Cathy Olmedillas was working at The Face and Sleazenation — two of the defining lifestyle magazines of 1990s Britain — when she became a mother in 2002. She looked for a children’s magazine she actually wanted to read with her son and found nothing. The market was dominated by franchised tie-in titles full of plastic toys and advertising, designed to be consumed and discarded. Olmedillas wanted something that lasted, something that treated children as intelligent beings rather than tiny consumers. In 2006, she made it herself.
Anorak — British slang for a nerd or an obsessive, the kind of person who collects things and cares deeply about them — launched as the ‘happy mag for kids’ and immediately looked like nothing else on the newsstand. It was unisex in a market rigidly divided by gender. It was illustration-led at a time when most children’s publications relied on licensed characters. It was printed on recycled paper with vegetable ink, which made it smell different, feel different, and last longer than the disposable titles that surrounded it. Each issue was themed and designed to be kept and collected, like the annuals Olmedillas remembered from her own childhood. Someone once described it as what would happen if Monty Python, Ralph Steadman, and René Magritte decided to make a magazine for children. That is not far off.
Eighteen years later, Studio Anorak has grown into an independent publishing house. DOT, a companion title for preschoolers, launched in 2015. A podcast followed during lockdown, in which child editors asked questions like “How do whales pee?” to panels of experts. A book imprint, Paper Turtle, published its first titles. Korean and Chinese editions are now in development. The illustration agency that grew alongside the magazine represents artists from around the world, and Olmedillas takes particular pride in the fact that for many illustrators, an Anorak commission was the first paid job that launched their career.
The model Olmedillas originally had in mind was The Face — a lifestyle magazine for kids, with tips on what to wear and places to visit. She quickly realised that the last thing parents and children needed was more reasons to buy things, so she pivoted to a reading and creative experience. That pivot turned out to be the making of Anorak. In a world where education is increasingly obsessed with numbers and exams, and where screens dominate every waking hour, the magazine offers something almost countercultural: a calm, screen-free space where children can use their imagination, exercise their creativity, and encounter the work of artists who take them seriously. With a print run of 15,000 per issue and distribution in museum shops, bookshops, and boutiques worldwide, Anorak has proven that a children’s magazine built on respect rather than condescension is not just viable but beloved.
Explore Anorak at <a href="https://anorakmagazine.com/" target="\_blank">anorakmagazine.com