Green Hell

While the photos tell a story in themselves sans words, what better way to uncover the magic than by sitting down with the people behind it all? In an exclusive conversation with Sam Cannon and Princess Gollum, office gets the opportunity to visit their creative minds and see how it was really like for them on set.

Continue reading below to enter the dark fantasy that is Green Hell.

Mask, earrings, and bra by Windowsen, chains by Vitaly, nails by Georgina Trevino

CASSIE JEKANOSKI– Thank you for taking the time to meet and chat with us. How are you guys doing today? What have you been up to?

SAM CANNON– I am in my studio today in East LA where I shoot and edit. Although I didn't get to shoot with Princess here because I just got my studio recently. So I'm very much in nesting creative work mode right now getting set up and enjoying the new space. And right now I'm working on a bunch of music videos, which is a fun, creative, expressive space to be. So I'm working a lot right now, but feeling good.

PRINCESS GOLLUM– I just got back from having lunch with my mom. She was up here visiting so I want to go see her. Then before that, I had a meeting at the bungalows and that was pretty interesting. Starting the new brand right now so it's been interesting. I'm very much in a startup phase, I feel like I'm in Silicon Valley in a way. It's very, very interesting. My life looks really crazy right now.

CJ– How did you guys meet each other?

SC– The first time we met was at my house for the shoot and I was brought on to the project through the stylist, Maleeka Moss. She said she had these amazing pieces and she wanted to put a team together to create a story with them. And I was like, "I want to do it no matter what." But then she told me that she was interested in having Princess be our talent for it and I was like, "Ah, I would die. That'd be so amazing." I was already a fan and the chance to work together, especially in such an intimate, free, and expressive way was very cool. I was super grateful.

PG- So similarly, I think Maleeka's the tie between both Sam, and I, and everyone else. She was like, "I have these amazing pieces and I don't know anyone in LA that could pull all of these different looks off." Then she sent me the team and I was like, "I adore Malcolm so much." He was the first one that did that spiky version of the Liberty spike on me for a beauty campaign. And then after that, it was used so many times and I'd be on set after that and people would kind of copy it. So yeah, Malcolm is OG and also just so talented and sweet. Then there was Katie, the makeup artist, who I've worked with before. And then I saw Sam's work and I'm like, "Holy shit, like her work is insane. I can't believe I get to work with her in her house." So I got there and she had the setup in her living room and I was like, "This is where magic is gonna happen." I already felt it. We were all on the same kind of hunger for creating something that wasn't really intentionally for anything. It wasn't for you a check, no one had hired us. It was truly because we all were hungry to make something new. And you know, I was telling Sam this before that I think some of my favorite pieces of work have happened in that kind of setting where it's just unexpected, but really planned but loosely, just going with the flow.

SC– Yeah, I fully agree, I feel like when you make space for experimentation, that's where the real magic happens.

PG– Just pulling all of our talent with no budget, and this is what we came up with. So imagine if you did give us a budget. Imagine what world we would create. CJ– Through the pictures, you guys can tell how comfortable you were with one another to get to that level of vulnerability.

SC– I feel like the environment for me played a role in that. It felt very cool to just be able to welcome you all into my home. I'm asking for your permission for this to be an okay space for this to happen, and there's a little bit of absurdity and silliness that comes with that. Where you're like, standing on a seamless in the middle of the dining room, and the cat runs by and everyone's like, that's what's gonna happen, because this is where we're at right now. The only person that I had gotten to work with before it was Maleeka and so having all these new people, getting to collaborate with them, and having it be in my space, you feel like you're like naked in the room, and then you just have to move on.

