When graphic designer & writer Anthea Krook contacted me to let me know about her new zine, Spoonful, I was intrigued and wanted to find out more. This wonderful little zine is packed with collections of thoughts on happiness, and I think it would make a perfectly optimistic stocking stuffer or gift for a friend who’s been feeling down. It’s printed on 100% recycled stock and available for purchase online at www.spoonfulzine.com, and on Etsy. I asked Anthea to share a bit more about why she started Spoonful and her plans for the zine.
What inspired you to start Spoonful?
I have a huge answer to this seemingly simple question, apologies for any rambling on my part… I guess it had been something brewing inside me for quite a while now. I’ve always been someone who reads a lot and seeks out ways to inspire myself or feel better on a bad day, and working as a commercial designer – perhaps I was unlucky – there were many many bad days. I felt unstimulated, bored really, and felt a huge need to look outside of my work to find out what life was all about, and whether work was ‘it’, the ‘point’, or if there was more than that, which of course, there is!
One day at work I was feeling particularly miserable and I went for a walk. Being outside somehow transformed my perspective a little bit. I saw trees, flowers blooming, people smiling and I realized it was the tiny little things in life which make it beautiful (and sometimes bearable) and also, I was sure there were others out there, like me, who, like me, needed reminding of this fact and I needed to get to them…
The other side of things was that eventually I began working as a writer (a job much more suited to my personality) and with all the business and craziness of everyday life I was finding that all the endless reams of things that I wanted to read were piling up! If I did have time, it wasn’t long enough to get through books and mooks etc, and I kinda wished there was something out there that could fill me up with inspiration & happiness, but not require a huge amount of time to get through as I just didn’t have that… and it all clicked.
There was nothing out there, and I was a designer and writer yearning for purpose… it made complete sense to CREATE something small, yet packed with inspiration that I could finish on a bus-ride, and well, that got Spoonful all started…
What can readers expect to find in the first edition of Spoonful?
It should follow the same template each issue, but vary widely depending on the different people we get to contribute to it… this issue we have a beautiful inspiring illustrated quote by Kareena Zerefos, collections of thoughts on happiness, and moments of happiness from vastly different characters, a story of spilt milk – how failure is a part of life, and how that’s okay, beautiful poetry helping us rethink the everyday aspects around us, oh, and of COURSE, the random object page where Spoonful chose a random object that makes us smile, and combined that with a list of inspiring links to visit. How it works was we got the creatives/artists/crafters/cake-makers (!) to interpret the object and if you like their version, you can go and see more of their work through the link… It’s a really fantastic project and the contributors to this issue have created some really magical stuff!
How did you go about finding contributors for your first edition?
A complete mixture of methods. Some people I knew, others I love their blog or work and wrote to them, explaining the aims of the project, and they were amazingly supportive and enthusiastic. It’s a really lovely and inspiring creative community out there online. I feel so crazy lucky to be working in these times. Oh, and we’re ALWAYS looking for more contributions, feedback and work, so anyone interested can just email us at spoonfulzine@gmail.com
What are your goals and plans for Spoonful?
Hahaha, my boyfriend is very worried about this and keeps asking the same question. Well, I thought I’d see if it rings a bell for people. If they like it, if the universe is in need of a spoonful of happiness, I would dearly love to continue creating spoonfuls so that people can have beautiful sets of happiness companions to return to and look through in times of sadness, or just on ordinary days. It’s been such a phenomenally challenging and fulfilling time; I’d love, if people connect with Spoonful, to raise more funds and make many many more spoonfuls to send out into the world to fly.
