Cove Magazine - from college project to publication

Cove Magazine had its beginnings as my final major project while studying Fashion Business at Istituto Marangoni in London. Though the project itself was for the purpose of my degree, I realised early on that the magazine was something that would become something more than a college project.

I felt there was room out there for a publication the young people of Ireland could relate to that would also provide them with a platform to showcase their talent. With such vast amounts of creative talent graduating in Ireland each year, I wanted to create a nurturing platform that would have similar values to those of a university magazine or journal.

We hope Cove will recreate that sense of community and promotion often found within the college environment but we hope to do so on a larger scale.

We showcase talented creatives both at home and abroad through the exploration of topics prevalent in the lives of young people.

Setting out a mission statement for the project helped clarify everything I wished for Cove: “Our mission is to give our readers a platform to be recognised. We encourage them to question everything and implore them to participate. We want our readers to be the change they wish to see in their country.”

Getting Cove off the ground was challenging and being self-funded, I relied mainly on the support of family and friends who believed in my vision for the magazine.

We have yet to take on any advertising - which is a struggle that many independent magazines face - but, despite that, our aim is to be in a position to pay a small fee to contributors by issue 3 or 4.

We set a theme for each issue and open it up to anyone and everyone who would like to submit work based on their interpretation of the theme.

“Growth” was the central theme of our first issue and the theme for our second is “Failure” - in all its forms. When we discussed the idea with our contributors our latest theme was thought of as a purely negative concept, but the further we delved into it, the more interesting the perspectives we uncovered seemed to be.

Is there such as thing as failure without success? Can you have one without the other? We decided to look at the idea of failure as a process and in different contexts.

We’re always looking for students and graduates to submit work - even if it’s just giving them a chance to be published before they make it into other publications. The aim is for Cove to help them to be seen not only abroad but also within Ireland as they try to build their profile.

It’s not uncommon for young people in creative industries to rush over to London thinking it’s the only logical option when there is truly so much going on in Ireland.

Even though I chose this path and am content with it, it is far from the only way of doing things.

We’re still in the early stages of finding our voice, but I hope Cove will become a reliable source of information that young people can look to when they want a perspective on an issue or topic.

Generations before us formed long lasting bonds with newspapers and often specific writers, I would love to bring that tradition of familiarity back.

We’re a very small team whose job is made much easier by some fantastic freelancers. The magazine’s title ‘Cove’, or Comh as Gaeilge, encapsulates how we function: Iarracht comh pháirteach - a joint effort.

For the current issue we’ve got a series of interviews with the talented team behind the London Irish Abortion Rights Campaign about their work and their plans for the future.

Working with LIARC was the catalyst for this issue and chatting with their members we examine the Repeal the 8th debate in a “failed by the State” context.

Some highlights include a variety of design and art work as well as our interview with the wonderful Irena Drezi, a model with Not Another Agency who will feature on our cover.

As I am based in London our first and second issues were designed and produced between here and Dublin. For our third issue I will be based in New York and our working theme will focus on the concept of being an outsider.

With issue two coming out on May 21st we’re excited about what will reveal itself for the third issue. We’re looking to expand on all levels, so while we’re of course looking for ex-pats interested in collaborating to highlight the Irish experience abroad we also want to utilise the assortment of people from different cultures working and living in New York to contrast with Irish contributors from home and abroad to add depth to our third edition.

The feeling of being an outsider in a new place is a feeling one cannot avoid at some stage in life, but being an outsider in your field or even in your way of thinking are avenues we want to explore.

Again it can always be more than simply how you personally felt outside of something, it could even be what you brought to a situation, what did a certain community get from you, have you improved the lives of people in a place you’ve come to? All of these experiences are mutually beneficial to you and the people around you. Being an outsider is not definitively a negative.

We’re working tirelessly to ensure Cove gives a snapshot of life as a young Irish creative at this moment in time. We take submissions for all things - written and visual - so whether you’re an artist, photographer, designer or have a project coming up that deserves some coverage please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Check out our submissions page at covemag.com/submissions

Cove Magazine is stocked at The Library Project, Temple Bar