Hot Interview: Small Mag Spills To DIYthing - Stylehive

Christine and Olivia, founders of Small, have created a beautiful online magazine that highlights handmade items and indie designers of children's products. Christine, studied fashion design at FIT, worked as a buyer in NYC and now has a children's clothing line - Baby Bean Vintage Daywear. She lives in Dallas with her husband and two little girls. Olivia studied interior architecture and design and has worked in many different art and design areas in Australia and New York. She lives in New York with her husband and two children. As an independent designer, Christine often found it difficult to get exposure and press for her business because indies often cannot afford expensive PR firms or advertising in the larger magazines. With this as a backdrop, they decided to start Small. Together the pair set out to find those designers that were not being featured anywhere and to promote these smaller scale productions. They also wanted a project that they could work on together even though they now live far apart.

"Our whole philosophy is about independent design. Small scale and independent designers are vital for Small because that is who inspires us for every issue and makes out magazine unique. We also believe in promoting small-scale designers as we have found that they are usually creating more thoughtful and long lasting products that don't just make more landfill," they say.

DIYthing: Would you consider Small a do-it-yourself (DIY) venture?

Small: Yes, it is has always been a DIY venture and still is. We do all layout and design ourselves and come up with and style fashion shoots for each issue. We try to maintain high production values, as we want to showcase the small designers in a way that is as attractive and styled as a larger magazine.

DIYthing: Do you depend largely on contributors for the success of Small?

Small: The first issue was put together entirely by us, but now our contributors are a huge part of our success and growth because they give our magazine such diversity.

DIYthing: What has been the biggest hurdle for Small?

Small: Really just getting each issue out in the time we set. It is just us two doing layouts, graphic design, editing, doing the photo shoots, getting all the ads in order and also uploading it all.

DIYthing: Where do you see Small in 5 years? Dreams of print?

Small: Of course we dream of print! We get so many requests for print because every issue is like an art book you want to hold in your hands and look at more than once. We might do a special issue at some point, but there is good reason we do it all online. We love that it is free and available to anyone and you can click though and visit the sits, shops and sites of everyone involved in the issue. There is also no waste and our overheads are low and so we can maintain our editorial independence. We would love to see DIY culture and independent design become everybody's first choice when they go to buy something.

Check out some of our favorite children's outfits from some of the designers highlighted in Small!