oyster via obsessee
A few weeks ago frockwriter received a tip that Australia’s longest-surviving indie fashion/lifestyle magazine Oyster had closed. It was dismissed as nonsense at the time by editor Paul Bui, who said he was about to put out his next issue. Very similar rumours began circulating late last year, following the news that Oyster’s then parent of 12 months, Destra Corporation, had gone into receivership. On November 20, 3D World Publishing co-founders Jonathon Morris and Monika Nakata reacquired the company and its various publishing interests, including Oyster (only to sell 3D World to Street Press Australia in July). Well as it now emerges Bui has since left the magazine, along with editor in chief Rachael Squires and art director Eliza Iredale, citing creative differences with the publishers - part of what frockwriter has learned has been an exodus of staff since the Destra buyback, that includes beauty editor Leticia Dare, sub editor Hilary Board, sales director Zoe Sainsbury and Oyster Vision producer Alex Goddard. This leaves Morris, Nakata, ad manager Prav de Silva and former intern-turned-web editor Alyx Gorman, who is acting editor – while attending to fulltime university studies. Gorman confirmed that there will be no December/January issue and that the magazine is going on hiatus online until further funding is sourced. No monies are owed to staff. Update 5.52pm: According to publisher Monika Nakata, a Feb/March issue will go ahead.
18 comments:
I hope to see another Oyster issue soon. We know just how tough it is can be as an independent and we applaud the beautiful work the teams at Oyster have produced up until now. A strong community of magazines with integrity is what a publisher most wants to be a part of.
All the best to everyone at Oyster past and present x
Nooo!
I love Oyster, I have a huge collection of past copies and it would really be a tragedy if they couldn't continuw.
NO! :( that is such a shame
how sad :(
I hope not!
I stopped writing for Oyster when they failed to pay a total of $900 in outstanding invoices, and I know I'm not alone. It was a good looking mag but they were hopeless at the business of dealing with creative talent. They burnt a lot of people. Karma.
Alyx is ridiculously competent. I am so excited to see the issue she produces.
That is really sad to hear.
The magazine was looking really bloody good recently.
But having worked with Jonathon and Monica in the past, I am not surprised that this has happened - they actually have no idea what they are doing.
I am interested to see what will happen to the magazine now that there appears to be literally no editorial staff working there. Interesting...
GORMAN IS THE FUTURE OF MAGAZINES IN THIS COUNTRY! GO GIRL-WONDER!
really? cos I'm pretty sure alyx gormon was just the power hungry intern at oyster a few weeks ago..?
dear oyster - I LOVE YOU. Can't wait for your return :)
xxx BEL
I for one find Oyster derivative and way past its used by date. Basically it reads as a bunch of hair product advertorials...
I love Oyster. Like it or not you have you admit its an icon in Australian publishing. Though to be honest I only started buying it again in the past year or two because I think under Paul Bui's editorship the magazine really started making its mark again. Its sad to hear that this is happened with their team and I hope they're able to recover from this. On another note, does anyone remember something similar happening to Russh a few years ago?
Alyx G's articles are some of the best in the mag
they sound like they need to look after their staff and regular contributors more. i love the comment above about the hair product advertorials, so right! good luck to them though, i've been buying the mag for years now.
personal opinions aside, guys i'm going to have to clip any anonymous third-hand gossip about things that might or might not have gone down.
thanks for your understanding.
Ohhh that's so sad to hear! I love Paul and the Oyster team. They did such an amazing job and their work will be missed. I'm sure they'll all move onto bigger and better things. Best of luck! Don't really know alex gorman, I'm sure she's fine. .
I remember Judith Baragwanath from the 1980's. She quite inspired me with her Punk gone glam/Thrift Shop style of self/decorating. I think she actually was the hostess at a cafe society hot spot called The French Cafe. I'm not sure if she was ever a columnist in actual fact, but there was a constant rumour circulating that she was behind the infamous "Felicity Ferret", a vicious celebrity (for want) gossip columnist.
Now my old Swiss Cheese brain has restarted and warmed up ( a little hotter and it'll be melted Swiss) I do recall that she did actually write a little society column as well in the vein of Kate Waterhose (typo but it stays).
Post a Comment