Flip through the pages of a magazine, pass them under your fingers and get lost in the smell of freshly printed paper. These are habits and gestures that accompany all people who are passionate about magazines and who, even today, go to newsstands every morning to buy the newspaper. Rites and passions that led Anna Frabotta to found Frab’s Magazine & More, a portal specialized in the sale of independent and collector’s magazines.
“The project stems from my personal passion, that for niche publishing, for independent magazines that I had been collecting for some time with great difficulty” says Anna. It all began in 2018 when getting these products to Italy was not easy. “They were found only in the most well-stocked newsstands of the big cities and in shops, with selections dedicated above all to the fashion sector”.
Anna’s story tells of how print media, social networks and new technologies can go hand in hand. Frab’s was born on Instagram, where Anna begins to describe the independent magazines she had collected and bought during her travels with posts, stories and video content. «In the world of culture there is a certain snobbery towards the internet, digital and social networks. I think it is wrong, we are in a mature enough moment for culture and digital to coexist and interact with each other “. From that moment the question arose spontaneously: “Who knows if other people have this same need as me?”.
“After the success of the Instagram profile, I made a small investment to open an online e-commerce, a platform in which I have a catalog with more than 400 titles”. Frab’s is a particular collection. It was born from scouting and independent fairs abroad. “With Covid these activities have moved online, but the relationship with publishers has strengthened. Ours is a newsstand, but not like the one we are used to »explains Anna.
«Our philosophy is based on saving the printed word and culture through quality publishing that takes care of the contents and therefore the editorial product. What we do and what I would like to do consistently is to spread the culture of the independent magazine, but at the same time resist those who denigrate culture ».
Now Frab’s also has two physical spaces, in Forlì and Rome, where you can browse live design products conceived and studied for a long time. Each magazine has its own particularity: who the type of paper, who the layout, who the images and who the graphics. What is certain is that each magazine is unique.
«For Frab’s, quality and environmental sustainability are fundamental issues. Printed paper pollutes, we cannot ignore it, so it makes no sense to feed the presses with anything. It makes sense to print only what is really useful, quality products, magazines that once consumed are not thrown away, but kept. Even in this way, environmental sustainability is pursued ».
A niche magazine gives you sensations to touch, smell and sight that can never be replaced by a web page or an ebook. “Only quality can save publishing. Creating a magazine that looks more like an art book than a classic magazine can be a possibility for the future ».