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by james mannion
Where did the inspiration for your magazine and website 1883 come from?
Jay Mitchell “It came from the fact that at the time – as a graphic designer – I couldn’t get any work. My sister who is a stylist and my business partner who’s a photographer were in the same boat – so we thought if we started our own thing we could get published.”
Where does the title – 1883 – come from?
“It’s the year Coco Chanel was born. She broke all the rules in fashion and we wanted to take that philosophy of seeing and doing things in a different kind of way and applying that to our work.”
For those that don’t know what is 1883?
“We like to cover new talent – new photographers, new hair and make up artists, new models – and give them their first coverage. We still do a lot of that but we now also add in, where we can, more established artistes – musicians, models and actors.”
How did you get started?
“My background is actually in TV production. I joined a film school out in the States and ended up working in the production of a number of cooking shows. That ultimately led to me coming back to the UK to work for Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares. While I was doing that I decided I wanted to learn how to edit shows, so I became a runner – which is basically a glorified waiter! I made lunches, carried packages around Soho to try and get a break. It wasn’t very fulfilling and one day on the tube heading between appointments, I saw an advert to study graphic design. It was a three month crash-course and I signed up. When I finished it I couldn’t get any work because I was new and my portfolio was tiny. So that lead us to form 1883.”
That’s interesting because often people think that the path to a successful business is linear but it’s not – you have to try different things and sometimes start again?
“It really is. You have to allow yourself to fail. You have to try things to realize you don’t want to do it and that allows you to find something else. You also have to ignore the people who are constantly telling you to get a stable career!”
Like many of the best ideas – 1883 started in your bedroom didn’t it?
“Yes at my mum’s which wasn’t very cool, ha! It was free which was most important and I had time and space to learn what I wanted to do. We just made it up at first. We didn’t know what we didn’t know and that gives you bravery. We just dived in which was great. So in 2011 we had issue one finished, we printed about 2000 copies but had nowhere to sell them. So we piled them in a suitcase and dragged them around every independent shop we could find. Our pitch was; ‘ We’re a cool, new magazine and if you sell it for us, we’ll give you 40% commission”. I think we managed to place a few hundred in stores in and around Soho – and we sold four! But it gave us the confidence that we could do it.”
How did you go about getting it physically printed?
“We knew we always wanted a magazine as well as the website – that was absolutely the goal. As a graphic designer it’s how you want your work to be seen. So I had to learn all the technical side of the industry, like InDesign and paper stock and margins which I found quite exciting! In terms of printers – they just wanted to know if we could pay for it or not! We all dipped into our savings as it cost us a few thousand pounds. It was so gratifying to see the finished magazine but being our first time we made SO many mistakes. I even had a spelling mistake on the cover – worse than that it was the Anna Wintour’s name I got wrong –the renowned editor of American Vogue! So we had to reprint but you learn your lessons – you double check everything from then on!”
What sacrifices did you have to make?
“We all worked a couple of jobs. I had a bar job at the Hammersmith Studios. I was doing 40 hours a week there which paid for my rent and living costs and also allowed me to put some money aside for 1883. I was working weekends and evenings for many, many years and you do sacrifice your social life but that was okay. I didn’t mind because it was paying for what I really wanted to do. When you work on something that is yours and you love – it gets you out of bed in the morning.”
You’ve had some great names on the cover of 1883 – Tom Hiddleston and Suki Waterhouse -how did you secure them?
“Fundamentally, I realized you had to be consistent – not just have one or two issues out and then disappear but have three, four, five – which proved to agents and managers that we were sticking around and with each issue we also had a bigger print run which meant we could get into more stores – even branching outside of Soho and into train stations. So you built slowly which meant the gatekeepers would trust you. That ended up with us getting Suki Waterhouse who was a big model at the time. Having her on the cover meant the American book seller Barnes & Noble stocked us which opened a lot of doors. Tom Hiddleston was a game-changer though. The first Thor film had come out and it went completely bonkers. It just exploded everywhere. We sold out for the first time and had to reprint.”
Who’s the cover star that got away?
“Ha! Well it depends on how realistic the approach was I suppose. I am very proud of the rejection email I had from Barack Obama’s team. We have tried to get Keanu Reeves and Tom Hardy too but to no avail. I just think it’s now down to persistence. I might not get Keanu now but I will make sure that I pitch again for his next project or the next time he is in town. For me each rejection is bringing you one step closer to them saying ‘yes’.”
Looking back what’s been the personal high point of your 1883 journey so far?
“There have been so many – working on something that’s ours and that allows me to showcase my creative side. To then see the magazine get bigger and bigger in terms of sales. I’ve also been able to travel because of it to the States and South Korea and to see the interest out there is wonderful. Finally, despite all the ups and downs and lockdowns and pandemics – we’re still here.”
What does the future hold for 1883 – what’s next?
“We’ll keep reinventing ourselves. We’ve relaunched the website and now we’re looking at getting back into print after being away for three years. I am still so excited about it all.”
pictures by ash hussain and issy dimauro
