Trans* Success

Amos Mac and Rocco Kayiatos are two trans men who founded Original Plumbing, the quarterly print magazine about trans male culture.Two friends who met in San Francisco, Amos (a photographer) and Rocco (a rapper) pooled their creative energy and aesthetic when they teamed up in 2009 to become editors and publishers of a magazine in a time when print media was dying. Unsure of how this “project” would be received and thinking that the magazine wouldn’t last after it’s first issue, Original Plumbing ended up an instant success, gaining international popularity with subscribers across the globe and selling out issue #1 in 30 days. Profiled in dozens of publications including The New York Times, OUT magazine and San Francisco Bay Guardian, OP continues to thrive. Since it’s launch as a magazine, Amos and Rocco have expanded Original Plumbing to include an online component that features daily blogs (separate from what you see in print), while they produce and host a wide variety of events across North America and design their own clothing and merchandise. Original Plumbing has managed to build a fan base across the trans male community and beyond, with people enjoying the magazine in various ways: trans guys looking for a space to speak for themselves and see themselves and their diverse community reflected, art lovers who enjoy a unique photo zine, academics who incorporate it into curriculum, people who use it as a helpful tool to come out to family and friends, or anyone who can identify with what is on the pages of the magazine and enjoy the colorful, sexy portraits inside.