In a nutshell: Michael Köckritz is a romantic with a beautiful soul – and this magazine, this astonishing publishing house, is its mirror.

The magazine ramp sits heavily on the table like a compact block – a sharp-edged, luxuriously rubber-coated stack of paper with exquisite weight and a glossy sheen. Just mailing the thing makes you question the phrase “I’ll just pay that out of petty cash.”

Holding a copy of ramp – more precisely, holding it in both hands, since one is not enough – is a dress rehearsal for our favorite fantasy: lifting the weight of the world. Because, as Wittgenstein said: “The world is everything that is the case.” The range of topics, the many authors, the photographers and their images, the brilliance of the wing mirrors – ahem, the magazine’s side columns – the very essence of ramp: this is what it means to hold the world in your hands. Not just in the usual sense of gripping stories, reports and interviews, but in the energizing sense of intensified living.

One recent issue was themed “Friends with Benefits”. From which you could easily extrapolate: ramp is a magazine with benefits.

Back to the feel of it – that tactile connection only print can offer: The glossy covers are embossed, and you feel them as your fingers trace the surface. Each issue – often 240 pages or more – rests in your hand like a coiled spring. Of course, the first thing to do is fan through the 150-gram pages like a new deck of cards. Though by doing so, you’re skipping over the joy of those full-spread cinematic ads at the front – like the trailers that heighten your anticipation for the film to come.

And then there’s the message from the editor. Michael knows how to set a theme – to frame it with philosophical flair, explore it thoroughly, reflect on it deeply but never ponderously, always ending on an uplifting note. Because this is where the show begins. The main act. Elegantly staged, carefully prepared, seemingly effortless – yet, like a ballet, built on rigorous training, detailed legwork, exhaustive research and sweat-soaked appointments for everyone involved. The contributors page reads like a who’s who of the creative community. Michael brings together some of the finest writers, photographers, illustrators, designers and back office editorial staff – all in full awareness that things only move forward if you keep pushing. The sails of enthusiasm must stay full. When the wind dies, there’s dead calm – and the galley whip comes out. We’ve seen that happen elsewhere. That’s the burden of lightness that Michael and his team lift every day.

We, the readers, get to lean back and enjoy the latest editor’s note: “When we started out almost exactly eighteen years ago, the idea actually was to publish just four issues. Four. Not five. Not six. No series. No system. No empire. Just an experiment. With the kind of genuine seriousness that good experiments need – alongside clear ideas and an open mind. Not to prove we could do better. But to show there’s another way. Above all, however, it was about creating our magazine. The kind of magazine we had always imagined, always wished existed. A magazine for us – and for our joy. Fresher. Bolder. Wilder. More thought through. With heart. With style. With mind. With a love for life. And, of course, it had to be fun. [. . .].”

Our journalistic mentor Herbert Völker once said: “When I buy a magazine, it doesn’t have to be great from cover to cover. If just one story pushes me forward, even just one paragraph, it’s worth it. If just one text opens a new window, a new way of thinking – that’s all it takes.” That’s also a basic guide to reading magazines: a magazine is a self-contained, curated and structured unit – a springboard for exploring the universe. It’s always better to have life served in digestible portions than to graze at the unsorted buffet of the internet, where you can’t tell where it starts, where it ends, or if you’re looking at breakfast or dinner. Unlike the online blur, magazines have a launch date, a timeline and a rhythm – and that creates community among readers.

Michael Köckritz’s magazines always find a grounding principle for presenting the world. And the automobile isn’t the worst place to start. You could just as well tell the human story through watches, architecture or cocktails. Michael chose cars – and with his other titles, like rampstyle, rampdesign and rampclassic, he extended his world-exploration journey from garage to grand salon, from reading room to the penthouse of luxury and fashion.

This piece could be a speech, addressed to a well-dressed, eclectic crowd – the kind you approach with respectful sincerity, maybe even a touch of nervousness, knowing that some real heavyweights are among them. Think of all the auto execs, designers, musicians, philosophers, scientists, engineers and artists who’ve been featured in ramp interviews or profiles. But it’s not always about the big names and celebrities that you’ll encounter in ramp. The real draw is the person behind the story – what drives them, what matters to them. It might be the headmaster of a Swiss boarding school or someone you happened to meet in a café.

