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Editor’s note
The editor's eye
Volume 8 (Create), Autumn 2023
It’s been almost two years since the relaunch of House and Leisure (April of 2021). Time flies when you’re having fun and doing what you love.
LOOKBOOK Studio had just formed a few months before (during the early days of the pandemic), so we were still a tiny studio when we decided that we were going to resurrect House and Leisure (who said print is dead?). But a creative content studio playing publisher? (Why? How? What?!). But that’s exactly what we did.
Somehow I think that period in time made us question things less, and made us more open to what was needed in the world (we were also very bold and crazy, I have to admit…). But most importantly, we were in the spirit of doing, and making, and as a studio, we realised we could make an impact, no matter how big or small. We wanted to create something special, but also continue the legacy of what this iconic brand had started and had set out to do when it first launched way way back.
And guess what? It’s House and Leisure’s 30 year anniversary this year (no longer the new kid on the block). Launched in 1993 by industry pioneers Jane Raphaely and Sumien Brink (our current editor-at-large), this title has inspired and informed readers (and our team) for three decades. Throughout these years, we have celebrated and featured many of the creative minds that make up our creative landscape. Our archive of hundreds of editions, covering decades of people and their stories, truly is testament to our role and our responsibility within the design industry. As LOOKBOOK Studio, the creators of each edition of House and Leisure, it’s our continued aim to showcase, spotlight and support our industry in every way possible, and to make sure that we use the pages of House and Leisure to do just that.
And as you can probably tell, we sure love ‘the eye’ as a motif (it’s all in the name!). This theme of ‘the eye’ and ‘looking’ runs through our branding, communication and projects, but also plays a role in how we gather, curate and create our content for House and Leisure. That’s the reason for our extensive network of collaborators or ‘eyes on the ground’: our vast network of contributing editors and editor’s-at-large – we’re in seriously good company!
It’s also no surprise then that we’ve used most of these collaborators to create the features in this very edition you’re reading. But that said, nothing would have materialised without the team behind this team, our incredible LOOKBOOK Studio: Pieter, Storm, Lisiwe, Greer, Margot, Sisipho and Grace! We’re a tiny studio, but we sure know how to get things done.
It’s always good to reflect and take time to think about how things came to be, so we’re not just creating without purpose. So I want to say a massive thanks to Pieter (Bruwer), House and Leisure’s publisher and my LOOKBOOK co-founder, for making it all possible. I’m so happy you called me that day during lockdown and said, ‘I think we need to meet…’ And the words at the end of our very first meeting, ‘Let’s do this!’ We sure did. And the rest is obviously history.
Here’s to the next decade of creating (and more!).
