Although we live in a materialistic world, “things” have a surprisingly bad reputation: they are seen as dead and soulless, and inferior to the organic world of plants, animals and humans in every respect. Anyone devoting themselves too enthusiastically to “things” is quickly suspected of being superficial. You might find that somewhat hypocritical considering we all invest a lot of energy in the quest for beautiful and valuable things, and in order to buy them we have to earn that thing called money…

Felix Muhrhofer is an interior designer and artist working on projects around the world, and for him, terrazzo is more than simply a material. The stones he uses shape his work and turn each piece into a one-of-a-kind article. They also leave a trace of a memory in the finished items that is retrievable with merely a glance …

Taking inspiration from this quote by Hermann Hesse, I want to see every single moment as a new beginning, as the start of a new story with a happy ending. But in tough times – like during a pandemic – I admit that it’s not always easy to maintain this state of constant joyful anticipation …

I received some incense sticks as a souvenir from our neighbour following a trip to Asia. I was eight years old at the time and they seemed infinitely precious to me. They smelt different to anything I’d encountered up until that point, and soon the whole linen cupboard where they were put smelt the same, enchanting and exotic …

Wabi-sabi, finding beauty in imperfection, is a Japanese concept of aesthetic values that we really like and wish to embrace in this spring issue 2020 of THE Stylemate magazine. We have once again put together a selection of many beautiful things for you to enjoy, some of which are virtually perfect, while others are so interesting that that could be deemed as their version of beauty. Grab your copy!