Oh Comely:
Perhaps my favourite. Or at least the only magazine that I'm subscribed to. I adore the imagery and illustrations in Oh Comely, it is so pure and almost nostalgic. Also, they run a wonderful hashtag #onegoodthing and it keeps my love for Oh Comely in-between issues. Oh Comely comes out bi-monthly, allowing the pages to be full of rich and fascinating stories. In general, each magazine works around a theme (examples: the body, secrets, strength, awake, touch, passages, and so on). What Oh Comely says about their magazine:
...a curious, honest and playful independent magazine. It’s a place to meet strangers, hear their stories and look at life a little differently – where our readers are our writers and our models, too. Each issue we pick a theme and see where it takes us. We try something old, something new and something that scares us a bit. Then we present our findings in a beautiful, artbook style, putting new writing, photography and illustration talent at the heart of it. We believe good things come in threes. We began as the bedroom project of three pals at university and we’re now produced by a small publishing house started by another set of three friends. You can find us all over the world in small newsagents, indie mag shops and cafes.
Frankie:
I struggle to find Frankie magazine where I'm currently living too, it was so easy to get hold of it in Exeter but in Cornwall... not so much. So I don't have recent copies to rave about. Only my small archive. I first discovered frankie in 2013, during my A-levels, while deciding what the hell I wanted to do at university. This was the first 'indie' print that I got my hands on. I found it tucked away in WHSmith and bought it before looking inside. Frankie is an Australian magazine and publishes bi-monthly. The covers of frankie are, quite frankly, works of art. I bloody love 'em. They look at design, art, photography, fashion, travel, music, craft, home, life, and much more. Also they have a brilliant website, where you can find articles too, very cute and perfect for young adults.
What frankie says about their magazine:
frankie magazine is a national bi-monthly based in Australia, aimed at women (and men) looking for a magazine that’s as smart, funny, sarcastic, friendly, cute, rude, arty, curious and caring as they are. We cover design, art, photography, fashion, travel, music, craft, interiors and real-life stories – we aim to surprise and delight readers with every turn of our beautifully matte pages, and have a good old laugh while doing so.
Cereal
I slightly pricier 'indie' mag. But beautiful. I originally bought Cereal on a whim. I enjoyed it but I wasn't going to rebuy, originally. Then I listened to Filler podcast and they interviewed Rosa Park and I was obsessed with Rosa & Cereal magazine. Looking specifically at Travel & Style, mostly travel, it's a wonderful coffee table magazine. You can just flick through and read it at a leisurely pace. They didn't briefly produce the magazine monthly, but they've gone back to bi-annual publications now. Many of these magazines work so well because they aren't quickly massed produced every month. They take the time to create artbooks essentially. Alongside the Cereal magazine, they also create, city guidebooks and recently a photobook 'A Portrait of the British Isles' (here).
What Cereal says about their magazine:
Cereal is a biannual, travel & style magazine based in the United Kingdom. Each issue focusses on a select number of destinations, alongside engaging interviews and stories on unique design, art, and fashion.
Bedboat
I fell in love with this magazine as soon as I saw the gold foiled 'bedboat' in my postbox. Their message is to 'live fearless' and I find reading these magazines so inspiring. Beautiful imagery, beautiful words, and the added bonus that a lot of the content creators are local. It's amazing to see my friends and people I know being shown off in print. They aren't a very regular magazine, but you can still get hold of the first issue now and I believe they're going to be publishing issue 4 soon!
What bedboat says about their magazine:
Live Fearless.
Bedboat is an independently published lifestyle magazine based in the UK. Our aim is to inspire readers to live fearlessly and creatively by promoting incredible people, places, and ideas.We set out to produce an honest publication that shares stories, photos, and illustrations from makers and creators with a real passion for what they do.We work broadly and cover all elements of lifestyle. Our rule is simply that we must be truly enthusiastic about everything we cover. We understand that our excitement for our content connects us deeply with our readers, and that they in turn become a part of who we are. We talk about food, fashion, music, human interest, travel, history, and so much more. Our mantra to live fearlessly has never meant jumping out of planes, or strutting naked down the street. To us, living fearlessly is about pursuing those social and lifestyle opportunities that come to us, and following the dreams we have without apology.We love print, which is why we don’t currently offer an online version. We believe in the value of owning something that has been carefully curated.
Negative Feedback (here)
splash and grab (here)
Links to where you can purchase these magazines:
Oh Comely Website (here)
Frankie Website (here)
Cereal Website (here)
WHSmith (here)
NGNG (Exeter) - (here) The main place I used to buy my magazines, if you subscribe to their magazine 'club', they'll reserve your magazines when you come in AND you get a free soya latte when you collect! (Only reason I don't buy from them now is that I rarely go to Exeter anymore).
What magazines are you drawn towards? And are there any missing from this collection that you think I would love?
- K.B
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