Heart Home Magazine has been such a runaway success, and an inspiration to anyone with a burning creative project in mind, that I thought it was about time to talk to the founders Arianna Trapani, Carole King, and Daniel Nelson about just how they did it.
Photography by Andrew Boyd.
What are your backgrounds? What filled your days before Heart Home Magazine came along?
Daniel Nelson: I come from a marketing for design background. I’ve worked with furniture companies and more recently for online interiors site, mydeco.com.
Carole King: I’ve had various jobs in publishing (a very long time ago), advertising and finance. A few years ago I did course in interior design. All of my past skills seem to be proving useful now!
Arianna Trapani: I have an Art and Design background having gone to art school. I also have had a few jobs in marketing and, like Carole, a few years ago I took an interior design course and have been designing projects ever since.
How did the idea for HHM come about?
CK: It was borne out of a desire to produce a British digital interiors magazine. We loved Lonny and Rue from the US and thought it was a shame that we didn’t have an equivalent in the UK, promoting British design.
What did you hope the magazine would achieve?
DN: We thought it would be a lot of fun and nice to work on. I hadn’t quite anticipated how much work would be involved, but it has been very satisfying to see the response of it. I still work with mydeco and juggle a lot of other projects so we’re hoping that as this gets bigger we can take on more people to work with us.
CK: We hoped that we would be as popular as Lonny and Rue and we hoped for readership figures to rival Livingetc. I don’t think we ever really expected it to happen as quickly as it has though! It’s a lot of work, but it’s worth it.
AT: It’s a dream come true! We wanted the magazine to be really popular and fill that void for great British design. The response has been phenomenal and even though I was confident (and nervous!), I didn’t expect it to happen so suddenly. It is a lot of work and it has taken over my life, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
How on earth did you go from the germ of an idea to such a successful publication in a few short months?!
DN: They didn’t feel short! I think the success is down to the great content and starting to reach out early on Facebook, Twitter and the Heart Home blog so that by launch day we had built a great buzz and a good following who helped to spread the word. We had over 1000 Twitter followers before we launched which really helped kick start it.
CK: We couldn’t have done it without the help of our contributors. We have so many talented people providing us with content and photographers and stylists who have been very generous with their time and experience.
AT: We have so much talent in this country that finding inspiring content was never something that fazed us. I guess it proved to us that there really was a gap in the market for a British digital magazine.
What was the biggest surprise?
DN: For me, the biggest surprise was that people really did want a British magazine. We knew we did, but we had no idea how much other people were missing seeing British design.
AT: It was the readership figures that totally surprised me. To have 100,000 readers for Issue 2 is mind-blowing and very exciting!
What’s been the most fun and what’s been the hardest work?
DN: The most fun for me was reading all of the nice comments about the design, naturally! I haven’t done much design work like this for some time so it was good to hear. The hardest part is always the week before launch – there is so much to do and never enough time in the day; not to mention that creativity is hard to just switch on at times like that!
CK: I just love the photo shoots. I’ve always loved reading interiors magazines and nosing around people’s homes and now I can do it for real! Seriously, I get a real buzz from working with a photographer to get the best possible shot. The hardest thing to manage is the multitasking we all have to do. The inbox never gets emptied! We really could do with extra help.
AT: Oh where do I begin?! I love the planning process and thinking about future features, I adore going on photo shoots and working closely with the photographers and stylists. The best part has to be meeting such talented and inspiring people who I’m in awe of. The hardest part is taking on tasks that are so far out of my comfort zone.
What are you most proud of?
DN: I’m really proud of the Lee Broom feature in Issue 2. It only took me two hours to design but it was exactly what I had in mind. We signed it off straight away.
CK: I’m tempted to say all of it, but actually I’m proud of the way we work together. We really did not know each other that well when we started and the other day someone called us ‘the dream team’. I’m very proud of that.
AT: I’m really proud of being part of such an amazing product. It’s so rewarding receiving positive feedback. I’m proud of coming up with the first British digital interiors magazine – now that is quite an achievement; and it wouldn’t have been possible without my partners in crime!
Photography by Andrew Boyd.
What are your plans for the future of HHM?
DN: We have a lot of ideas, but we’re keeping them close to our chest right now until we get on top of the current projects. We want to build the magazine, but we also are launching a directory, which we’re hoping will help connect retailers with shoppers. We want to this to be much more than a simple listing, so watch this space!
CK: We are only as good as our last issue. We hope to keep getting better and better.
AT: We are always thinking of ways to improve and have so many lovely ideas… so as Daniel says; watch this space!
What advice would you give someone about to embark on a similar project?
DN: Don’t do it! No seriously, it really is not easy, although I would never say not to do it. One of the nice things about our magazine was that we didn’t know how much work it was going be, otherwise we might have not got in to it, which would have been a real shame.
CK: Don’t underestimate how much time you will need.
AT: Plan, plan, plan! Don’t rush into it thinking it will be easy. It will take over your life, but it is ever so satisfying. If it’s your passion, you have to go for it.
Finally, favourite colours please people…!
DN: I do love some Swiss graphic design so I might have to go with red, twinned with black.
CK: Pink.
AT: Lavender
Further reading for the especially geeky:
- The Heart Home Magazine launch party
- interviews :: buy the book
- heart home magazine :: interviews
- interview :: mary-ellen paul