The ramp magazine universe and its spin-offs, books, brand publications, brochures and other commissioned work (and let’s not forget the unrelenting stream of newsletters written by Michael himself) all share a particular quality. Let’s call it: effortlessness. An innate elegance. An uncompromised clarity. All of which you could file under “G” for “gift to the world”.

It’s not always about the big names and celebrities that you’ll encounter in ramp. The real draw is the person behind the story – what drives them, what matters to them.

Michael Köckritz didn’t invent the genre of stylish, lightly philosophical, tongue-in-cheek hedonism in magazine form. But he deepened it, sharpened it – and made it a lasting success. He approached each project with youthful fearlessness. One defining moment came when Audi’s newly appointed Lamborghini President, Werner Mischke, encouraged him: “Well then, young man, show us what you’ve got!” That was at the 2003 Frankfurt Motor Show, shortly after Michael had directly approached him in his typically polite manner: “Dr. Mischke, you have such a fantastic brand. Wouldn’t it make sense to give it an equally fantastic brand magazine?”

Not long before that, Michael – who had actually studied medicine – had done a brief stint at AUTOFOCUS magazine under Peter Vann and Uli Prätor. The former school newspaper whiz kid quickly took over key tasks there – ad sales, acquisition – and discovered his joy for magazines: the rush, the hustle, the goal-scoring instinct. No sooner has one game ended than the next one already begins. A tough school, but a good one. He only meant to stay six months, to try something different before returning to medicine. The rest is history.

Speaking of Lamborghini: rising star designer Luc Donckerwolke welcomed Michael and his Lambo dummy issue with the kind of camaraderie you rarely see – and Michael not only won the pitch but also gained remarkable creative freedom, backed by then-brand boss Stephan Winkelmann. The resulting issues became legendary: covers with subtle bull emblems etched into mirrored foil, in-depth home stories, photoshoots with test-driving legend Valentino Balboni at the Lamborghini family grave, a Murciélago shoot on an Italian navy aircraft carrier, studio sessions in the Alps with Donckerwolke – and even the boldest erotic editorial ever printed in a car customer magazine. Everything on the edge. Everything with style. Always with high tension and excitement. Even back then, each issue followed a theme: “Rapid Eye Movement”, “Why Not”, “Ignition”, “Nessun Dorma” . . .

The original brand name, Red Indians, was inspired by a vintage gas pump that had found its way into the office. What started as a private in-joke among friends grew into a highly professional operation. Köckritz partnered with Christian Gläsel, who he had met at the Waldorf kindergarten when both were dropping off their kids with their sports cars. Soon, the publishing house and PR agency reached a serious scale. In 2007, Michael felt ready to try something independent. That year, ramp launched as an experimental car culture magazine – maybe one issue, maybe three. Number four was over 300 pages long and made a bold statement: the future is here. Today, we’re at issue #68: “Happy as a Clam”. Under the Red Indians Publishing umbrella (rebranded to ramp-publishing in 2007, then ramp.studio, now part of ramp.space GmbH & Co. KG), ramp and its spin-offs – rampstyle, rampdesign, rampclassic (since 2011) – have garnered international attention and racked up so many design awards, innovation prizes, Mercury Excellence trophies and Covers of the Year that collecting them became a logistical feat in itself.

In 2007, Michael felt ready to try something independent. That year, ramp launched as an experimental car culture magazine – maybe one issue, maybe three. Number four was over 300 pages long and made a bold statement: the future is here.

And Michael? Has always been and remained Michael. Endlessly kind. Quietly smiling. Deeply attentive – a rare, true listener. Well dressed, wiry, built like a performance machine. Hair others would kill for – but still modest. And then, seemingly from nowhere, an idea that lights up everyone around him. Like a scene from a children’s book: scraped knees, hands in pockets, grin over the shoulder. “Wouldn’t it be great to do a high-end women’s fashion magazine – written entirely by men? Maybe even for Porsche? We could call it Weiberkram.” A slightly dismissive and mildly derogatory, though also ironic and tongue-in-cheek term for women’s stuff. Think: “Girly things.” Or: “Frilly nonsense.” It stirred up plenty of controversy, Michael says today, with a mischievous smile. Which, of course, was exactly the point.

