DIGITAL ISSUE | Introducing the 2022 Gifting Issue

Ed's Note | What dreams are made of

It may be a close call — and I think here of perhaps the various fashion issues and the Art issue in particular — but we have the most fun when preparing this issue.

We allow ourselves an unrestrained collective fantasy — doing the hard work of window shopping and curation, so all you have to do is click “add to cart” — at a time of the year when gifts mean so much more than the sum of their function. The thoughts of what will go into the Gifting issue start early and, for me, that means cryptic DMs from our Fashion Editor Sahil Harilal from September.

The result of these and various WhatsApp exchanges with references (and perhaps too many emojis) is a restrained, moody, and gorgeous collection of objets, from a special bottle of single malt to a dazzling bracelet with a blinding price tag. In the rest of the book, we haven’t forgotten about tech fiends and — in her much-anticipated annual roundup of the season’s best reads — Michele Magwood has laid out a list of juicy page turners from home and afar.

We have again tapped the entire team for their coveted stocking fillers and, because the design geek that is Creative Director Anna Lineveldt takes personal charge of this page, there is always bound to be a chair (or 10) on the list. As one with a much-improved relationship with gift giving and receiving,

I also have a few delights I have my eye on, if only to trick the universe into manifesting the impossible. Wishing you boundless dreaming and an overflowing stocking this festive season.

1. Leica Q2 Camera

For the price tag of over a hundred grand, one could certainly acquire a more powerful professional instrument with accessories fit for a Wanted fashion shoot or a National Geographic photo essay, but for the sake of beautiful design, efficiency, heritage, and plaudits from the tribe previously known as hipsters, this amateur lensman could do no better.

2. A farm

I have been commuting between Joburg and the Eastern Cape for close to two years now and much as I love our current home (see cheeky ocean-view shot in last month’s issue), I really want a farm. You know, land, connection, off-the-grid, growing your own, that sort of thing? There is one for sale a few minutes from us: 80ha of lushness; domestic and wild animals; multiple established income streams; and (cough) R16 million all in. It’s all absurd, really, but the category for this assignment is DREAM, and so it shall be.

3. Triumph Bonneville Black T120

Bar a few perilous twirls around a farm on a scrambler in high school and a breakfast run on a Vespa that nearly ended my life over a decade ago, I have not been on a motorcycle. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been bike curious. Recently, our contributing writer Kojo Baffoe took me on a tour of the Triumph motorcycle flagship showroom and I fell deeper in love with the brand, vowing to be a bona fide rider before the end of 2023. Now I just need to find that elusive slot to do my licence.

4. Barbados

My first and last trip to the Caribbean confined me to the otherwise fun French/Dutch Island of Sint Maarten, while my passport really lusted after stamps from Jamaica and Barbados. With the latter, there is, of course, the beach and the beautiful people, but in recent times, a politician, of all things, has been the biggest attraction. Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley — the first woman in that seat — has done a fair bit since assuming office, but formally divorcing the Queen some months before her passing and promptly appointing a pre-“Johnny DeppGate” Rihanna as the nation’s “Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary” stand out.