Essays and Interviews
Conversations with makers around the world about their paths and philosophies
EssayFood and Purpose
TRANG TA
In 2022, Thu Thuy Pham and Phuong Thao Westphal, two friends of Vietnamese-German backgrounds, opened the doors to their Berlin diner DASHI. Within a short time, the diner has established itself as a popular destination for Berlin foodies and has now grown a reputation that goes far beyond the German capital.
EssayTiempo de Zafra
Sophia Valera Heinecke
The holistic beauty of the beaches, like the life of most artists, like the environment of Santo Domingo, is a patchwork crafted with intention – the intention to survive and the intention to realize what was once just a dream.
EssaySeize The Day Like A Stoic
Ryan Holiday
You’re alive right now. In front of you sits just a handful of hours before the day is through. What tomorrow has in store, you cannot know. Piles of problems could be dumped on you. A surprise call from the doctor could change everything. You could wake up with the flu and spend the next week in bed. You could not wake up at all.
EssayMaking Friends with our Fears
Anne-Laure Le Cunff
When we grow up, we are told to be strong: to fight our fears, our nightmares, our doubts: to be confident and ambitious. The admonition we receive is not without consequences. As adults, fear becomes a personal burden not to be shared with others, lest it starts spreading.
EssayLearning from Lina
Pia Brückner
After four years of studying architecture I had the great opportunity to spend a year in Berlin, I had the great opportunity to spend a year in São Paulo in 2018—time that became very intense and had a lasting effect on my attitude towards architecture.
EssayKnow Thyself
Dennis Freischlad
We speak in abstractions and symbols, and we speak in vain. Each word marks the very loss of what is meant to be said, each wanting-to-speak is altering the ever-name-less into a world of language and form.
EssaySamma Samādhi
Frank Berzbach
Samma Samādhi means the “right collection”, the ability to concentrate, which is the main engine for a creative life. But our thoughts are constantly wandering. Why? An essay on creativity, concentration and meditation. There is only one moment in the creative process when our thoughts should digress in a cultivated way: in the “incubation phase.” This is the first phase after we have received an assignment and still have a distance from the problem. Under time pressure, this is not easy at all: not yet looking for concrete solutions to the problem, while sending the mind on its way.
EssayMaking in Movies
Jascha Hannover
Frida Kahlo (Salma Hayek) is broken. Her body has been shattered in a bus accident, a metal rod has pierced her pelvis, and the doctors have barely succeeded in saving her life. She has been bed-bound for weeks, trapped in a full body cast with very little movement...
EssayEnchanted Embodiment
Ben Roth
Despite the many theories about the nature of reality, what I experience as most real, is being a creature with a body. Being Here means arriving in this animal body, acknowledging my corporeality fully, feeling it as deeply as I can. Being Now means participating in this continuous process of life as it unfolds within, and all around; witnessing it in all aspects and subtleties as it takes form in the endless moment of Right Now.
EssayRunning Through Isolation
Intisar Abdul-Kader
Intisar Abdul-Kader is a mental health professional, a daughter, a colleague. She is also a Muslim, Black, Hijab-wearing runner and, by that simple fact, is helping to shape space for others like herself within the sport. Here, she describes the shift in the role running has played for her since the pandemic restrictions began: bringing her into a deeper awareness of ‘now’ and self that she didn’t have before.
EssayNo Such Thing As A Fresh Start
Oliver Burkeman
The big lure of all such moments — as you’ll know if you have a similar weakness for time management systems, decluttering initiatives and suchlike — is the promise of making a fresh start.
EssayThe Analogue Comeback
Frank Berzbach
Ever since the introduction of the personal computer into our homes during the 80s, digitization has become more and more integrated into our daily lives: telephone booths, alarm clocks, wristwatches and calendars have been replaced by smartphones; vcrs, tape recorders and turntables have made way for streaming services; typewriters...
InterviewThe Art of Touch
Brooklyn Reardon-Nikara
Growing up as an Indigenous Māori in Aotearoa/New Zealand, I was subject to a society dominated by white European/Pākehā culture. With a mixed whakapapa (family history) that included both the colonized and the colonizers, I felt a tension between my inner- and outer-worlds that remained dormant for a long time...
InterviewThe Flower of Life
Cong Le Tran & Sonja Pham
Based on Cong Le Tran’s Vietnamese roots and upbringing in Germany, he carries two worlds within himself in the best sense. They guided him throughout his quest to find a unique creative voice. Even more so as a 1980s kid, experiencing a significant turning point: The beginning of the internet era. With this rich potential of innovative ideas stemming from the analog and digital world and his practice of Buddhism...
