Collect Magazine is a little bi-monthly magazine produced in Adelaide by a small team of 'do-ers'. Y'know, people who never sit around watching DVDs of Roseanne and eating fried food because they have things to do. Like make a beautiful magazine with matte covers and sweet watercolour illustrations and articles about the perfect picturesque small business. Josh Fanning (one half of the team behind the now defunct Merge Magazine) and Adam Johnson (expert classy designer) run Collect based on a fairly simple concept - the magazine is about little communities across the world and the small businesses and individuals that make them special. It is only stocked in stores that the people behind Collect love, which preserves the integrity of their association with other businesses. It's five bucks a pop (pretty damn reasonable) and you can get it in Adelaide at Bar 9, Imprints, The Deli, Coffee Branch and a bunch of other little spots around town. These guys have a habit of picking up on great little spots in Adelaide and profiling them before they 'make it big' - places like Red Door Bakery or Burger Theory.
Some sections of this magazine appeal to me more than others. I have to admit I still have a touch of cynicism about the wholesomeness of it all - although I would say my values regarding small businesses are much the same as Collect's. The illustrations in the 'How We'd Do It' section always win me over - little annotated diagrams of how these guys would run their dream post-office or fish and chips shop or corner deli. The essays vary - some of the writers seem to have a stronger voice than others and some topics grab me more. Reading about the behind the scenes mechanics of running your own weaving studio and stuff like that is pretty interesting - although sometimes I'd like it to be a bit more real and a little less glorified. All in all though, this is a pretty damn fine magazine - the design in particular is impeccable - and I'm pretty proud to see it come out of Adelaide. read more