Anna Frabotta is a Force of Culture, as well as of nature!
Born a journalist, she became a teacher of fashion publishing and in 2019 embarked on her Frab’s adventure, initially as an e-commerce and then as a physical store, first in Forlì and then in Milan. Frab’s curates the selection of magazines for the Pitti blue newsstand and for Palazzo Brancaccio in Rome and it’s also the promoter of the first Italian festival of independent magazines, this year at its second edition, MagtoMag, which brings together publishers and magazines from all over the world, with the common mission of making culture and communicating their point of view on the world.

Frab’s is NOT a magazine, as Anna often ironically points out after the numerous requests to work at the supposed title that overwhelm her, but it is a container, a receptor, a researcher of valuable content, conveyed through printed paper: indie magazines.
Like Jeremy Leslie, the guru of British indie publishing before her, Anna is a spokesperson and selector of unique, fascinating, niche realities that try to make their way in the world of publishing far from the big numbers, with a few just exceptions. Thanks to her clear, poignant and interesting communication, she manages to cultivate a large audience that has been following her, now affectionately, since the beginning. But before talking about Frab’s, let us start with Anna as a woman.

What did you study and what kind of career path did you take before embarking on your exciting journey with Frab’s?
My course of study is actually quite different from what I later chose to do in life. I studied Sociology and Political Science at the University of Bologna, and my interests have always been more focused on current affairs and politics than on the more creative sectors in which I work today and which I have approached through extra-university courses and workshops, especially on photography, writing, and documentary cinema. However, I must admit that my course of study has also allowed me a certain openness to areas not immediately associated with Political Science.

How did you stumble upon the world of independent publishing and what won you over?
That for publishing in general is a passion that I have been carrying around for a while. I am one of those classic people who is fascinated, or rather fetishised, by paper and beauty, and in magazines I found a bit of the apotheosis of this passion. I used to collect magazines that I found mostly on my trips abroad or at minor publishing fairs, the not-so-commercial ones to be clear, but my real encounter with publishing was in my previous life (at Frab’s). I worked for five years in a communications agency that was also a publishing house. Working there, I got to know the world of magazines from behind the scenes, I understood the dynamics behind a magazine, also on a commercial level, and I also got into writing because I became a freelance journalist in the meantime.

What aspects of a magazine strike you most to be selected by Frab’s?
In the early years of Frab’s I looked a lot at experimentation, the more a magazine offered little-covered topics and unusual editorial designs, the more I appreciated it. Today, this aspect remains important, but I put both aesthetic and content quality first. I like to choose magazines starting with the paper and format, because in a world where culture is completely dematerialised and information is just a click away, the tangibility of the magazine object becomes crucial. Then of course I look at the content for the same modicum as above. Online we are bombarded by images and news of all kinds, I like to equate the person who produces a printed magazine with an editor, because an editorial director does nothing more than curate for us a selection of topics that are worth studying in depth and bringing back to paper, entrusting them in a certain sense to a potentially eternal memory.

Tell us how you approached the digital chapter and then moved on to physical stores. What needs did you feel in order to move into physical stores?
Frab’s was supposed to be born as a physical ‘bookstore’, but once I had made the necessary business plans, I realised that the project risked not being sustainable and that the initial investment was too high. So I decided to start a little bit for fun with a commerce and a very small selection, about thirty titles against the more than a thousand we have today, but really very carefully. In hindsight, starting out with digital was our good fortune, Frab’s was in fact born in May 2019, a few months before the outbreak of the pandemic that a physical shop, mostly niche, would never have withstood. We grew very quickly with the online, which allowed us to create the base of our community, to make ourselves known, but above all to be able to talk about magazines to a wider and wider audience, putting into practice what was our goal: to make niche magazine culture. The desire and need to have a space where we could meet publishers, customers and readers was born quite early on, and as soon as we could (after the various lockdowns had ended) we opened our first shop in the city where I was living at the time, Forlì.

The first store in Forlì. Your feelings, public reception?
We stayed in Forlì for three years, it was a wonderful first experience, but I must confess that it was mainly my office. Obviously over the years in Forlì I met some incredible people, with enviable magazine collections, and many customers who came to Romagna from every corner of Italy, at weekends the shop was frequented by people who came mainly from Bologna and Milan especially for us. With the aim of growing, however, we made the well-considered choice to move to the city that could best espouse the culture of the niche magazine. Milan is the hub of the creative sectors, from fashion to design to publishing, and it is also the city where most of the Academies that train the creatives of tomorrow are concentrated.

