I couldn’t do public speaking. The change I’ve had to undergo is obscene. I feel like sometimes I sacrifice my anonymity for profit. That isn’t something I wanted to do. However, to post a brand opportunity, compared to the money I would get as a full-time cleaner, helped me save time. I started to shift my mindset. The more I could grow my socials, the more time I could spend doing BRICKS.” Social media provides a gateway for individuals who feel isolated by their background. To illustrate, the emergence of TikTok’s Creator Fund grants a number of young working people to utilise their social media proficiency to make a living. Online, there is no barrier to who can or cannot create content; those who are successful are given the chance to make money on their own merit.
The political roots of BRICKS are undeniable; many corporate-run publications avoid politics or claim to support causes and movements without sincerity or action. West gets frustrated by this, “there are a lot of individuals working at magazines who write about their experience with class and a friend will say, ‘I literally went to private school with that person.’ It’s disingenuous - why do you feel like it’s your voice? I saw magazines putting out statements on Black Lives Matter when I knew they weren’t paying my Black friends. It was the pandemic and they hadn’t been paid for months.” Many large companies learn the language of activism to sell or promote their own products or services. If a company does not ‘speak out’ about a certain injustice present in the culture, they know consumers will turn away. This leads to deception, where companies display that they ‘fight for the cause’ but do the exact opposite to turn a profit. Moreso, they may understand how activism expands their consumer base, simply stating how they support certain movements without putting the true work in - consider Lloyds Bank supporting Pride.
I inquired about any future aspirations or achievements West had for BRICKS, “I would love to get us to a stage when we’re on a salary. Or have enough disposable income to give back through a bursary scheme or a grant scheme, even paying for someone to create their own magazine. That would be incredible. Obviously, I would love to have more contributors. At the moment, the backbone of the creative industry is being replaced with AI and unpaid interns. It’s really scaring me. I meet so many incredible people who have been pushed out of the industry, not because of lack of skill or ideas, it’s the fact they need survival money and they’ve switched industries completely. It breaks my heart.” The aspirations West has for BRICKS emboldens working-class and marginalised people to create and thrive. I saw West’s face light up when discussing how she could one day make somebody’s creative vision come to life. BRICKS Magazine is not built on love of money, it has been built through love of people and art.
West recalls picking up a Canadian independent magazine, “I thought it was so cool that someone could create this and now it’s in a bookshop. Looking through it, I began complaining about the same type of person being photographed: skinny, brown mousy hair, lolita style… I was told by my partner at the time, ‘if you’re going to moan about this enough why don’t you start your own magazine.’ I said ‘maybe I will.’ He continued, ‘What would you even call it?’ When we walked further down the street - I’m not even kidding - there was a pile of bricks blocking the path. Then I started complaining again, ‘That’s insane - why would someone do that? Why would you block someone’s access like that?’ I was like, ‘Oh! I’ll call it BRICKS.’” I joked to her “sometimes complaining gets you places.”
To hear more from BRICKS, follow @bricks_magazine on Instagram
Edited by Roxy-Moon Dahal Hodson
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