What Happened When I Fell Into Fantomette’s Wonderful World of Flipboard Magazines

It’s always a treat to find a Flipboard magazine-maker who has such a clear and compelling sensibility that the magmaker’s profile page feels like a world unto itself.

That’s the reaction I had when I stumbled upon @Fantomette, who came to my attention after he left a friendly comment on one of my mags pointing me toward a relevant article he’d found. His content suggestion was spot-on, so after saying thank you (and flipping the story into my magazine), I took a look at Fantomette’s profile page and — Boom! — down the rabbit-hole I went.

My gateway drug was Fantomette’s “Automates,” a strangely intriguing magazine about vending machines — and the bizarre things you can buy from them around the world:

Then there is “No! No!” a hilarious, in-depth exploration of questionable taste — and the various products, fashions and personal projects through which questionable taste can be expressed:

Of course, a magazine like “No! No!” works only because Fantomette actually has an astute eye for good taste, which he displays in some of his other magazines, like “The Design Touch:”

Yes, Fantomette has an unusual sensibility.

And no, it may not appeal to everyone.

But it definitely appeals to me, so even if I don’t know what he looks like, or where he lives or what he ate for breakfast, Fantomette’s magazines tell me that he’s the kind of person I’d enjoy meeting in a coffeeshop or sitting next to during a long plane flight — and that alone makes Flipboard feel like a more familiar place.