With the release of her new book, The Art of Memory Collecting, Martina Calvi is building a community of craft lovers and writers.
In early November, Martina Calvi celebrated the launch of her debut book, The Art of Memory Collecting, with a crafting party. A large table in the lobby of the Ace Hotel in Brooklyn was full of stickers, patterned paper, and blank bookmarks that attendees decorated to their heartsâ content. Vibrant colors and chatter filled the lobby. It was a fitting launch event for Calvi. Her book features 15 different crafting projects dedicated to âmemory collecting,â and her social media presence (with nearly half a million followers across Instagram and TikTok) is centered on scrapbooking and junk journaling.Â
From hosting trinket swaps and craft nights to encouraging people to start their own scrapbooking clubs, Calvi has always loved finding ways to bring people together through their journals. Publishing her first book was just another great excuse to spread the word about journaling. Besides being an aesthetically pleasing hobby, junk journaling is a great way to hold on to important memories and create an archive of your own life. After celebrating the successful release of The Art of Memory Collecting in New York City, Calvi chatted with Her Campus NYU about her book and how she fell in love with journaling.
HCNYU: How did you get into junk journaling and scrapbooking?
MC: I started junk journaling when I was eight. I didn’t know it was called junk journaling or scrapbooking, obviously, at the time. My mom gave me a travel journal, and she took me and my sisters overseas and wanted me to remember this childhood trip, so she said we had to fill a page a day on this childhood trip. Being eight years old, I didn’t love writing every single day, so I was just pasting things in and copying my older sisters, who were much more artistic. I just never stopped.
HCNYU: Do you have a favorite section of the book?
MC: There’s a big page which is an archive of all the little trinkets and little objects that I’ve collected over the years. I was very inspired by the I Spy books that I grew up reading. I love that page because it shows how tiny objects can hold so much meaning for us. I think a lot of people have lots of little objects like that that they hold on to, so displaying it in this beautiful page spread as art is really nice.
HCNYU: Do you feel like your experience with journaling has prepared you for the experience of writing a book, or was it a different process for you?Â
MC: Because I’ve been writing my whole life, yes, I think journaling prepared me. But I did have this moment when I started writing the book, of [thinking,] âI’m not an author. I’ve never published a book before,â and I wasn’t sure if I could just use my voice that I’ve always written with in a book. I thought I had to slip into this more professional tone or different way of writing. But actually, yeah, the way I’ve been writing my whole life is just fine.Â
HCNYU: How would you encourage people to start memory collecting or journaling in their own way?
MC: Collect first, curate later. So collect things and don’t overthink why you’re collecting them. And then pretty soon you have a little collection, and you can start to think deeper about why you have those pieces and paste them in a journal. Don’t overthink it.
HCNYU: Can you think of a funny or random thing you’ve saved to put into a journal?
 MC: I was looking through my journal from when I was like, nine. There’s so many things that are like, âOh, of course. I had a Lizzy McGuire sticker or a Kim Possible sticker.â But then randomly, there’s a beer label. Like, was I drinking beer at nine? I must have thought the label was pretty and put it in my journal. But I think that’s so funny and so authentic for a child to do that.
HCNYU: How does it feel to have this project in the world after so long? The response has been overwhelmingly positive.
MC: I think I’m still processing it. Obviously, you hope that something you put your heart and soul into gets received well, but I don’t think I really grasped just how many people would have it in their hands and be reading my writing and seeing my actual personal diaries. So, yeah, I’m still processing it. It’s pretty crazy.
HCNYU: Do you have any plans in the works for either future books or ways to keep growing this community? The social media presence is huge, but I know you’ve done a lot of craft meetups.
 MC: Yeah, it’s really important to me to extend the community offline because it is an offline activity, using our hands and paper and being crafty. So, I do try to do lots of meetups and craft nights, and I hope that other people are inspired to do that as well and start their own scrapbook clubs. But at the moment, I’m working on my second book, which is really exciting. I’m just in my studio now, working on it, and, yeah, lots more books and lots more things for people to collect and be inspired by, I hope.
HCNYU: Has this book opened up a new world for you as an author and a published writer?
MC: Definitely. I feel like I’ve already been doing this my whole life, which is sharing my creativity with the world, but the internet can only get you so far. Publishing a book feels very tangible, lasting, and very valid. It’s something that my parents’ friends can understand and see. It’s actually something that has an impact. So, yeah, it’s really changed my life. Now all I can think about is more books to write.
HCNYU: Have you been able to find time to keep up with your own journal as you’re in the midst of a book release and writing a second book? How do you maintain a consistent journaling practice?
MC: Whenever I have felt like I’m in a creative rut, Iâve realized it’s just because I’m not journaling. That’s where I go to dump all the thoughts in my brain and all my creative ideas. So I do try to keep it up consistently. That being said, I think creativity is fluid, and as soon as it becomes a daily thing, it becomes a chore. It’s kind of defeating the purpose. So you just turn to journaling when you need it and remember that it’s there.
HCNYU: I saw that you got engaged in New York. Congratulations! Do you have a favorite New York spot or New York memory?
MC: It would have to be getting engaged, for sure. I love New York, and I always have. It’s such a magical city to me. I think for a while it lost its magic, and I don’t know if that was just because of where I was in my life. But coming back this time with my debut book, seeing my face in Times Square, [going to] parties and events was really, really special. But what was most special was that I got to bring my family with me, and I got to bring my fiancĂ© and share it with them. To see them experiencing the city for the first time, and really sharing the magic was just the best feeling in the world. I love New York.