InterviewThe Jean Genie: Story of a Denim Lover
Liselotte Girard
My favorite trousers are not Levi‘s yet Georges, the founder of Maverick Repair Jeans in Paris and a true aficionado for 501s agrees to see it for consultation. After a diagnosis, he heads for the back of his shop. Slaloming between piles of previously pampered jeans, he opens the doors of his workshop to me. At first glance, it may seem a little cramped. It contains years of archives, works, and fabrics, as well as three sewing machines, one of which is an old leather workshop reformer.
InterviewDare to be Eternal: Oliver Urman
Hugo Hoppmann, Sarah Discours
Stepping into Olivier’s home atelier you enter a universe where elegance meets the raw and unconventional. Here, every detail is intentional, and every moment is infused with pleasure. Olivier’s dojo is a sanctuary for creativity, a space where even mundanity becomes an act of artistry.
InterviewDon’t be afraid, take a bite!
Hugo Hoppmann, Sarah Discours
Sticky fingers run down jelly sandwiches. Tomato sauce splatters are unleashed upon unsuspecting tabletops. Most adults might gawk at the regressive desire to pick up a fist full of food and create worlds. But for Suea, a Korean-born, Brooklyn-based cook and food designer, tapping into this impulse unleashes possibilities with the power of nuclear fission...
InterviewTareet’s Visions
Sarah Discours
When I was 18, I went to a university for art and design, but quickly realized that it was too theoretical for me. I went on to do an internship with a tailor in Paris, where I fell in love with clothing…
InterviewA Primitive Walk
Hugo Hoppmann
We have been dancing with ease for decades, on a Planet Earth that has its limits and showing this to us clearly, but we have turned a blind eye to its messages. We are pursuing a progress that leads us to the abyss, still we are always trying to run more! We need to stop dodging realities and present the planet new methodologies, materials and production systems that do not make us and our earth sick. What if progress means going back to the primitive?
InterviewAttitude and Altitude
Hugo Hoppmann
His adventures have led Sibusiso guiding expeditions and giving motivational talks, keeping a strong focus on giving back to the community through his work. As a professional speaker, his message is simple: every person has their own “Everest” to climb. Whether you’re prepared for it or not, it’s there – challenging you to reach the top. And if he can do that in the most dangerous and inhospitable conditions and against all odds so, he suggests, can you.
InterviewA Call with Tricia and Terry Jones
Hugo Hoppmann
Some people build magazines. Others build entire worlds. On a quiet Monday afternoon, I spoke with Tricia and Terry Jones—partners in life, love, and legendary founders of i-D magazine. What followed wasn’t just conversation, it was a reminder: to stay true to your principles, to nourish the people around you, and to remember that enough is often exactly what we need. We talked about work and rest, the long arc of building something with care, and how to keep showing up—with presence, with love, and with pasta.
InterviewHot Air: Filmmaker Regina Schilling
Jannik Schäfer
Filmmaker Regina Schilling is a great person to talk to about all of the above. An unusual voice in film, she had her first child aged 18, then pursued a big career in publishing — only to give it all up in order to become a filmmaker at 35. Regina’s widely celebrated and very personal essay film Kulenkampffs Schuhe (2018) revisits the repressed post-war traumas silently present in German game shows in the 60s and 70s. In this issue, Regina speaks candidly to Jannik Schäfer about her work, her process, and her creative struggle.
InterviewMassimo Vitali
Hugo Hoppmann, Sarah Discours
Dive into our conversation with the legendary photographer about morning rituals, bicycles, cybertrucks, life, love and the lockdown lessons...
InterviewFinding Presence in Running
Thi Minh Huyen Nguyen and Daniel Marin Medina
Through WAYV, they empower and embrace the politics of putting different, under-represented and marginalized bodies into motion. Together with their weekly training group, they serve an open and inclusive conversation that challenges the satatus quo and thus, the members create a progressive perspective of Berlin and the world. On a sunny May morning, Huyen and Daniel sat down to discuss their meditation and running practice.
InterviewLacuna Studios
Lars Moereels
We spoke with our Cape Town based friend and PRESENT contributor Lars Moereels about his journey, new habits, and the process behind his latest Logo Sofa project for LACUNA Studios April 12, 2022
Dojos
Exploring the spaces where our favourite makers create their best work