Whenever it seems that Michael, in his multiple roles as managing director, editor-in-chief and creative director, might be resting on his laurels, he goes and launches another fresh-faced idea – Coolness, Männersachen (Men’s Manual) or Cap Z, a travel magazine with his signature unconventional take, just to name a few. (We still quietly mourn the brilliant but unpublished travel title TRAMP, which unfortunately never saw the light of day.)

His lean, sporty physique keeps him perpetually fresh – surely an inheritance from his elf-like mother, graceful into old age. His kids – Kaja, Nele and Tim – are similarly blessed and have slid seamlessly into publishing life without losing sight of their own paths. As a loving husband and family man, Michael extends those organic branches into his team. The vibe at their loft-like brickwork headquarters could be described as buzzing with quiet intensity. Even the address – Obere Wässere – conjures a perfect watering hole for both horses and horsepower.

When Michael throws a company party these days, core staff are flown in from abroad, entire restaurants are maxed out – and people bond across tables like old friends. Everyone is welcome. Everyone brings a story. Diversity in unity.

Michael and his team are tireless in forging new contracts and partnerships – with nearly every major luxury and automotive brand, with the private racetrack Bilster Berg, with a host of cultural and academic institutions.

Together with Porsche, Michael developed the multichannel platform Crazy about Porsche, now continued as CAP. Alongside came high-profile events and curated exhibitions – like Coolness: The Pure Elegance of Freedom, based on Köckritz’s own book, hosted in the Porsche Brand Store in Stuttgart. ramp even took over the store for five weeks. So it makes perfect sense – literally and figuratively – that Micha, as his friends call him, has now opened “the ramp space” right next door, a pop-up store that gives ramp.space a physical footprint. You’ve got to stake your claim.

Ultimately, we all owe a debt of gratitude – across space and time – to those who keep print alive and vibrant and push it into bold new territory. This isn’t about nostalgia or throwbacks. It’s about always moving forward, always accelerating, flying in formation as independent parts of a whole. Yes, there’s been doldrums and turbulence along the way. But the courage and passion have never flagged. As the legendary Austrian director Fritz Kortner once said: “Even good things have a chance.”

It’s a good thing these remarkable publications exist – tireless magazine issues crafted with such quality, playfulness and elegance. They stir a kind of creative restlessness that keeps us all ticking, and they set the bar: there’s no excuse anymore for putting out bad print or retreating to the internet. For that, Köckritz and his team deserve our thanks. Respect.

“the ramp space” in Stuttgart

From August 1 to October 31, 2025, one of the world’s leading lifestyle and luxury media brands will open its first-ever pop-up space in Stuttgart’s Dorotheen Quartier – bringing its unique spirit, distinctive outlook and trend-setting perspective on events, people, brands and culture into a physical space for the very first time.

Roughly 200 square meters in the heart of the Dorotheen Quartier will be transformed into an inspiring platform for the wide-ranging themes explored by the internationally acclaimed ramp magazines. Once again, ramp is breaking with convention through an innovative concept aimed at a discerning audience – reimagining media and authentic brand experiences to create lasting impact through creative storytelling and substantial content. The lines between journalism, design, communication and immersive experience are deliberately blurred – and in direct dialogue with the ramp team, exciting surprise guests, carefully curated products and a vibrant event program, everything comes together in a coherent whole.

“At its core, it’s always about creating a living space for our passion – for smart entertainment, strong ideas and brands that stand for values and character,” says Köckritz. “The joy we take in keeping an open, holistic view and in rich, meaningful exchange – that’s just part of the ramp DNA.”

Report by David Staretz
Photos by Matthias Mederer

rampstyle #35 There Is No Substitute

A title like an advertising slogan – but one that seems like a life principle. There are things in life that are unique. Irreplaceable. They stand for something – and not just anything. Not copies, but originals. And these things touch us. Just like this magazine. And the people whose stories it is about. Find out more