What was it like leaving Forlì for the time being and opening in Milan?
The first few months I was so focused on setting up the store and worked so hard that I didn’t even realise I had changed cities. After the necessary summer break, I realised that this was a really important step for Frab’s because more and more people and publishers got to know and appreciate our work and I had the opportunity to get in touch and start collaborating with professionals I would never have met in Forlì. The Milan store has really become a reference point for the magazine community, in fact we host events and presentations every week.

Do you find it better living in a metropolis or in Rionero Sannitico? What do you appreciate about the two worlds and what can’t you stand?
Rionero Sannitico, the very small mountain village in Molise where I was born, will forever remain the only place I will ever be able to call home and I owe it a lot because, paradoxical as it may seem, growing up in a place seemingly devoid of cultural stimuli where boredom is a cumbersome presence, actually spurs much reflection (and study). In Rionero I bought my own little house where I take refuge when I can, but I cannot imagine myself far from a city and the stimuli of all kinds it offers. I can hardly stand the hustle and bustle of the city, not to mention the excessive cost of living which is not always repaid by what the city itself has to offer, but for the moment the positives outweigh the negatives.

How do you manage all the annual events you organise, the stores and your private life?
Back-up question? Let’s say that it’s probably my private life that suffers, I’ve always been a workaholic and I often prioritise work and allow myself little time for anything else. Managing the shop, organising events and courses at the Ied is not easy, but with a bit of organisation and delegating a few things you manage to do it all. However, I try never to take on more work than I can manage to do well because I don’t only look for quality in magazines, but I also try to offer it through my work.

Teaching: Do you feel comfortable in the teacher’s shoes? How do you find the younger generation and what kind of interest do you find in your students? How do you shape your lessons and your teaching career in general?
I always thought I would never be able to teach in life, then I realised that when I talk about publishing in talks or even simply on social media, I am already teaching in some way, so it came quite naturally to me. Obviously I study and prepare a lot before each lesson, but I really enjoy being able to pass on to someone what my passions are and especially to confront myself with younger generations from whom I also have something to learn. I see them as somehow more respectful and inclusive and, to a greater or lesser extent, they are also very curious about the world of print publishing, which they have only experienced marginally, having grown up with a smartphone at their fingertips.
My lessons are moments of continuous confrontation, I like to involve the children as much as possible, listen to their ideas and opinions, get them to work on projects in practice.

Tell us about the wonderful page of history you wrote with Mag to Mag: the first festival in Italy for independent publishing. How do you feel about being the first to be the spokesperson for this world and what lights and shadows were there in the organisation?
Mag to Mag was another one of my dreams in the drawer. In Italy, but actually also in Europe, there are no festivals and fairs dedicated exclusively to magazine publishing and it has always seemed to me a great limitation. I wanted to create a moment of encounter for the entire indiemag community that would not stop at simply selling the magazine, but would become a moment of growth and education for everyone, from those who make or sell magazines to those who read them. I am very pleased with how the first two editions went, with the things we managed to organise and offer the festival audience and exhibitors, and with the wonderful turnout. I have already set the dates for the third edition and next week I will start the location surveys, there will be news soon.

Frab’s also travelled to Saudi Arabia for the first Paperback, Art book fair held in Ryadh. How was this experience? What kind of response did you find from the public and insiders?
What social/artistic/cultural balance sheet do you take with you after this experience?                      

We had the honour of being invited to the country’s first Art Book Fair and it was truly an unexpected experience. Together with 25 other exhibitors, we felt a bit like pioneers who were lucky enough to witness and contribute to the opening to the world of a country hungry for culture and beauty. The reception was really good, the magazines literally sold out and the audience was curious and interested. Saudi Arabia is experiencing a period of strong development in view of Expo 2030 and many efforts are being made to create connections and contacts with the rest of the world. It was certainly strange and not very easy (we had to leave many magazines in Italy because of the very strict laws on nudity for example), but we are glad we were there and hope to continue to collaborate with the country’s creative and cultural sector.

What do you want to communicate with your human and professional cultural journey?
Definitely to believe in what you love. Everyone says that publishing is dead and in deep crisis, my project proves the exact opposite.

What future do you plan to take Frab’s towards? Do you have any goals you would like to share for the future?
The goal is definitely to consolidate the work done so far to continue to be the Italian reference point in the world of independent magazine publishing but, why not, also to grow further. I would not see a Frab’s abroad one day either.

Thank you for all you do for us small publishers, to make us known to an audience of lovers of beauty, curious and open to non-mainstream culture.