18 years working in partnership with Essential Marbella Magazine

I remember the launch of Essential Marbella Magazine; it was a grand affair at the original Bora Bora beach resort in San Pedro Alcántara – a fittingly fantastic introduction party for what has become one of this town’s enduring icons.

By Michel Cruz

Magazines have come and gone in Marbella like the waves that wash on its shores, but somehow, at that opening event in 1999, you knew that this was the beginning of something special. And it was. This year Essential Magazine will celebrate 20 years of uninterrupted publishing in a market known for its tough sailing – and Manifesto Design will have enjoyed a close working association with it for the past 18 years.

At the time of the launch party I was still the editor of Villas &…, a luxurious property lifestyle magazine that had been around for some time. A few years later I decided to go it alone, and in 2001 began working Essential Magazine as a freelance Associate Editor, eventually contributing up to ten articles per issue/month. This in combination with my other freelance writing, and from January 2002 also my activities as the founder and director of Manifesto Design.

When the original editor, Faye Marchant, moved abroad, I was invited to become editor of Essential Magazine, a role I fulfilled for almost two years while still writing and editing prolific amounts of work for the magazine and running my young but rapidly expanding business. It was a busy but also exciting and rewarding period that involved being invited to many of the grand events then held in Marbella and surroundings.

International travel was another perk of my work, even after I stepped down from the role of editor in 2004 to concentrate on Manifesto Design. I returned to my role as contributing writer of Essential Magazine, and continue to do so today – and with as much enjoyment and dedication as ever. Over the years, the collaboration has also included producing the Essential Guide and providing occasional production support for Iain Blackwell and his team, and more recently this includes digital marketing.

We look back with great satisfaction at 18 years of collaboration with Essential Marbella Magazine, and are proud of our association with and contribution to this highly successful print and online publication that has become one of the true icons and ambassadors of Marbella and its unique lifestyle.