Magazines

Magazine planning, like that for any job I suppose, is subject to variables. You start with a few givens, the features you know have a place come what may, then you go into frantic plate-spinning mode, trying to juggle all the unscheduled but wonderful things that happen in a month into too few pages. For example, having covered what I thought would be the best of graduate work last month, I went along to New Designers expecting that there would not be much else worthy of report. Wrong! We had to find space for an extra picture-led feature plus give over the Centrefold to a really industrious idea, the endeavor and results of which should appeal to craftspeople everywhere. But my real thrill came when I heard that George Callow, the young maker about whom I wrote last month, had taken Gold at WorldSkills, an achievement that must be shared between his college, tutor and employers. And while the youngsters are fizzing with ideas, the old ’uns aren’t doing badly either. After 40 years in the profession, furniture maker Philip Koomen is planning the next 20, the first 18 months of which will be a huge study about creativity. Enjoy.

Andrea Hargreaves, Editor