PG– That's so interesting that you felt that way too because I'm literally naked sometimes. Also, I didn't even think about how that would be vulnerable for you at all so that's great that you brought that up. There's so much prep work that it takes until you're actually in front of the camera, so for me, it takes the whole process of getting ready. So you know, it really starts in the chair for makeup and hair, and then it goes to putting all the clothing and the adornments on, and then finally getting in front of the camera. Every step of that process was so inviting and just made me feel like I belonged there. And that none of this was going to waste. Then seeing the dedication that everyone brings really helps me get into my vibe and the way that I'm willing to express myself. It shows up differently in every shoot and I think I get to a certain point, but this one I was just like "I'll do anything and everything that is gonna get to that masterpiece, right?

Blazer, pants, gloves, and earrings by Anastasia Bull

CJ– So when you guys are creating and you're talking about getting to that point, what kind of things internally go on in your head to get you prepped to get to that point of being present?

PG– I don't know, I think the first look is kind of a trial, so I feel like me, and Sam kind of do this silent dance almost. It's like a vibe dance, where we're figuring each other out but it's not verbally always. So I think that part is always kind of my way of seeing how it's gonna end up. I remember when Sam and I were doing that it was very, very gentle. Very, non-judgmental, and just focused on being present. And how does it feel? How does it look? How does it translate?

SC– I feel like the space itself helped with that because we were in a pretty small space. So I feel like a lot of times between the talent and the lens, there's inherently this distance and this single perspective that you're looking through. And we couldn't really do that. We literally were dancing around each other where you were standing up, and I would have to get on my hands and knees to get underneath. It's so funny zooming in on that moment, seeing what's in the frame, and falling in love with this singular moment. All of a sudden when it snaps, and suddenly you're like, "Oh, this is so stunning. This is exactly where I want to be with this." And then when the lens comes down and you go back into the full chaotic field of view, that is the space that you're creating. And for me, that's so funny, the moment of coming out of it. We're like, "Wait, where are we right now?"

CJ– What was the inspiration behind these looks, this concept, and everything? Did you guys come up with it together?

SC– Maleeka definitely drove the creative vision from the beginning of this world that we wanted to build out. She was very interested in doing something that had a lot of green in it and I am an artist who comes from a VFX background. So I always love working with green screen and building out these worlds. And using what we capture as just the single element that then is going to get expanded upon for the final version of the thing. But I was really interested in the idea of shooting on green screen in this small space, but knowing that the final image was still going to live within this green environment, and it wasn't going to be fully stripped and placed into something new. So from there, it was really like, if we know that we're going to work within these limitations, and oftentimes, they're the limitations that are used to remove all limits. What are the things that we can find interesting in that space and to tell the story? When she sent through some of the pieces, it really informed what I was imagining for the environments. You have these images that just have these green backgrounds so a lot of the feeling of each of the frames was fully just inspired by what Princess was doing and the characters that she was creating. Also, the way that she was playing to camera and the energy that she was giving and then you see this frame and the whole thing makes sense. I felt like I knew right away where I wanted to go with it.

CJ– Princess, how was your voice amplified in this project?

PG– Before showing up to the shoot, I wasn't involved in any of the creative and that's partially because I just trusted each person. We're all very creative, so I think a lot of times when that trust isn't fully there, or your vision is a lot stronger, that kind of creates different dynamics. I knew that once I got there, it was really just embodying all the outside things. I can't even put it to words, really, it's something that happens. And I think that Sam would know, or have felt my energy shift and how when the camera’s off, I'm different and then when it's on, I'm possessed, or something. In each look, it's something different. Maybe some of the looks, there could be some similarities, but I really do feel like a spirit possesses me and I snap into a character, which is like an extension of myself. So I think in that way, it felt really safe and really fun to be able to do that. I trust that Sam is going to get the image and I know she's going to set it up for success. I know Maleeka is a great storyteller through her clothing, and everything else, her art direction is amazing. So there's no reason for me to challenge that, or add to it in any way. And same with our makeup, and beauty team. So I just knew that everyone was going to come so strong, and all I had to do was come really correct and strong in myself internally so that I could really match everyone's levels. I think that's the beauty of a team like this where there is that underlying trust.

