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In 2025, collecting physical media has taken on an almost romantic quality. We’ve seen a resurgence in print magazines, DVD and CD collecting and all things analogue, with signs that young people are the ones leading this renewed interest. In an era where nearly all media consumption occurs via pixelated screens, it’s perhaps not shocking that the pendulum is starting to swing in the other direction, and that people are craving tangible forms of inspiration, rather than something that provides instant, but fleeting, gratification.

Print lovers like Nikki Igol, though, have understood the value of collecting all along. Igol, a longtime image archivist and researcher, is the co-founder of Library180, a recently opened Lower Manhattan archive that houses a sweeping collection of magazines from the past. Within Library180’s lofty walls lies a gold mine of magazines covering everything from art to fashion to erotica; along the curation’s rows and rows of shelves, one can find an original issue of a major glossy just as easily as they could stumble upon an out-of-print fetish magazine from the 90s. While the vast assortment of vintage magazines may be the main draw, they aren’t the space’s only attraction. A dimly-lit room within the library, fittingly dubbed the “smut room”, counts nipple clamps, erotic figurines and teddy bears dressed in bondage among its treasures.

Igol’s love of magazines began at age 11, when she became enamoured with the work of Details, a now-out-of-print monthly men’s periodical. After fleeing the Midwest for New York, the bibliophile began her career in fashion, which involved a stint at V Magazine. It was there that she met Steven Chaiken, her Library180 co-founder and, at that time, fellow intern.

“We both come from magazines in a very specific time, when the industry was sort of booming,” Chaiken told me when I caught up with the pair at Library180. “Everything was pre-Instagram. It was such a rich time for magazines. When Nikki first brought up the idea [for Library180], it of course resonated with me, because we come from that same place.”

Prior to Library180’s opening, it had been years since the former colleagues had seen each other. After running into each other one night at The Odeon, they decided to later catch up for coffee at the same restaurant, where Igol would tell Chaiken about her dream of opening a specific but wide-ranging library. A year later, Library180 opened to the public and became a reality. “It’s a real oasis for a certain kind of person,” says Igol.

Below, we speak to Igol about the resurgence of physical media, working with industry legend, and why Library180 is a “print head” paradise.

Photography Library180

How would you describe Library180 to someone who’s never heard of it?

Nikki Igol: I like to say this is New York’s first image research library dedicated to the sole purpose of searching for references. It’s a research library where one can go to find references and inspiration.

How did the collection get started?

Nikki Igol: Most of it is my personal collection, although we have received tremendous donations that are mind-blowing in what people have given us. But I would say now, it’s about 85 per cent mine and 15 per cent donation. I’ve collected since I was 11 years old, so it’s a 30-plus-year collection, and that was the seed of this space. And we’re just growing all the time.

What would you say is the craziest donation that you’ve ever had?

Nikki Igol: We’ve got so many. The weirdest one is the first decade of People magazine, which the original publisher’s son gave us. But we’ve received so many wonderful donations, like from Cecilia Dean and James Kaliardos of Visionaire and Kim Hasard, who gave us the first few years of Paper magazine. Fabrica in Italy also gave us the full run of Colors magazine.

How did your personal collection get started, and how did your love of magazines and print media begin?

**Nikki Igol: **I came across Details magazine at age 11, and that’s what sparked my interest in continuing to grow my collection of magazines. Details magazine literally blew my mind when I first saw it. Bill Cunningham would do an incredible fashion roundup of the spring and fall collections. And there was one photographer in particular who really captured my soul, and his name is Marcus Leatherdale. His work was very similar to Robert Mapplethorpe, and it was really sexy. It was like black-and-white silhouettes, sexy, intimate photos that he took. I had never seen fashion photography before coming across these magazines. I was always chasing after something along the lines of the imagery that I would find in Details.

I would go to vintage clothing stores in hopes that within the decor space of their store, they would hopefully have magazines that sort of complemented the clothing. Sometimes I was wrong, but sometimes I was right. This was pre-Internet. When the internet came, I reluctantly bought stuff on eBay. I hated the internet. I was 13 when it started, and you had a choice: you could either dive right in and discover what the web was about, or you could continue writing your essays by hand. I went inward more when the internet came. I think that makes me a true Luddite. I still honestly dislike anything [computer-related.]

