LONDON — In a difficult publishing environment, with Condé Nast editors stepping down and British newspapers, such as The Evening Standard, undergoing endless restructuring, home and interiors magazines are thriving.
Elle Decoration U.K., which is celebrating its 35th anniversary, is predicting that subscriptions will grow 22 percent this year, according to its publisher Hearst U.K.
Subscriptions account for 77 percent of the title’s current total circulation with new customer acquisitions for print and digital increasing by 100 percent year-on-year, Hearst said.
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“Fashion is like putting on armor, but the home is much more personal and it has that emotional connection. There’s much more interest in homes than there ever used to be,” said Ben Spriggs, editor in chief of Elle Decoration U.K., in an interview.
The pandemic helped boost home and interior magazines as people were stuck at home, and examining their living spaces closer than ever.
“It was a real explosion of interest, and it has stayed around. The access to visual media has also increased across TikTok, and Pinterest has driven people to be interested in their surroundings,” Spriggs said.
Elle Decoration U.K.’s digital numbers have soared with its Apple News+ readership growing by 151 percent year-on-year. The title has notched 591,000 minutes of engagement on the Apple News+ app.
To mark the anniversary, the September issue is dedicated to the first issue of Elle Decoration U.K. from 1989. It recreates the cover using contemporary brands and a Tom Dixon S chair from 1988.
Inside, the conceptual AI artist Charlotte Taylor was commissioned to reimagine what the home would look like 35 years from now.
“It was a very considered approach, and there was a lot of back and forth. It wasn’t just us going to ChatGPT and asking it to create a cover. I would argue that it still has a very human touch to it,” Spriggs said.
Taylor’s reinterpretation touches on sleek metallic surfaces and playful sculptures.
Elle Decoration isn’t the only home title in growth mode.
Hearst U.K.’s biggest magazine in terms of circulation, Good Housekeeping, has named media veteran Jane Bruton as editor in chief. Bruton was formerly deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph and launch Editor of Grazia U.K.
Meanwhile, Grazia U.K. launched its own home and interiors magazine, Casa Grazia, in October last year. It was meant to be an annual issue, but was so successful that a second Casa Grazia came out six months later, in April 2024.
“[Casa Grazia] was driven by research conducted by Grazia, where we found that our audience of women are now spending twice as much on interiors a month as beauty,” said Jane McFarland, who edited the second issue of Casa Grazia with chef Ruthie Rogers on the cover.
Casa Grazia’s next issue is set to be released for spring 2025, and in the meantime, the team is building its digital offering and focusing on affiliate sales and Pinterest.
The decision to have a slower print run reflects the pace of the interior world. “People tend to want to research and educate themselves about different brands before making investments, and the turnover of trends is much slower,” McFarland said.
Home and interiors are an important part of the U.K. economy.
According to a report from Mordor Intelligence, the home decor market in the U.K. is estimated to reach $23.47 billion this year, and is expected to reach $30.3 billion by 2029.
