Interview: Amelia Gregory
Amelia's Magazine creator, Amelia Gregory, talks to Inkygoodness about the publication's ten year anniversary and her recently launched Kickstarter campaign.
Perhaps the perfect way to commemorate an exciting decade in publishing, Gregory hopes to generate £12,000 worth of funding though a newly launched Kickstarter campaign to produce a one off limited edition collectable artists’ book and an exclusive series of A2 limited edition art prints with real gold leaf.
Tell me a little bit about the birth of Amelia’s Magazine and what you set out hoping to achieve at the time.
I started Amelia’s Magazine ten years ago, to create a vibrant and innovative forum for creativity of all types. It began life as a biannual print magazine, before moving over to the internet entirely. Back then, I had no idea that I would end up running an online magazine, but after five years of print I wanted to concentrate on producing daily content that would have a greater reach. It has been quite an adventure!
Well here we are many years later, and it’s still a fantastic source of support for the arts and a great resource for anybody interested in them. Is it everything that you hoped it would be?
It’s certainly hard work! I do sometimes think that I must be barking mad, but I can’t stop myself! I am passionate about sharing great creative ideas with as many people as possible, and I’m always happy to hear that being featured in the magazine has sparked new collaborations, projects and careers.
You’re actually celebrating the magazine’s ten year anniversary with a Kickstarter campaign to create a limited edition collectible artists’ book. How did this idea come about and what more can you tell us about the project?
I started redesigning and redeveloping my website about a year and a half ago, but came to a grinding halt sometime earlier this year when I encountered numerous problems with web development. I had initially wanted to re-launch the magazine both online and in print to celebrate the anniversary, but when that became impossible I started looking for another option.
Over a couple of months I came up with the idea of crowd funding a book that would feature both artworks and creative writing found via open brief. Contributors were asked to be inspired by That Which We Do Not Understand, looking at the alternate ways in which we try to deal with difficult situations and always keeping in mind a sense of wonder at the miraculousness of life.
‘That Which We Do Not Understand’ invited contributors to take inspiration from the unknown; looking at the alternate ways in which we try to deal with difficult situations whilst trying to retain a sense of wonder at the miraculousness of life.
The book will have a beautiful golf foiled cover and gold spot printing throughout. Alongside this, I will be producing a series of limited edition artists’ prints with real gold leaf. I’m especially excited about the crowd funding model though, as I think it’s a great way for a small publisher such as myself to create something with a relatively risk free outcome. With that said, I won’t be producing many books beyond those which are pledged for during my campaign, so if you want one, please do come on over and grab one!
So what can our readers do to get involved?
Support the Kickstarter campaign! As well as books and art, I’m also offering rare back issues and other Amelia’s Magazine goodies. It would be a great help if anyone reading this could also spread the word about my tenth birthday project on their social networks because if the campaign is a success, then it will help me towards my dream of re-launching the magazine online and print.
I used to think that Amelia’s Magazine would be a finite project, but I’ve come to see that it is an extension of me…
What else do you dream of for Amelia’s Magazine further down the line?
I used to think that Amelia’s Magazine would be a finite project, but I’ve come to see that it is an extension of me… and as long as I am able to, I doubt I will ever stop making content for it. Honestly, I have absolutely no idea where I will take the magazine in the years to come beyond growing it as a resource for creatives, but hopefully this will be revealed once I finally get my website redeveloped in the way I want it!
Support the campaign
Image Credit: Illustrations by Niall Grant, Daria Hlazatova, Essi Kimpimaki, Cristian Grossi, Mouni Feddag and Liv Bargman.