As I have mentioned here before, I am currently at the heart of a very exciting project that I am doing for my third year final major project for my degree. We were given no brief, and the idea was for us to create a brief ourselves that would give us enough problems and would really push us creatively. I knew way before I had to make the decision, that I wanted to create a magazine. I love Lula, Oh Comely and Frankie, just to name three, and I love the fact they are paper publications, allowing the excitement of receiving a magazine in the post to still exist. I wanted my magazine to be a mixture of all the lovely publications that I love reading and so I went about creating Carousel. This was our mission statement:

“Aesthetically beautiful, delightfully simplistic and whimsical in every way, Carousel will take its readers on a journey of dreamy images, intimate interviews and articles to inspire. Curl up in your favourite armchair and discover charming photo shoots, endearing illustrations, delicious recipes and inspiration for interiors lovingly bound together by carefully designed layouts and graphics. Carousel has no hidden agenda, other than to fill your world with a little more magic.”

I wanted to combine all the things I loved reading in a magazine into one publication, that would be beautiful and something that you would want to keep forever. I’ve worked so hard on it! I have done four fashion shoots, two beauty shoots, interviewed amazing creatives, baked delicious recipes, illustrated and made things, and finally put it all together! It’s been fun, stressful and exciting, but overall it’s been amazing to see my little idea grow into a 104 page magazine, that I can hold in my hands and say, ‘I did that!’. And this is what it looks like!

This is not the final, final copy, as the image on the front has been slightly retouched but this is generally what it will look like! It was approved by the printers yesterday so all 16 copies should be with my by the middle of next week! I shared a shot from a shoot I did on Carousel’s Facebook yesterday, which was based on the trend ‘Colour Blocking’, called American Doll. Here it is:

The shoot was originally going to be done at a fairground, with lots of flashing lights and colourful sweets, but it is extremely rare to find any kind of carnival or fairground open i February! So instead, I shot it at a local bowling alley, which was completely empty and ghost-like, but had a fun arcade with he bright, neon lights that I had wanted.

I will be sharing more images on the Facebook page to lead up to the launch date of issue one which is the 21st April. I am also holding a launch party pop-up shop on the 21st, so if you are around Southampton, come down!

Please add Carousel on Facebook, Twitter and have a little look on the Website and leave a comment! The event page for the Pop Up Shop is here!