Welcome to The Simple Things!

Thank you for signing up to receive our newsletter. We’re sending you this note via email too in case you prefer to read it later.

Every fortnight Sian and Laura will email you with stories, ideas and nice things to want and wish for. We hope you enjoy it. (Sometimes it might end up in your junk folder so do check…)

You may or may not already know that we spend most of our time making The Simple Things, a monthly print magazine all about taking time to live well.

Here’s our story:

Five years ago, three friends and colleagues were working for one of the biggest publishing companies. But we believed there was a better way to create and publish magazines – where the readers were as important as the advertisers, where the paper quality and design were valued and where the words and pictures weren’t always trying to sell stuff, didn’t portray perfection, didn’t tell people what to do and made them feel better, not worse.

So we gave up our jobs, ploughed in our savings and borrowed the rest to set up our own publishing company – Iceberg Press – and buy The Simple Things, followed by Oh Comely two years later. And now we’ve launched Pics & Ink to sell other publishers’ independent, beautiful and useful magazines too. It’s been hard work but the smell of every fresh-printed issue in our hands is a note to self to savour the good times.

The Simple Things celebrates slowing down, enjoying what you have and making the most of where you live. We like to share good food with friends and family, grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors, microadventures, forgotten wisdom and the satisfaction that comes with a job well done. 

And we like to think that the small things we do will make a difference in the long run – whether that’s making, upcycling, growing, cooking, escaping or relaxing. 

To find out more about subscribing to our print or digital editions, click here. Or you can buy the latest and back issues in our shop.

We love feedback: you can ping an email to thesimplethings@icebergpress.co.uk, say hello on our Facebook page, comment or tag us on Instagram, Tweet us, or you can give us a call during office hours (or leave a message anytime) on 020 3950 1835.

Want even more from The Simple Things? Check our blog where Iona writes original features and posts our favourite recipes and projects, plus lots of stuff you never knew you were interested in. You can also listen to our playlists, new each month.

 And in our shop you can buy our books, patches and postcards.

 Good to have you with us.

Lisa Sykes, Editor, The Simple Things