With publications that span criminal tattoos to elevator music, sweet wrappers to Soviet bus stops, Fuel are the design team that bring niche publishing to a new level. Founded in 1991 by Damon Murray and Stephen Sorrell while studying graphic design at the Royal College of Art, the two originally met at Central Saint Martins in the late 1980s. In the last fifteen years, they’ve built an impressive back catalogue of over fifty distinctive, beautifully designed titles that explore the obscure and overlooked with resonance and depth.

The Fuel design process catalysed over three decades ago with one-off themed magazines, such as CASH and HYPE (now collector’s items) where graphic design and art direction were utilised to engage with single focus issues. This ethos organically evolved into books and an instinctive approach to publishing, one that isn’t one led by PRs or marketing people who push commodities to sell to targeted audiences. Instead Fuel collaborations are often forged organically by the personal work or specialised archives of enthusiasts, collectors, curators, artists, and writers.

At Fuel, no subject is dismissed for being too quirky or not aligning with industry trends or market forces. They reject lavish coffee table books that require specially reinforced tables for display purposes and instead espouse an ergonomic approach, books that fit into a hand, sit comfortably on a shelf and enrich our understanding of things we never knew we needed to know about.

Recently the duo marked their thirty-year partnership with three new titles: Auto Erotica, a visual celebration of car advertising from the 1960s to the 1980s, compiled by long-time collaborator end eclectic curator, Jonny Trunk. Soviet Seasons is as far from Springwatch as you can get; Arseniv Kotov’s visual almanac of wilderness photography presents stunning, alien landscapes including a Siberian winter, Spring in Central Russia, Summer in Caucasus, and Autumn in the Ukraine. And finally, Aeroflot, potentially the least glamorous airline in existence, has been honoured with its own monograph: Aeroflot, Fly Soviet.

Aeroflot’s an interesting topic for a book. How did it come about?

We were contacted by Bruno Vandermueren, a Belgium-based aeroplane enthusiast with the largest collection of Aeroflot ephemera and we found the story both visually and narratively compelling. Aeroflot’s history goes back to the beginning of flight in Tsarist Russia and, in the past, has been militarised and gone into state control. There’s a few crash stories too. In 1986, a pilot dared his co-pilot to make a ‘blind’ landing, closing the curtains in the cockpit before crash landing and killing seventy people. In 1981, an Aeroflot plane collided with a military aircraft causing both to disintegrate killing all but a twenty-one-year-old woman returning from her honeymoon. She fell from the plane and miraculously survived, her impact softened by birch trees. She regained consciousness to see her dead husband, still in the seat opposite. Aeroflot, Fly Soviet is certainly not a hagiography, but it is factual.

Why is Soviet culture such a key strand in the Fuel back catalogue?

Our idea of Russia was shaped during our first visit in 1992, when we produced USSR, the third issue of Fuel magazine from Moscow. Then, Yeltsin had declared it legal to “buy and sell anything, anywhere” and Russia’s initial interpretation of capitalism was fascinating to observe. That aesthetic of melancholy and integrity has stayed with us and after every visit, we return with stories that intrigue and we hope will resonate with a wider audience.

The subjects are often quirky and unexpected. Is that a key consideration?

For various reasons: historical, ideological, linguistic, it’s difficult for ‘westerners’ to comprehend Russian character. Our books aim to reveal singular cultural facets in a compelling way and achieve a broader understanding. We aim to show the hidden side, cultural elements never before documented, or at least seen outside of the country.

Our strong direction in design and editing allows us to assimilate what might be conceived as arbitrary subject matter into something comprehensive. They all give an indication of the depth and spirit of the Russian dusha (‘soul’). Our books are increasingly picked up Russia’s younger generation discovering aspects of their own heritage they didn’t know about.

What have been your most successful titles?

Soviet Bus Stops sold the most copies in the shortest amount of time. Who would imagine a book about bus stops would be a bestseller? But the combination of great photography and mind-blowing designs edited into a compact format make it a perfect way to explore some of the most imaginative small-form architecture of the twentieth century.

Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia Volume I has sold most copies as our first title has had more time to sell. The influence of these books is substantial and can be seen across creative disciplines, from fashion to fiction via film. They continue to be best-sellers.

How important is the book as an object?

The use of materials and how a book feels in the hand is really important. The printed book is a ‘technology’ that works. It’s been around so long we don’t even consider it a technology anymore which is a mark of its success. It’s interesting that digital reading formats continually ‘improve’ but the improvements aim to bring them closer to the feel of a printed book.

How would you compare the difference between book reading from a page to a screen?

Traditional books possess a tactile nature and have direct association with memories and places difficult to achieve with digital. Humans invest in objects with emotions and it’s easier to do that with physical books than a flat, cold screen. When you look at screen-based images, they are always back lit, more luminous. Images on paper have more depth. Printing is a different beast.

Why does independent publishing matter?

We have a vision and way of producing unique books that are distinctive. This is what we like about some of the independent people we work with (such as Jonny Trunk, a regular collaborator, who publishes music and forgotten soundtracks no one else would touch). We’ve developed ways of working that means we don’t need to attend book fairs or distributor meetings. We concentrate on producing the books themselves.

Define your approach to book design and making.

The design is generally straightforward, not overtly tricky or flamboyant. A book doesn’t need to show off to be itself. Each book is its own perfect world with its own language and images. When you open that book, you enter that world. We aim for a narrative arc in the books and aim to produce definitive versions. Each book can take eighteen months to two years and all are big investments. We’re not putting out hundreds like the big publishers, but nurture, craft and shape something individual each time. They’re all high risk and that’s the excitement.