From Childhood Hobby to Seven-Figure Success: The Scrapbooking Phenomenon
What began as a simple childhood requirement on a family holiday has blossomed into a thriving seven-figure career for Sydney artist Martina Calvi. This journey, fuelled by a love for preserving memories, highlights a growing global trend towards analogue creativity and tangible experiences in an increasingly digital world.
Calvi’s passion for scrapbooking was ignited when she was just eight years old. Her mother, keen to ensure the family’s international trip would be remembered, instilled a daily journaling practice. “My mum really wanted to make sure we’d actually remember it, so we had just one requirement, which is to do a page a day in our travel diary,” Calvi shared. While she admits to sometimes finding the writing tedious, her mother’s encouragement led her to a creative workaround. “I wasn’t always keen to write, I got tired. So, I would collect things and just paste them in, and that would be my page done, but that was good enough for her.” This early adaptation laid the groundwork for a lifelong habit.
A Digital Debut and an Unexpected Career Shift
Fast forward to her late twenties, the now 30-year-old Calvi, who describes herself as a “sentimental and crafty” artist, began sharing her meticulously crafted scrapbook pages on social media. What started as a personal outlet soon captivated a global audience, attracting hundreds of thousands of followers. “I’ve dabbled in all forms of creation, but since sharing my journals online, my career has completely shifted,” she explained.
The online traction, particularly on platforms like Pinterest and Instagram, quickly led to an extraordinary opportunity. A publisher approached her with the proposition of turning her beloved hobby into a book. Calvi initially met the offer with disbelief. “When I first got the message from my now-editor, it was sitting in my message requests on Instagram, and I literally thought it was a fake message, like I thought it was spam,” she confessed. “I’m so glad that I opened my message requests and responded.”
Literary Success and a Growing Brand
Her debut book, The Art of Memory Collecting, published in October 2024, proved to be an instant success, completely selling out. This initial triumph was just the beginning. Calvi’s online presence continued to flourish, amassing over half a million followers across various social media platforms. Her creative endeavours expanded beyond the page, leading her to establish her own stationery brand. The momentum continued with the release of her second book, A Year of Junk Journaling, which garnered significant acclaim, including winning the 2026 Creative Book Awards.
Calvi expressed her astonishment at the trajectory her life has taken. “I never dreamed my scrapbook pages would lead me to the career I have today,” she admitted. “It’s something I’ve always done and never really thought so deeply about, but when I saw how much it resonated with people and inspired them, I just thought, wow, this is actually quite a good thing.” The positive impact her work has had on others is a source of deep satisfaction. “It’s nice to have that kind of positive influence. I couldn’t believe how well it took off. It’s actually been crazy.”
The Analogue Renaissance: A Craving for the Tangible
Calvi attributes her remarkable success, in part, to what she terms the “analogue trend” or the “crafty renaissance.” This movement sees a growing segment of the population consciously stepping away from digital saturation in favour of more intentional, offline experiences. Many are labelling 2024 as the “year of analogue,” a period marked by a collective digital fatigue that is driving people towards activities like journaling, engaging with puzzle books, reading physical books, and embracing crafts like knitting.
This shift is also evident in how people are interacting with technology itself. There’s a noticeable trend of social media users advocating for a swap from modern digital devices to older, more tangible alternatives – think trading an iPhone for a dedicated camera, Spotify for an iPod, or AirPods for classic wired headphones.
Calvi believes this yearning for the analogue is a direct response to the current digital landscape, particularly the proliferation of AI-generated imagery. “I think especially because we’re seeing so much AI-generated imagery at the moment and we’re questioning what’s real, we’re a bit fatigued by manufactured and quickly processed imagery,” she observed.
The inherent qualities of scrapbooking offer a refreshing counterpoint to this digital deluge. “There’s something really refreshing about scrapbooks. There’s something so tactile, so authentic and human,” Calvi stated. “The messiness and the imperfections of it are what really tickle our brains and make us feel connected to another human being again.” This innate human desire for authenticity and connection is what continues to fuel the remarkable rise of Martina Calvi and the broader analogue movement.