SC– I also feel like these types of self-initiated projects and collaborations are so special, because the whole thing feels so much more like a conversation between each person. Katie gets to be like, "This is kind of what I'm thinking for this makeup." And then Malcolm's like, "Oh, that's really fire. This is how I would play off of that." We're all kind of cooking together in real time and everyone feels a lot of trust and permission to bring the ingredients that they're the most excited about. And no one is going to hold them back in any way and it's so amazing. Especially when you get to do that and there aren't any egos, or people trying to take up too much space in that environment.

PG– It was amazing that everyone had dedicated their weekend to it. This was a very chaotic time when things opened back up. People were just booked day after day working nonstop, including myself. We all somehow found a Saturday that worked for everyone and if it wasn't that day, it wouldn't have happened. So that was another reason I remember going to that shoot, I think the night before I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm so tired. I wish I could just sleep in the next day." And then I was like, "No, I'm gonna show up." And it was the best thing.

SC– It felt really rejuvenating to me, I felt like I really needed that space with that dose of just uninhibited creativity and imagination. And I remember the high and coming off of it for the next few weeks. I was just feeling super, super stoked that we've gotten to do that together. I got the benefit of getting to constantly revisit that feeling as I was editing the images.

PG– It was really hard for me not to like hit you up every week and be like, so…

Bodysuit by Anastasia Bull, glasses by Gentle Monster, earrings, necklaces, and rings by Nina York

CJ– How important do you think it is to have those creative endeavors where you're just doing this because of the creative fuel?

SC– I feel like trying to prescribe one kind of method for different types of creative people isn't fair. I feel like there are so many people who work so hard and don't necessarily have the time to be able to work on personal projects. The things that they're making are so beautiful and stunning. If you're feeling fulfilled, and all of your creative itches are getting scratched, or even if they're not, but you're working really hard, and you haven't had the time to, I feel like that's still amazing. If we're all working together, collaborating, and bringing more beauty, joy, and creativity into the world just from a base level, I think that's awesome. But speaking for me, personally, I feel like trying to balance commercial work and personal work is never a 50/50 thing. It's just not possible. So in any of the moments where projects kind of cool down or I have a little bit of free time, I try really hard to make space for those personal projects or collaborations with other artists because I feel like it just makes all of the work that you're doing stronger. It lets you kind of slow down for moments and think about things in a different way and it lets you collaborate with people that you otherwise might not have been able to. For me, it's always been really helpful to try to make space for that. And on the flip side, I feel like because I am having to grind and work in these other commercial and editorial spaces, it's given me the tools to make the most of that time that I have that's for personal projects or explorations with other people. Because even on that day, when we were all just playing together, we were on it. We got through those looks, everyone was moving fast and taking it really seriously. So I don't know, I think I think both are really important. Plus rent.

PG– That's so real. For me, as a model, it might be different. Because once I'm there, and I leave, I don't need to take any of that work really home. So for me, I made a rule a while ago, that for every shoot I do that pays the bills, or because of XYZ, it's going to further your career, but you don't align with it in a creative way, I kind of made this rule like one to one. So for one commercial jobs, I would have to balance it with one creative or fun-driven one. But then I realized, "Oh, you can't really put a rule to this," because like the shoot that Sam and I did, you can't really force that or plan it. Even if one person's vibe was off that day, we could have come up with a totally different series, right. So like, I guess that was me a little prematurely making up rules, but in the time that I did, it did work. Now it's more in tune with my heart and how I go about living life. So it might not even be triggered by taking a job that I don't really align with, or it could just be like I was going through something and I feel inspired so strongly, I need to make something. And then somehow all the stars align with all the other moving parts, and other stars that kind of just come together. It's really something you can't really plan for. So what I'm trying to say is, I think these creative projects are very important, but what I found is that if you really feel aligned inside with your inner self, going through whatever project I think could kind of just make all of the other things that seem, boring, more fulfilling. Where things don't have to be one way or the other and it just could live and be. It just makes me appreciate things like this so much more.

