Martin Ryback
Meet Martin @martinmanuelry, a multi-talented creative who started off writing for various fashion magazines, but soon found his calling in editorial photo shoots and creative direction. With his work published in numerous magazines, including IRK, Fucking Young, Schön!, and Kaltblut, Martin is now managing his own online magazine and hopes to launch a print issue one day.
IRK: Tell us your “Why”
All my work gave me a way to express my creative ideas but at the same time learn about creativity, especially in the fashion industry. I could then use this new knowledge for my projects such as photoshoots, the launch of my own magazine and especially for writing articles. When I learned more about how fashion “works” and about the different concepts in fashion, the aspect of ecology in fashion (upcycling etc) it became much easier to review collections and write articles about it. So basically expressing ideas, being able to be creative and to learn always new things is what inspired me to get started in this field.
IRK: What are you most passionate about with respect to taking care of people and the planet?
In the beginning some years ago, ecology was not such a big topic in fashion as it is now. I was also less aware of this aspect. Over the years, sustainability became an inherent part of fashion and not only the brands, press agencies and designers have to take sustainability in consideration but also me when writing articles. When receiving the press kits for writing articles about brands or a fashion show, there is almost always an explanation of how the brand made this collection more sustainable than the season before. For me it is, therefore, important to communicate about this aspect in my articles when writing about the brands. Some brands become really creative when it comes to sustainability and for some collections, sustainability is even the main focus and therefore, I am more than happy if I can express this part in my articles and to show the brands at the same time that we appreciate their effort.
IRK: What are some conscious actions you implement in your daily life?
Since many years I am not eating meat anymore but only later I learned about the impact that meat consumption and production has on the planet. I think that a lot of people can change one aspect in their live even right now, to live more sustainable for yourself, for the planet and for future generations and very often it doesn’t take a lot of effort or a drastic change in your life. My work in the fashion industry made me of course more aware of the impact of garment productions on the planet. It was more an unconscious decision but over time, I drastically reduced my buying habits for clothing. I realized that with the same budget, I prefer to buy much less but timeless pieces that will last longer and not only once season and of course it is no secret that you can find fashionable pieces on the flea market or in vintage shops.
IRK: What’s your hope for the future of the planet?
I hope that the planet will be able to recover from us living recklessly and that a society we will learn to care for the planet including the animals.
What Sustainable Development Goal do you align with the most? (https://sdgs.un.org/goals)
I think that all of them are of importance and that they are all linked. Each of those goals goes hand in hand with the other goals and we always need to work on the ecological aspect AND the societal aspect at the same time we cannot take one part away from the equation.
