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The cover of Kindling Quarterly magazine features a person with a child sitting on their shoulders. They are positioned in front of lush green foliage, with the title “Kindling” in a bold, white script. Text at the bottom lists featured artists and designers, including “Dan Funderburgh” and “Shawn James Seymour”.

New dads' mag Kindling Quarterly is a fine addition to the indie mag scene

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Date
15 January 2013

In among the rise of niche magazines, there are certain titles which though I can appreciate their design values and content selection, the subjects won’t ever fully resonate with me. Not so (I hope!) with the newly-launched Kindling Quarterly, a Brooklyn-based title which aims to create “a thoughtful dialogue about fatherhood that is missing from our cultural landscape” by “playfully assessing and celebrating the multitude of experiences that form contemporary fatherhood.”

The brainchild of editor David Michael Perez and creative director P. August Heffner who acted after being surprised at the lack of publications which spoke to their notion of being dads, the magazine is a fine-looking thing which they hope will have a broad appeal beyond those with first-hand experience of bringing up kids.

A stylish remaining of one of society’s most evolved roles? We’d say Kindling Quarterly has the recipe for real success.

An open magazine showing a pencil illustration of a person resting their chin on their hand. The opposite page contains two columns of printed text.
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David Michael Perez/P. August Heffner: Kindling Quarterly, Issue 1

An open book shows a portrait of a person with a beard, glasses and a cap, wearing a red checked shirt and a tan vest. The opposite page is black with bold white text that reads “Direct Benefits”, with “Rohan Anderson” and “Photography by Cory White” in smaller type.
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David Michael Perez/P. August Heffner: Kindling Quarterly, Issue 1

A person stands on a lawn playing a small guitar. A red drum is attached to the handlebars of a bicycle beside them.
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David Michael Perez/P. August Heffner: Kindling Quarterly, Issue 1

An open magazine showing a two-page spread. The left page is filled with text, while the right page features a photograph of a young child sitting on a wooden staircase.
Above

David Michael Perez/P. August Heffner: Kindling Quarterly, Issue 1

An open booklet with a bright blue cover and a white page. The cover features large white serif text that reads “Laugh. Laugh now, guys!” and “An interview with Joe Randazzo”.
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David Michael Perez/P. August Heffner: Kindling Quarterly, Issue 1

A person stands by a stone bridge railing, holding a small child. Beside them sits a large brown leather holdall against a backdrop of autumn trees.
Above

David Michael Perez/P. August Heffner: Kindling Quarterly, Issue 1

An open magazine spread. The left page shows a close-up of a vintage astronaut helmet resting on a table, while the right page features a person and a child sitting on a patterned rug, reading a book together in a room filled with framed art.
Above

David Michael Perez/P. August Heffner: Kindling Quarterly, Issue 1

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About the Author

Rob Alderson

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Rob Alderson is a freelance writer, editor and strategist. He was previously editor-in-chief of It’s Nice That and WePresent, and editor of Design Week. He publishes the newsletter Undo, which tries to make sense of how AI is changing design work, the design process and the design industry.

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