SC– I feel like the kind of feeling that we get from these types of collaboration is the reason that I got into any of this. It takes me back to being a little kid, wanting to create things, and use my imagination. When I was younger I had this massive fear that when you grow up your imagination dies, I thought it was a way that your soul changes as you become a grown-up. I was terrified of it. I spent a lot of time alone as a kid and I had a very active imagination. I did a lot of world-building and started making images at a really young age. I felt like I was constantly trying to hold on to this thing that I was scared would go away without any of my control as I got older. It wasn't until I understood photography, videography, and filmmaking as a profession. It was the first time as a little kid that I saw grownups making things with their imagination and I understood it in that way. And I was like, "Okay, no matter what, that's what I want to do." When I'm on these kinds of projects and collaborations, I go back to that space and time and just feel like a little kid getting to use their imagination and feel really lucky that it's still there.

PG– I just got the chills. Because that's what success is right? When your inner child is screaming, thriving, and happy for you.

Coat by LUCHEN NY, bodysuit by Florentina Leitner, shoes by Windowsen

CJ– Can we see any more exciting collaborations between the two of you in the future?

SC– Only if I'm lucky!

PG– I mean, I'm not a fortune teller, but I would have to say it's a strong yes.

SC– We're in the same time and place so the universe has well positioned us to work together.

PG– It would also be interesting to work together in a different setting, as well.

SC– At a different time, we could figure this out.

PG– Time travel? Are we traveling back or into the future?

SC– I have a question for you. This is my dinner party question. If you had to choose between spending the day with your great-great grandparents, or your great-great grandchildren, who would you spend the day with?

PG– I guess this is dependent on so many things. I have so many follow-up questions.

SC– I can give some parameters.

PG– Okay, so is the world not ending?

SC– I can't tell you that. Because this is this would be like a true jump in time. So truly going into the past truly going into the future. Don't know if the world was ending, knock on wood. But other parameters, they're both 25 years old. So whatever they were doing at 25 then and whatever your great, great grandchildren could potentially be doing at 25.

Headwrap by MENYELEK, bra + panties by La Perla, gloves by Monirath, chains by Vitaly, Austin James Smith

PG– Oh my goodness. I mean, my first instinct would be great-great grandchildren. My question to you is if we could go to Mars in 10 years, would you?

SC– Yeah, I would go to Mars. I've gotten into fights with my partner about it, because I feel like I'm fully the person who like would take the one-way ticket to Mars, and be like, "It's an experience." I mean, if I had all of the money to go to Mars, I wouldn't spend it on going to Mars, I would spend it on helping people here on Earth. But if I was handed a ticket, yeah, I'm going to Mars.

PG– I think me and you should be on the same ship for sure. In the case that we do go to Mars and we ended up colonizing or whatever, then, of course, I would want to meet my great-great grandchildren.

SC– Are they on Mars?

PG– Well, if I'm on Mars then they're going to be on Mars.

SC– Is Mars/Earth gonna be the new like New York/LA?

PG– Bi-planeterial.

SC– Bi-planetarial is the new bicoastal. Summers in Jupiter.

PG– My cousin just went to Korea and he found our great great grandfather in a museum, a wax figurine of him.

SC– Oh my god.

PG– I knew a little bit about him, but I didn't know how influential and important he was in Korea's history. Basically, he was a very talented writer and he would basically write articles and letters to high-level people in the political world. He was in charge of unifying the country back after the Japan invasion and the separation of North and South Korea. Everyone was just scattered and broke with no money, no resources at all. Everyone had to kind of reunify and pick up all the pieces and make the country a country again. So he was very much known for his work there, and a lot of his work went unnoticed for a long time because he's very quiet. He was also in a position where the high ranked people who owned all the land would give away money to certain people and it was their jobs to go and find real people and start dividing up the money and land so that they could settle down and kind of grow back from square one. Everyone's homes and everything was gone like language was gone, everything's gone. So it was cool to see that he was a wax figurine in a museum with the person that invented the Korean language.

