Exciting times, exciting times. The creators of Mollie Makes have put together a new magazine.
Doesn't it look lovely? You can have a sneak peak here.
At first glance you'd think that this was the sort of thing that Country Living would have cornered. Gardening, interiors, craft, vintage feel, lifestyle and so forth. But it's a bit more. Actually, a lot more. Rather than just going "ooh" and "aah" over beautiful products, houses and country estates The Simple Things gives you a sense of "oh, that's lovely / tasty and I could actually make that." And you do. How satisying.
What really caught my eye was the interview with Ned, a 78-year-old amateur gardener originally from the West Indies. There's nothing whizz bang or earth-shattering about Ned's gardening life, like a post modern rethink of Great Dixter. Yet the simplicity of his wisdom, gained through trial, error and the contrasts of the different challenges in English and Jamaican gardens, is captivating.
I like this overlap of the generations in such a"young" publication. It seems there's often a fencing off between the old, middle-aged and young in magazines - be it craft or fashion - so you find super edgy publications versus the frumptastic. To have a more inclusive stance is really what life, learning, family and community is all about. No man is an island etc etc. And I mean that John Donne reference in a "we are defined by the generations that went before as well as the society that surrounds us now" rather than in a final, momento mori sort of way.
And my, don't they make everything look so pretty in The Simple Things.
P.S. Stay tuned for more about Mollie Makes in the next month or so...
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