makeshift magazine was created in 2023 by quentin freeman as a small, shareable, print home for their friends’ art and writing. published maybe twice a year, each issue’s theme emerges from many conversations with friends and the goings-on of the season, and each issue becomes a little time capsule of what folks are making, musing, and breathing life into. makeshift is a very relational project, as in, submissions are mostly advertised word of mouth and in community, and the resulting magazine reflects that. we hope that the work published inspires a more interconnected, liberated, and beautiful world. 

makeshift is largely based in the bay area, california, and designed and edited in yelamu / “san francisco”, but open to contributions from anywhere. 

makeshift makes no money; all sales go to covering printing costs and the rest is distributed thru mutual aid networks. 

each issue is printed by irrelevant press, oakland. 

this is a collaboration by many friends, like ruby jay who wrangled so many of their friends into contributing, armaan mumtaz who illustrated the cover of issue 2, mags christie who helped dream up the theme (fire warms fire burns and mags is certainly both), and nico diiulio whose musical magic inspired and produced vol one of a makeshift mixtape. 

you can find a copy at dog eared books, bound together books, adobe books. or just email us and we’ll get you one. this is a very diy project and so the distribution is a times a little helter skelter (it’s basically just quentin running around town and trying to get copies into the world) so thanks for your patience. 

issue 3 submissions will open summer 2025 so stay tuned.