""Candidly, this project also came out of a conversation with my therapist," Leah says. "When I was talking about feeling creatively blocked - she asked me what I would want to make even if no one ever saw it, something where the act of making something would be fulfilling in and of itself. My instinctual answer was 'a publication about dumplings'.""
""Moving from a newsletter to a printed zine, over the years the creative has made design decisions that create a conscious parallel between the publications content and its container. Dumplings are \"petite\", Leah shares, \"but also pack a big punch in both substance and flavour\". So it seemed logical for the designer to go for a small format with lots of bold, bright colours to create that same feeling.""
""The layout for Above the Fold also pays homage to niche interest and hobbyist print publications from the 1970s and 80s, the creative tells us. \"I spend a lot of time on eBay looking at and collecting titles like Rush (a magazine about drugs), Mother Earth (about homesteading), Monster Times (about horror movies), and, a personal favourite, the Nutshell News, a publication all about dollhouse collecting and building.\"""
Leah created Above the Fold after a therapy prompt to make something fulfilling for its own sake, choosing dumplings as the focus. The project grew from a newsletter into a printed zine that highlights people whose ideas, traditions, labor, and skill shape dumpling making. Design choices intentionally mirror dumpling qualities: small format, bold bright colours, and a compact layout. The visual approach draws on niche 1970s–80s hobbyist magazines that Leah collects on eBay. Content sourcing mixes research and serendipity, featuring adapted self-published pieces and travel-discovered work, and the zine is approaching its third issue.
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