About Sketchbook and My Mentor

The magazine

Sketchbook is a new quarterly magazine that showcases established and emerging creative talents in fashion, design and culture with a focus on features, photography and illustration.

Featuring original sketchbook graphics, exclusive interviews with scientists in jelly and photographers in Africa, we present our finds in a raw and exposed fashion. In Sketchbook, it’s not just about the product itself, but also about the beauty of the process of conceptualization, creation and appreciating the means to an end.

Sketchbook aims to provide an entrance into the minds of switched-on, aware and intelligent creatives and inspire those who wish to be part of such an innovative industry.

The Story

Founded in the heart of Notting Hill, 23-year-old Bahraini born Wafa Alobaidat aimed to create an independent publication that was creative, playful and did not take itself too seriously. Experiencing fashion and art in her 5 years of living in London and through her blog Fashion Ambitions, the magazine-aholic dreamed of buying a publication from the shelves rich with illustrations, drawings and images that celebrated young individuals’ talents; these talents who were at the forefront of their careers, experimenting with creative ideas in their labs and studios.

When she couldn’t find what she was looking for, for she created it herself, putting together a team of 150+ individuals who contributed and got involved with the first issue, an homage to Style Bubble, her fashion icon and all her favorite fashion bloggers.

If she could describe Sketchbook Magazine it would be part portfolio, part character sketch and filled with lots of fashion/art/culture tidbits in between. The Fashion Blogger issue has an estimated print run of 10,000 and will be sold online via selected links.

The Team

Editor-in-Chief, fashion journalist & blogger Wafa Alobaidat, Features Editor & cultural enthusiast Luma Bashmi and the Sketchbook family are dedicated to celebrating inspiring innovative people they meet every day.

Sketchbook Magazine is in itself an experiment and platform to test out new ideas: our doors are open to collaborate on projects in film/art/fashion whether it be via our website or our online show.

The magazine has just been launched online in October 2009 with an estimated readership of 7,000 and is now available by print on demand in the UK, USA and Canada. You can also order issues of the magazine by emailing us directly. Work on the second copy of Sketchbook Magazine, The Fashion & Film Issue, is currently underway