A little while ago, I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea. You know those ideas that arrive at a ridiculous hour and seem completely brilliant when you’re half asleep? Sometimes you wake up properly and think, “Well, that was nonsense.” This wasn’t one of those. I kept thinking about it. And then I kept thinking about it the next day. And the day after that. Before I knew it, I was completely obsessed with the idea of creating something I’ve now called WRINKLES.
The idea was actually quite simple: where are all the interesting people over 40 who are creating things? Not people necessarily making content about being over 40. Not menopause. Not “how to look younger”. Not “your best years”. Not even necessarily people making anything particularly related to midlife. I mean people who are simply… making things.
Writing books. Making YouTube videos. Taking photographs. Painting. Sewing. Making dolls. Creating music. Filming things. Podcasting. Designing. Building businesses. Making things with their hands. Learning something completely new. Starting projects they’ve been thinking about for years.
People like me. And, quite honestly, I was finding them surprisingly difficult to find.
The internet seems to get younger
I’ve spent most of my adult life creating things in one form or another. I’ve written books, made videos, taken photographs, built websites, sewn things, experimented with film-making and, more recently, fallen down increasingly deep rabbit holes involving AI.
I’m 50 now, and I have absolutely no intention of stopping. If anything, I’m more curious than I’ve ever been.
But when I started looking for other people around my age who were doing similar things online, I realised how difficult they could be to discover. Of course they’re there. There are loads of us. But the internet doesn’t always make us particularly easy to find. And that’s when the idea for WRINKLES really started to take shape. I began wondering why there wasn’t somewhere that simply brought us together.
Not another website telling us how to “embrace our best midlife”. Not another beige collection of articles about hormones, sensible shoes and finding yourself. Just somewhere for people who’ve been around a bit and are still bloody interested in things.
And that’s where WRINKLES came from
I started imagining what WRINKLES could become: a place where you could go when you wanted to find interesting people over 40. Maybe you’re looking for photographers. Maybe you want to discover an author. Maybe you’re a YouTuber looking for other YouTubers. Maybe you make ceramics, create art, make jewellery, sew clothes, build websites, write blog posts or have some wonderfully obscure creative obsession that doesn’t fit neatly into a category.
It doesn’t matter. And you don’t need thousands of followers. You don’t even need to think of yourself as a “content creator”. You just need to be making something and putting a little bit of yourself out into the world. So I called it WRINKLES.
Because, frankly, I quite like the word. And because there’s something rather brilliant about having a few wrinkles. They mean you’ve lived a bit. You’ve learned things. You’ve made mistakes. You’ve accumulated stories, skills, ideas and probably an alarming number of unfinished projects. Why wouldn’t we celebrate that?
So I built it
Once the idea had lodged itself firmly in my brain, there was really no getting rid of it. I started thinking about what it could become, then I started designing it, then I started building it. And then, because apparently I have absolutely no sense of moderation, I ended up spending a ridiculous amount of time getting the whole thing ready.
And now, rather amazingly… WRINKLES is live.
It’s a creative community and an online publication, with a free directory where people over 40 can create their own profile and make themselves easier to discover. There are also Stories, Ideas and Conversations, and I’m hoping it will grow into a proper place for interesting articles, interviews, creator stories and conversations. But it’s very much at the beginning. Which is why I’m telling you about it now.
I want you to be part of it
If you’re over 40 and you’re making something — anything — I’d love you to join the directory. And if you’re not a creator yourself but know someone who is, send them over.
I’m also looking for people who would like to contribute articles to WRINKLES. It could be about your creative work, something you’ve learned, a project you’re working on, an obsession, an opinion, a story, a particular skill, or something you’ve discovered that you think other people would find interesting.
It doesn’t have to be about being over 40. In fact, I’d rather it wasn’t most of the time. Being over 40 is simply the thread that connects us. The interesting bit is what we’re doing with all those years behind us.
I have a feeling we’re going to find each other
Perhaps that’s the thing I’ve been most excited about while building WRINKLES. The possibility that somewhere out there is a whole community of people who have been quietly doing exactly the same thing as me. Making things. Starting things. Changing direction. Learning. Experimenting. Having another go. And occasionally wondering whether we’re the only ones.
I don’t think we are. I think there are loads of us. We just need somewhere to find each other. So, if you’re over 40 and still making things (even if it’s just something as simple as blog posts), come and say hello.
WRINKLES is ready for you.
And perhaps, somewhere along the way, we’ll all have that lovely little moment of: “Oh! There you are. I thought I was the only one.”
And there’s more to come…
WRINKLES is also over on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. It’s still very early days, so bear with me while I get everything up and running! I’m hoping the YouTube channel will eventually become a place for proper conversations with other creators too — a bit like a podcast, but on video. I’d love to sit down with interesting people over 40 and chat about what they make, how they got there, what they’ve learned and whatever else we end up talking about.
I think that could be a lot of fun. And, hopefully, a really good way for all of us to discover even more of our people.
