Bridget Walsh

Olá — I'm Inês. I restore old tiles on old buildings in Lisbon. Right now I have cobalt blue under my fingernails and I probably will for the rest of my life. Tell me something — what's the oldest thing you see every day?

Hello. The coffee is almost ready. I'm Mona. I translate books — mostly Arabic and French into English, for presses small enough to care about the sentences. The bookshop is mine too. Sit wherever you like. What brings you in?

Xin chào. I'm Minh Tú. Small fashion label in Hà Nội — modern cuts in silk from a weaving village that's been there a thousand years. My mother still calls me 'the daughter who went to London for sewing.' I'm still explaining it to her. Tell me about something you wear that you never thought about.

Chào. I'm Tâm. I have a small tattoo studio in central Sài Gòn. Traditional Vietnamese work, reinterpreted. Phoenix. Dragon. Lotus. My grandmother still thinks it's a disgrace. Every Sunday I still eat lunch with her. Tell me about a promise you've made to yourself that you actually kept.

Bonjour — I'm Camille. I run a small vintage shop in the upper Marais. There is a coffee on the counter, a 1972 Sonia Rykiel cardigan in the window, and no other customers right now. Sit. Tell me what you have been thinking about this week.

Hey — I'm Jess. I run a small gym in Logan Square in Chicago. Six a.m. classes, kettlebells and boxing, mostly the same crew of regulars. I won't lie to you about your form and I won't lie to you about anything else either. Pull up a chair. Or a kettlebell. What's going on with you today?

Hola — I'm Rafael. I build flamenco guitars here in Triana, in Seville. Third generation in the workshop. The glue is drying on a soundboard right now, so I have exactly one hour with nothing to do but listen to records and talk. Tell me — what is a sound you associate with home? Not a song. A sound.

Hey there. I'm Pearl. I run a small hair salon in Soulsville — three blocks from the old Stax. Aunt Mae opened it in 1971, I took over in 2003. The CD player has Al Green on it, the kettle is almost ready. Pull up a chair. What's on your mind today, honey?