Lidia Molina González conceived of Toilet Break Magazine in her final year at the École cantonale d'art de Lausanne (ÉCAL), a university of art and design in Switzerland. Developed as a graphic design diploma project, she knew she wanted it to be bigger than that: “I wanted to present a real project … to challenge myself.”

An open call for contributors convened an enthralling mix: an essay about how public toilets are intentionally unpleasant is juxtaposed with a striking photo series of toilets in Oita, Japan; a history of royal hygiene at Versailles dives into the duality of spectacle and intimacy, setting the stage for an interview about a well-known gay sauna in Geneva; a fashion photoshoot staged in bathroom stalls follows a short story about a toilet brush named Whiskers.

As readers move through the pages, they might notice how the magazine’s aesthetics mimic the topic (it is the product of a graphic design degree, after all), with a cover embossed like a roll of toilet paper and photos that “unroll” from one page to the next.

The first issue had a limited release in June 2025 in conjunction with Lidia’s degree conferral, and the team is currently crowdfunding for a larger publication run and, of course, future issues. For now, Toilet Break is Lidia’s side hustle, but one day, she hopes it can be her full-time work. 

Given The Lavatory’s 2025 launch, it’s no surprise that we here at arc. were excited to learn about Toilet Break. In this installment, two L(y/i)dias writing about bathrooms from across the globe sit down to talk about everything, including the bathroom sink.

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Lydia Felty: We have so many words for bathrooms. How did you land on Toilet Break as the name of the magazine? 

Lidia Molina González: The idea was to create the magazine in English. My first idea was to choose “toilet” because I thought that this was the most generic word. If you say it in French, or Spanish, or even in other languages, people can understand it very easily. The idea was to find something accessible and straightforward, but not to hide the kind of discomfort that toilets can bring. 

LF: In the introduction of the first issue, you write about toilets as an overlooked space and “starting point to explore how we live together, how we take space, and how we connect with others.” Could you share more?

LMG: Toilets are a universal human necessity. Everyone uses them regardless of their background. This space can also carry social, economic, and political implications. In the first issue, we explore the boundaries between the public and the private. For example, we have an article that talks about Louis XIV in Versailles. When the king had to poop, it was a big social event, a public spectacle, and it defined the status of the people that were invited. 

We have so many different examples. In ancient Rome, public baths were hubs for social exchange, discussion, and even the early graffiti appeared there. So while we could discuss other overlooked spaces, toilets felt like the perfect entry point because they're a simple space, shared and uniting us all. 

LF: I love that you bring up the Louis XIV essay because it talks about the shift from royal bowel movements as a demonstration of power to when the bathroom becomes a more private space, and the king gets privacy first. It becomes a really interesting way of thinking about cultural change over time and place. It’s a duality that I think about a lot with restrooms: they’re necessary but often an afterthought, private yet public, everywhere yet hidden away. 

This “in between” is actually the subject of the inaugural issue of Toilet Break. How did you land on this for your first theme?

LMG: The “in-between” theme felt very natural because it captures the essence of toilets as liminal spaces that blur private and public. It also allowed me to explore coexistence through themes like gender, care, and accessibility. Essays, fiction, interviews, and the other selected contributions all connect personal experience to larger questions of space and identity. It was also important to balance all these with playful insight and critical insight. 

For example, the piece on the Oita toilets in Japan highlights the solitude in remote public facilities, while on the other hand, we have the toilet party event in Bern that turned a small toilet into a miniature nightclub to play with confinement and intimacy. We can also talk about the article on Versailles and the essay that addresses women's historical access issues through toilets.

This theme allowed me to create a foundation for the magazine. It was a big, very general theme, and everybody could relate to it. 

LF: The magazine has contributors from across the globe, generations, and professions, which I think really represents the universality of restrooms and the specific ways that our geographies, our cultures, and our identities make those experiences really personal. Can you talk more about what it means to have a global team? 

LMG: For me, it was essential. Toilets are universal, so it felt logical to have a universal team. This kind of project, you can’t build it alone. It's deeply personal to me as the founder, but at the same time, it's collective: I wanted to create a platform for dialogue. It allowed us to learn from each other, and it was important to give a voice to other people. 

LF: Did any other themes or realizations emerge for you as you developed the issue? 

LMG: This space, I think it's infinite. The list of topics doesn't end because you can always find a little detail that can make you think about another theme. 

Even when I presented during my finals, the jury didn't expect this kind of topic and said to me: Thank you very much, I didn't think about this space as a social space or a political space, with all these topics. They were like: Okay, I'm super surprised! People don't think about toilets in this way, so it’s interesting to explore these different themes. 

LF: I love that. What has the broader public response been?

LMG: People often react with a poop joke because they see it as super childish or ironic, and people even laugh. But I think that's the point because toilets touch on uncomfortable topics! It's allowed me to have a playful tone in the magazine, so it’s half and half: I think it’s important to maintain this playfulness, but at the same time, to merge with more political or in-depth themes.

LF: Yes! When I tell people I write a column about bathrooms, the immediate response is often laughter, whether it’s because of the “poop joke” of it all or because it’s an overlooked space, but the conversation often gets quite deep. I think the humor disarms people, which gives us an entry point for deeper discussion. 

What are your hopes for the future of Toilet Break? 

LMG: My dream would be to have Toilet Break grow into a platform for dialogue, perhaps using toilets as a “cover” to discuss broader issues, and maybe try to find some funding to print a larger magazine run. 

LF: What an exciting future! Where can readers find a copy of Toilet Break? 

LMG: The project is very young, so we are in the fundraising stage to launch the print edition. People can follow our Instagram for updates or make pre-orders. Once it's ready, the idea is to be distributed through independent bookstores, art libraries, festivals, and to have different partners — even restaurants. 

LF: I love it. And that brings me to my final question: what or where is your favorite toilet? 

LMG: I think my favorite toilet is a quiet toilet. I don't know where, but maybe a quiet one. 

LF: Do you have any toilet-design pet peeves?

LMG: Poor lighting! The other day, I was in a restroom, and the lighting was automatic. And the thing is, when I go to public restrooms, I don't touch the toilet itself, you know? So I’m in a kind of equilibrium position with my body, and the sensor just went off, and I was, like, peeing! [laughs] So yeah, poor lighting. 

LF: [chuckles] Totally! Bad lighting can really change the vibe, even when the lights stay on — like if it’s too fluorescent or blue or yellow-y, it just doesn't feel nice to be in. 

LMG: And yours? What is your toilet-design pet peeve? 

LF: It’s currently hand soap placement, especially when you have an automatic water faucet and automatic soap so close together that it's hard to activate one without the other, or sometimes in a multi-stall bathroom, the soap is quite far from most sinks. For some reason, that really bugs me. 

But this has been the opposite of that! Such a joyful conversation. Thank you for sitting down with me to chat. I can't wait to see what comes next for you and Toilet Break. 

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Stay in the loop by following them on Instagram (@toiletbreak_magazine), and pre-order the inaugural issue by contributing to their crowdfunding campaign here.