Can you tell me a little bit about what your career was like before and while becoming an archivist?

Nikki Igol: At school, I was a pretty bad student. I was constantly reading magazines, and I was in trouble a lot. I went to school at Columbia College in Chicago. It’s an art school, and you didn’t need a GPA score or any of that, so it was perfect. Through Details, I made a little list of people who were my heroes, and cross-referenced who was still alive. Then, when I moved to New York, I started contacting everyone on my list. The first person I contacted was Andre Walker, and he hired me as an intern. That was nearly 20 years ago. After that, I was an intern at V Magazine and Visionaire, where I met Steven [Chaiken], who changed the trajectory of my life. Then, I went onto VFILES. After the archive aspect of VFILES shuttered, I went on to work with Fabien Baron. One of our clients was Pat McGrath, and I left Baron & Baron to work for Pat McGrath.

I just need this stuff around me to make me feel sane, so that’s the value: feeling connected to history and being surrounded by my personal inspirations at all times – Nikki Igol

**How did other collectables besides magazines make their way into this collection? **

**Nikki Igol: **I collect erotic art. I just do; I like art that has an erotic twist to it, and I like ephemera. I like Limelight invites and Studio 54 invites. I like pieces from the past. I find it all to be art, not just something you can frame. So everywhere I go, I try to collect interesting things – not the typical memorabilia – and more often than not, it has an erotic angle to it.

Where do you think your interest in erotic art comes from?

**Nikki Igol: **I’ve always been obsessed with the woman’s figure. I can remember early on being obsessed with Jessica Rabbit. It’s the fashion aspect of all this. I just love beauty, and I love when beauty is applied with artistry. That’s why I love Pat [Pat McGrath] so much; she’s my personal hero. I love the female form. I like the flirtiness of it. I like the fetish. I don’t like hardcore. I like the discussion around sex, the way Madonna likes it. I just enjoy vulnerable conversations.

What would you say is the most prized item in your collection?

**Nikki Igol: **I always have to say the original Details magazines that I discovered, because I don’t know if I would have found my way if I didn’t find Details. They were ground zero for me. I would be brokenhearted if I didn’t have these here, but I love so many things here. This is home to everything I love.

What’s the craziest rabbit hole you’ve ever gone down to find an image or piece of media to add to your collection?

**Nikki Igol: **Oftentimes, for clients, I do image research, and I typically pull from this library. However, a footage component also has to be provided sometimes, and now I have to use the internet. I’ve found some fantastic places for footage. There’s this one Russian site that literally has every film in the world: all the Criterion Collections, and all the deep smut of a Jess Franco film or a Tinto Brass film. All these deep-seventies softcore porn directors that are genius. These films are gorgeous, and this one Russian site hosts them all. I can spend hours on this one site because they just have it all.

Besides this space, where else do you go in New York to find inspiration?

**Nikki Igol: There’s this great place in Chelsea, it’s called Mantiques. They have wonderful objects. I almost thought that meditation was going to be something for me, so there’s a meditation place in Chelsea on 26th Street, and this place is next door. I would always go in there before the meditation sessions. I hated meditation, but I missed going to that store, so that was my meditation. I also like going to art **galleries to sort of feed my eye, and I like going to shows on the weekends.

What value do you see in collecting print media, especially in today’s digital age?

**Nikki Igol: **The value is in connecting to your soul, [especially] if you’re a “print head”, which we get a lot of in here – photographers looking for inspiration, art directors. Sometimes people who don’t even have a job in the creative field come here because they are print heads. For me, I just need this stuff around me to make me feel sane, so that’s the value: feeling connected to history and being surrounded by my personal inspirations at all times. Being able to reach for a magazine and just be fed, because that’s what it does for me. It literally feels like a meal that I’m ingesting and feel satisfied after.

Library180 is located at 180 Maiden Lane, New York and is open by appointment.