We Made It

By Luis Vega

ADW hits the century mark. I remember the humble beginnings of this little publication. It started out as a little art department joke and quickly grew into one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in my long career in publishing. It became so much more than just an art project and started to unite the entire publishing team at Niche. As word of mouth grew, we started to receive contributions from literally every part of the company.

Art contributed from day one, it was the little magazine which gave us a voice. Us artists like to think we are so much more than just our beautiful creations. We have voices as well, and ADW proved that. Shortly thereafter, we started to receive contributions from the copy and facts departments, the managing editors jumped in, IT wanted in, even our friends in sales contributed. Literally contributions from all over the company. It was exhilarating. Everyone looked forward to the Dubbs on Friday afternoon.

The best part is that ADW was launched in the thick of Hamptons season. Anyone at Niche can tell you, Hamptons season is a beast. The fact that we were taking on extra work to create a fun little magazine was a testament to our camaraderie. Still to this day, my time at Niche is some of my favorite in publishing. It legitimately reignited my passion for publishing.

As we all went our separate ways (Olga was the first to leave, closely followed by me) it became harder and harder to produce ADW. The stories of a shared workplace were missing. Things would happen in my office and I would think “Wow, that’s dubbs-worthy” but not have anyone to really share it with. Our schedule became more and more sporadic. As the years passed, ADW seemed to fall by the wayside.

Earlier this year, before the nation was in a lockdown, Madeline decided to invest her time in the Dubbs. I like to say we have put out more issues this year than at any other time since the first year, but what I should really say is Madeline has put out more issues. ADW stands as a testament to her hard work and dedication, just like it originally started with the hard work and dedication of an over-worked underpaid group of designers who really liked each others’ company.

Long live ADW!