From Copenhagen to London, this letter comes on the heels of another design festival and an extended European summer. Taking this time away from my desk has meant that this magazine, more than most, is a credit to our advisor, Karen McCartney; publisher, Miffy Coady; head of creative, Jack Seedsman; and the editorial team.

While in this part of the world, I travelled to Belgium, where I had the rare privilege of stepping inside Vincent Van Duysen’s Antwerp home, greeted at the door by his three dachshunds, Flora, Pablo and Vesta. In Ghent, I caught up with long-time contributor Thomas De Bruyne, who has photographed the Sestig Pavilion—architect Glenn Sestig’s 1970s home—for our latest edition, Creative Minds at Home.

This issue enters the spaces where creatives live to see how they’ve moulded them into their own. Starting with our cover story, we explore the idiosyncrasies of architect Luis Laplace and Christophe Comoy’s 19th-century Paris apartment, and architect Bilbo Garcia-Conde’s sheet metal-clad addition in Madrid.

I speak with fashion designer Shona Thatcher on how her Bondi home expresses her love for the Mediterranean, and nearby, we visit designer Nick Kent’s home and studio to understand how it adapts to work and family life. In Warsaw, Poland, a culinary blogger and author’s apartment incarnates his light-hearted persona. An excerpt from garden editor Will Dangar’s new book, Natural Order, takes us to SJB architect Adam Haddow’s inner-city home to learn more about its integrated urban gardens.

In our latest podcast episode, we return to Babylon, the Avalon home of Fiona Spence and Morris Lyda, where Karen McCartney joins architect Rob Brown and Spence to discuss their eight-year collaboration and preserving the home’s original magic.

Our global cross-section of bathrooms brings new perspectives on colour and materials. At the same time, we discover what bathroom products resonate most and why, according to 50 Australian architects and designers.