Interview with Joy Abella

We were very fortunate to get an interview with Joy Abella, owner of Joy Magnetism. She has also has been kind enough to offer some of her magnets for the upcoming magnet photography contest to be held this month. The winner will receive Joy's magnets, a set of magnetic poetry and a Pieces T-shirt.*

Now onto the interview!

What interested you in magnets in general?
Not really sure. I just started buying them wherever I traveled - they're inexpensive and pack well. Friends started to bring back magnets for me. Then one day, I looked up and realized that after living in my apartment for 3 years, my refrigerator was the only thing actually decorated.

What's your favorite magnet piece you have? And how many do you have?
That's like asking a parent to choose between their children. I can't do it. Though, I'll be honest, when I get a shiny new and supertotally cute magnet, that's my favorite...until the next shiny new and supertotally cute magnet comes along.

As for how many I have, that's part of why I started joy magnetism in the first place. I was trying to avoid something dorky like a wicked cool spreadsheet, tagged and sortable by type, color and origin. So, I figured jm was the easiest way to catalogue them. A few years ago I counted, but stopped counting in the 400s or so. So, I thought I'd get about a year and a half to two years out of the blog. But what I didn't count on was that even more people started giving/sending. Or, that'd I'd start giving people money to pick up magnets on their travels. Oh! And there's a possible M&A deal in the works - if my sister's new fridge won't hold her magnets. :-) So, who knows how many I'll have at the end. (I remember seeing some clip about a woman who owned like 35,000 magnets, so I know I'm nowhere near that and I don't really want to be. But one thing I don't do is trade them - which is apparently big in some places.)

What do you look for when you choose a magnet to be featured on your site?
And finally, the question for what I'm looking for in a magnet is two-fold. What I pick for my collection, and what I pick for a specific day all depends on my mood.

When I'm in a gift shop, I look for magnets with my name on it. Barring that, I go for either the heights of cheesiness, or just a really well designed/produced piece. Sometimes, I splurge and get both. But I always leave with something. Or fifteen.

When I'm picking a day's magnet, if I don't have an occasion, or fun story, or a rant ready to go, I see what a "this day in history" search yields, and away I go. If I have nothing in particular to say, I have a steady backup of standard fridge magnets from all sorts of local eateries and businesses to get me through the day.

*Prizes are subject to change