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The Purgatory Sandwich (founded by Péter Kormányos, global strategy director at TBWA\Neboko and Gean Santos, associate design director at TBWA\Chiat\Day NY) looks at itself as an unidentified creative fuckaroundery that aims to give existence to imaginative POVs. They believe the world needs to be shaken up and put more interesting stuff out there. They invite us to forget what we learned and get out of the 10+ people meetings where rules, compromises, and frameworks are the enemies of our wonderful imagination. They started as a ZINE; then they created a triple-carb sandwich, too, and recently just made a provocative tribute to Oliviero Toscani. They are on a mission to create something that is impossible to define or put in a box, so no one really knows what they will come up next.

Péter K., chief creative fuckarounderer trainee and writer of the ZINE, says, “All in all, I've had a lot of ideas in my day-to-day work, but lots of them were sacrificed at the altar of conformity. So, I guess the Purgatory Sandwich is a rescue platform for them where I don't have to compromise my thinking. And I was lucky enough to get Gean on board, who translated my weird and provocative thoughts into an unreasonable design approach that embraces a rebellious visual aesthetic."

The first Purgatory Sandwich issue is positioned as an 'experimental fuckaroundery for lunchbreaks’. They split it into two separate half issues, which are presented in a brown sandwich bag. On the covers, they turned a shawarma into a real eatable face and made a two-mouthed face packed into folia clean with a sandwich hair to inspire people to explore their dangerous minds more. 

The second issue is introduced as 'the legally sinful choice’. They juxtaposed dictators, old anatomy book visuals, and disclaimer-style copywriting to create something provocative on the cover. As the guys stand for imaginative thinking, they’ve asked themselves: how can they launch the second issue as something that can exist in two completely different textures, dimensions, or even industries? That's how they collaborated with InBread, who helped them turn the Purgatory Sandwich into a triple-carb Japanese-style sandwich next to their ZINE so that you can feed your tummy and brain simultaneously.

Oliviero Toscani said, "Your highest insecurities are the best moments of your creativity." By holding tight to this belief while paying a proper tribute to him, the team at Purgatory Sandwich decided to do an illegal wild posting around Amsterdam. They made a 10-poster series called 'Slapping Creativity Awake’, where they juxtaposed Oliviero’s provocative words from 12 years ago with their rebellious punk design style to reflect on our industry's ugly truths and the rawness of the streets. 

Péter says, “The idea serves as an open reminder, not just to our industry but to everyone, to aspire to the unusual stuff that no mortal has ever dared to dream.”

Oliviero Toscani didn't just push boundaries; he shattered them completely. He urged brands to embrace their existence in the world, to move past mere surface-level category appearances, and to tackle pressing social issues. In doing so, he made us uncomfortable in a way that ignited change.

Gean S., chief creative fuckarounderer trainee and designer, told us, "The graphic design approach embraces experimental thinking and illustrative typography with a rebellious punk vibe. In our visual chaos, every design could live like its unique poster, whether it's this tribute design or our ZINE designs."

So, what’s the key takeaway for the readers of the ZINE?

Péter and Gean believe that creativity is the unusual stuff, it frightens us and makes us feel insecure. It is not a privilege, it's not a job title, it's not someone's philosophy from the past, and it cannot be economically modelled. Creativity is your unique way of looking at the world. It's the sum of your personal beliefs, weirdness, experiences, amateurism, imperfections, bravery, insecurities, etc.

Ultimately, The Purgatory Sandwich is destined to unhinge people's nervous system and encourage them to use their imagination to provoke or confuse the hell out of us. Therefore, after reading The Purgatory Sandwich, they want people to resist mediocrity and try to get to the wacky, absurd & unreasonable to fight against the corporate monotone of obviousness. Because as George Bernard Shaw said: "…All progress depends on the unreasonable..."

So, every morning the guys remind themselves of their daily challenge: we live in a world where people wouldn't care if three-quarters of brands disappeared tomorrow, and free porn is the most watched online content on the internet, so what can we do that makes people care about us and can be as satisfying as watching porn?