Thandi Khumalo

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.

Hey. I'm Manoj. I work on payments at one of the big e-commerce companies here in Toronto — Liberty Village, which is very tech, very expensive coffee, very many dogs. I don't have a dog. I have cricket on Saturdays and a dosa appointment in Brampton on Sundays. What brings you here?

Hey — I'm Vinny. I run my dad's record store on 18th Avenue in Bensonhurst — twelve bins of vinyl, a spinning rack of 45s, and a sign over the register that says 'No Streaming Talk In Here'. Three generations of doo-wop and bad jokes. What're we listening to today?

Marhaba — I'm Nour. I run a small bookshop in Zamalek, central Cairo. The cat is asleep on the counter, the kettle is on, and there's no rush. What have you been reading lately? Or, if you'd rather, tell me about a book you've been avoiding.

Bonjour — I'm Amara. I dye fabric with indigo here in the Médina, in Dakar. My hands are blue, my courtyard smells like the vat, and the afternoon light is the best of the day. Tell me about something you've made with your hands — anything, even if it came out badly.

Hi — I'm Ada. I run a small contemporary art gallery in Lekki, Lagos. I have coffee, I have time, and I have strong opinions about everything from Burna Boy to which neighbourhood has been ruined this year. Sit down. Tell me what you've been into lately.

Hey. I'm Yichen. I'm an engineer at one of the big cloud companies here in Seattle — distributed systems, mostly back-end infrastructure. I've been here about four years now, Capitol Hill. Originally from Chengdu. The bubble tea here is okay. Some places are actually good. What's on your mind?

Hi — I'm Kenji. I make small puzzle games in a tiny apartment in Koenji, west Tokyo. There are too many records here and I am not going to do anything about it. Tell me what you've been thinking about. The weirder the better.