Acting Editor-in-chief Piet Smedy welcomes you to a bold new issue

We’re all trying to make a connection. as makers, doers, creatives. as humans. after all, in an increasingly unsure world, isn’t it our connections that are both anchor and north star?

i’m talking about something that transcends the short-lived affirmation of likes, retweets and right swipes – it’s more complicated than that and i have laduma ngxokolo – maxhosa creator, condé nast luxury conference speaker, ikea collaborator, 100% design south africa featured artist – to thank for that realisation. for laduma, the power to connect the global community to his heritage is nothing short of monumental. Pioneer, activist, revolutionary; weighty epithets that he wears with humble determination. one thing is clear: it’s becoming less and less about the influencers and more and more about the connectors.

which brings us to maps maponyane, who makes a long-overdue debut as the first local celebrity to grace the cover of this magazine in its more-than-20-year history. i don’t think anyone could be better-suited to the occasion. here at Condé Nast House & Garden, we prize our connection to our spaces – they are our life stories, our living, breathing autobiographies – and, for maps, that couldn’t be truer. from his growing art collection and his insanely cool hat wall, to the cocooning composition of texture and tone in his Joburg apartment (kudos to the team at studio 19 for bringing this to life), these spaces offer us deeply personal insights into a life lived so publicly.

maps, like laduma, is a connector, a social conduit; someone who, with seeming effortlessness, walks the tightrope of aspiration and relatability. Qualities that we hope will define your experience of this issue.

today, as always, we celebrate not just the power of african design to connect us all, but the tenacity, the strength and the honesty behind those making the connections. i hope, on these pages, you’ll find your connection, too.