Mindful books for building community

Who am I?

Hello! My name is Flora, I'm the founder and Creative Director of The Mindful Editions. 

I graduated with 1st Class Honours from The London College of Fashion, where as well as learning to make fabulous clothes, I had extensive training in portfolio layout and establishing a brand aesthetic. I went on to work as a Production Coordinator for an established fashion house, which whilst very stressful, taught me how to manage the production process from beginning to end. 

What is The Mindful Editions?

In 2020 due to the huge loss in jobs and funding for the arts, I founded the independent publishing company The Mindful Editions, with the aim of showcasing the work of new, marginalised or underrepresented creatives. It was also important to me that all profits from the book are split amongst the contributors, because so often in the creative industry people have to work for free, or their work is used without permission or recognition. 

The first book I published, The Mindful Editions 01, was released in 2020 and featured the work of 10 photographers and 10 poets from all over the world. Making that first book gave me a new perspective on community, creativity and making a product. By inviting people to apply to take part for free and via social media and word of mouth, something amazing happened: people started sending me their friend's work or heard about us from friends of friends, or even just came across us on Instagram - it came about very organically. It was wonderful to see everyone supporting each other and encouraging their friends and family to take part.

Consequently, the contributors were a diverse mix of ages, ethnicities, genders and experiences, from around the world. The book was full of contrast as everyone was drawing from different subject matter and backgrounds, but it was also very harmonious because no matter where you come from, how old you are or what gender you identify as, there is always a sense of commonality, especially during hard times like the pandemic. This is clear throughout the book: poems about losing ancestral homes in Palestine fit seamlessly alongside faded photos of olive trees, photos about growing old and COVID-19 sat opposite poems on loss and grief. 

As a whole, despite the often difficult subject matter, the book came to represent hope and encouragement for a creative community and readers at large at the peak of a global pandemic. This hope and encouragement are what I want to keep giving creatives. I want to offer them a physical platform to shout from, enjoy and have control of.

What we're up to at the moment

I am are currently working on a special edition book called Our Lockdown Garden with photographer Ruth-Toda Nation, who has photographed our most senior citizens at an independent living facility, captured in a beautiful English garden over the first pandemic year. The photographs will be accompanied by interviews Ruth carried out with the residents, as well as handwritten reflections by the residents themselves.

I have also just sent the artwork for The Mindful Editions 02, a collection of work from six painters and six 3D artists, that embodies the mood of emerging from two long hard years, and an appreciation of the dialogue between painting and sculpture.

Why we're different from other publishers

The Mindful Editions offers creatives the opportunity to break out of the traditional publisher-author relationship - I personally work with each of our artists to create books they are happy to see in print; from cover designs to paper, we work together at every stage, and all of the profits (after covering the production costs) go to the contributors & creatives involved. 

So why do I need funding?

• To allow us to do more of what we love - community outreach programmes, free workshops and open-sourcing with our local community
• A base to grow the business on
• To allow us to pursue more projects by covering the production costs
• To get the business to a point where it can pay me a salary (so I can do it full time!)
• To support the launch of our podcast - The Mindful Conversations