SC– What was it like to look into his eyes, into his face? I only have some photographs of distant relatives, but I can't imagine seeing someone in a full 3D rendering. I wonder if we'll all have that in the future.

PG– What about you Sam?

SC– I think I would go great, great grandchildren as well. And you know, it's funny that we both picked that one because whenever I asked that question it's super coin toss. People feel pretty strongly one way or another. But yeah, I'm going great, great grandchildren. I'm always more interested in the future than the past. I also would be curious what I could do to help them not just from an ecological or societal perspective, but like, what are the traumas that they're dealing with?

CJ– I really liked how this convo's wrapped up!

PG– We're gonna go to Mars, and we're gonna do the first photo shoot there.

SC– We will go to Mars and make full 3D renderings of ourselves for our great great grandchildren to come and visit in the future. And we will make sure that our imaginations, not just our full forms are forever preserved.

Jacket by Angel Chen, earrings and necklace by Vitaly

Fashion

District Vision x New Balance: Eco-Friendly Trail Runners

Fashion

After 30 years and over 100 cult fragrances, COMME DES GARÇONS PARFUMS 1994–2025 BY SIMONETT & BAER launches this month

December 17, 2024

“I have to add that the topic is, of course, an irrational one, because it's not art and it's not fashion. It has to do with scent, which is something in the air,” explains Dino Simonett, renowned art-book maker and designer/publisher of the new COMME des GARÇONS x SIMONETT & BAER book, which details 30 years of CDG perfumes.

“The moment you smell something is irrational,” he continues. “This book transports you and brings you to the idea behind the perfumes. People have gotten thousands of art catalogues from me, but this fucking perfume thing really drives people a little bit crazy, you know? Because everybody has this bottle; and that bottle smells like this on them; and this bottle I need; and all the memories and everything. I like it a lot that we made this.”

As fans and family of the world’s coolest brand prepared to gather at Dover Street Parfums Market in Paris to celebrate the launch of the book, our Editor-At-Large Paige Silveria shared some coffee and cigarettes with Simonett to discuss his wild trajectory, making books with Joseph Beuys and Tilda Swinton early on, and the importance of nonconformal thinking.

By Paige Silveria

This fucking perfume thing really drives people a little bit crazy.

Paige Silveria: Tell me about yourself. You make books.

Dino Simonett: My books are my art. Each book might be a painting or sculpture. And you should not do the same sculpture all the time. When you hike somewhere, you never should go the same way back home — this is something my mother taught me when I was young. In the same way, it's boring to make the same stuff all the time. So I try to find a way to invent my own language.

PS: This book you’ve made is really beautiful.

DS: It’s hyperrealistic larger-than-life images of boxes and flacons in an endless row presented on paper the thickness of a children’s book.

PS: I loved how it said in the press release that you woke up one Sunday morning and the idea for the book suddenly came to you.

DS: The backstory is that Remo Hallauer [COO of COMME des GARÇONS International] is a true book lover. We met at the Offprint book fair in Paris. And one day, shortly after peak COVID, this email came from him asking if I’d think about a possible collaboration with one of the young stars here — and no hard feelings, but it didn’t work out. So then, as it is in life, which is the essential thing, you have to have an idea. And most of the time, they’re not good enough. You have to have another and another and then you go, Ah ha! Perfume.

PS: And you’d already been pretty familiar with their fragrances?

DS: I’ve known this stuff since the beginning. I wore the first perfume they created. It was part of my life all the time, and I thought, It's so funny. There’s a connection with how I make the books: like two, three books a year, all collaborations and each is different. Just like their perfumes. So I immediately texted Remo.

