Insider: Atlas magazine

With one foot in Cornwall and the other in New York, fashion magazine Atlas was founded by Megan Breukelman and Olivia Bossert in 2012 as a platform to promote up-and-coming artists and the next generation of fashion creatives.

Following the announcement of their 14th issue, I caught up with the duo to learn more about the creative process that went into it, their transatlantic collaboration, and the big leap from UK to global distribution.

In the making of this issue we…

Listened to
The Greg James podcast – nothing makes for a more productive work day than having a good laugh!

Watched
The Night Manager and just finished re-watching season 5 of Game of Thrones. It’s so complicated that we wanted a refresh before the beginning of the next season!

Were inspired by
All things pretty, soft and… delicate! We put together mood boards at the start of each issue, which we share on Pinterest and then look at it for inspiration. Each issue is developed over time via lots of mind maps, Facebook messaging back and forth, waking up in the middle of the night with ideas, and corresponding with freelance writers and photographers.

Argued about
For once, not much! The cover tends to be where disagreements occur, but Megan and I were together when we made the cover choice (Megan lives in New York, and I live in Cornwall — we’ve only met in person twice in the four years we’ve been running the magazine together!) We couldn’t believe how easy and quick it was – it normally takes us weeks of back and forth discussion, but we knew this was the cover image the moment we saw it.

Learned
Making magazines never gets easier, but it also never stops being incredible.

Made sure that
The issue felt cohesive. One of the risks when you’re a submission-based magazine is that you can end up with a mishmash of content, but we work really hard to make sure that everything fits the theme and flows well together. We feel like we’ve done that! We also made sure that we got the design done in time for the print deadline…’cause… that would have sucked otherwise!

Lost sleep over
Print costs!

Were surprised by
How incredibly talented people are. The work we get sent every day blows our minds. There is so much creativity out there!

Were excited about
Going global! Until now, Atlas has been sold in print in the UK only. But with the Delicate issue, we’re going to be stocked all around the world for the first time. Not only does that mean people around the world will be able to grab a copy in person, but also Megan will actually be able to see Atlas in stores as well!

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