Contributors

Francois Visser
Photographer
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South African photographer Visser lives in Cape Town where he divides his time between exploring the great outdoors and travelling for work projects. “I like being active, whether it’s going for a surf or sinking my teeth into fiction books – reading is like a conduit to the mind’s eye and helps me foster connections with people,” he says. He worked on an assignment in Johannesburg documenting stories of intrepid resilience, community and camaraderie, documenting how its residents are reimagining their city. “Daily struggles are a reality in some areas of the inner city, yet around unexpected corners one finds pockets of creativity and ingenuity.”

Who is your favourite designer or architect?
Twentieth-century US architect Louis Kahn. His use of light was extraordinary.

Anje Jager
Illustrator
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Originally from the Netherlands, Jager lived in Berlin for 20 years before returning to her country of birth, where she now calls an old army base home. She also has her studio there, alongside other artists and designers. She works as a graphic designer, art director and illustrator, and we asked her to bring our business news pages to life.

Is there a piece of design that you treasure?
I love the design pieces that I’ve inherited from my aunts. A bunch of Thonet chairs, Friso Kramer Result chairs, weirdly small Hackman Finland cutlery and some great lamps. I combine them with new pieces but they make me feel at home.

Frederike Helwig
Photographer
— design

Helwig was born in Hamburg and has lived in Marseille, New York, Munich, London and mid-Wales. For us, she shot designer Ini Archibong, who lives in Switzerland. “He initially refused to remove his sunglasses because he was super tired but eventually he agreed to – and I’m glad,” she says.

What piece of design has made your life easier or more pleasurable?
My studio is in west London so the introduction of city e-bikes a couple of years ago encouraged me to commute through Richmond Park via Hammersmith Bridge. It’s a fantastic route and is faster than any other means of transport.

Callum McDermott
Writer
— design

Born and raised in Sydney, McDermott writes about food, travel and design. “I live by the beach in a suburb called Clovelly so for half of the year I spend pretty much all of my free time in the ocean, either swimming, diving or attempting to surf,” he says. For this issue, he interviewed designer and artist Mark Gowing in his home and studio in Newtown. “Whenever I go to an artist’s house, I’m always jealous of how they use their own art to decorate their space – and Gowing’s was no different.”

What piece of design means the most to you?
My incense tray and holder, which are made by Kungyokudo, Japan’s oldest incense manufacturer. It’s a joy to use, is a warm reminder of a recent trip to Kyoto and, crucially, catches every wayfaring speck of ash that tumbles from the incense as it burns.

Richard Forno
Writer
— agenda

Forno lives in the Washington DC area where he oversees the graduate cybersecurity programmes at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) and is the assistant director of the UMBC Cybersecurity Institute. His job affords him a unique perspective in analysing current and emerging global-security issues. He often notes that “most security problems are simply people problems – and therefore quite solvable”. For monocle he penned a piece on the recent attack on communication devices in Lebanon.

Money is no object. What piece of design would you invest in?
Any house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright or has a mid-century modern style. Those simple, sleek designs evoke fond memories of an era when we envisioned an uplifting and empowering future for the world.