Folly
About

In 2019 Folly started as an email newsletter. Initially delivered once a month, it aimed to explore architectural history through a light-hearted approach. Taking the Folly as our primary reference—a foolish entity with no apparent function—it strove to exist in a delightful, fanciful, and fertile space, where disperate forms of writing and methodological approaches could coexist.  

Growing organically it started to include a range of voices, asking new contributors to expand this curious approach. At the end of each year, we published a collection of texts; Book One, Two, Three, and Four. Their profits were donated to New Architectural Writers.

In 2024 Folly became a print journal. An analgue move that refocused its original ethos; its medium adding more weight, rigour, and seriousness. It reflects a heightened engagement with the editorial process, interogating submissions and working with authors to present lyrical and experimental writing in a tangible, physical object.

Folly is an irregular journal that supports literary and critical writing in archietctural history. 

Folly has also collaborated on exhibitions; working as part of research teams to explore the constellations of physical and digital archives or the domestic and feral nature of Pigeons.

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Folly is edited by Rosie Ellison-Balaam.
She studied History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art and alongside Folly, works at Drawing Matter. Previously she worked in architecture practices, publishing houses, and as a freelance editor for design publications. Her interests lie in the intersection of language and architecture.