PS: And what perfect timing, with the 30-year anniversary.

DS: Yes, but this was two years ago or so. I hadn’t had the jubilee in mind. It might not look like much, but there was a lot of work to do.

PS: Many of the advertisements and images weren’t archived, physically or digitally, right? You had to search all over for a good portion of the material?

DS: Well we also had to wait for the official deal to go through in the beginning. Adrian Joffe [President of COMME des GARÇONS International and Dover Street Market International] wanted to do it but he didn’t have the mind space at the time; they were about to open the Dover Street Market here in Paris. So we were on our own for a bit, developing the project from zero. We looked all over the Internet and tried to create the chronology. I had a young guy helping me. He kept reminding me to be patient and to continue to work on growing the book. The door was open, but we had to wait in front of the next room. So we took little steps to prepare ourselves. And stuff slowly worked out.

PS: And thank God for the Internet.

DS: Yes, because as you mentioned, there was no archive. We thought surely they’d have something in the basement. But no, that didn’t exist. At one point they sent us a list of all the perfumes so we had a clear checklist to manage. I had to become an expert.

PS: There are so many, over 100?

DS: Yeah, and at one point the CDG team was activated. It was like a machine and in the spring suddenly a load of stuff was coming. First we had to grow the grapes, then make the wine and then the grappa. And at the end, it's a really strong grappa. And so things came together, and then one day Adrian said, “All is fine, but Rei [Kawakubo] must now also approve it. This is how the system works.” But nobody had told me! So Remo met with Rei to show her the book.

PS: That’s a bit of pressure!

DS: She could have said no and we’d have to throw everything in the garbage, two years of work. There was indeed a little bit of pressure. But it was fine. She liked the book. Then at the end of this summer we met again and they asked if they could have some of the finished copies on 20 November in Tokyo. I said, “I’m sorry, what?” He was thinking that the book was finished, you know? I told him we still needed a lot of material to finish it. Sometimes it's nice though to have this pressure. It's motivating and thrilling when you finally accomplish it all.

PS: Let’s go back. How did your upbringing inform who you are?

DS: It has to do with nonconformal thinking. Most people think the same. And we’re constantly pressured as well, by everything around us to conform. You have to really fight to keep your head and so I had this upbringing with this rather eccentric mother who was absolutely nonconformistic in every way. She was resolute. Why should we follow the path of the masses? It was never my thing. Voilà.

PS: How were you in school?

DS: I was not so good at school. I was only skateboarding at that time. I was on the Swiss National Team. I even was here in Paris at a European championship when I was 15 at the Trocadero. And my mother said, “You are not going to school anymore. You need an apprenticeship. It makes no sense to send you to school any longer.” I was independent and had my first salary at 16.

PS: What were you doing?

DS: I was a carpenter making tables, chairs, all that stuff. All my friends went to high school with like 16-week holidays, while I had only four. And so it was really, really tough shit for a 16 year old. But I learned two important things. The first one was discipline; seven o'clock each day it started and lasted nine hours. And the second thing was precision; you have to do things right. People always said to me that the apprenticeship was good as I’d really use it for the rest of my life. And I always thought that was such bullshit. But actually, it's kind of true. And so anyways, the moment I finished my apprenticeship, the very last day of the last test, I went on the Interrail for one month and never went back to a carpenter shop.

PS: What’d you do after?

DS: I wrote a letter to this very super famous music guy, Claude Nobs who was organizing the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland, telling him I’d like to work there that summer. I mentioned that I’d just finished my apprenticeship for carpentry. He phoned me back immediately after getting the letter. He said, “Oh you’re a carpenter? You can come right now.” He was renovating his apartment in Montreux. So I stayed and worked there alone while he was up at his chalet. I felt like Kevin McCallister from Home Alone in this completely furnished apartment. And then the festival started, and there was this guy from New York doing a large mural painting. It was Keith Haring. I had no idea who he was. We became friends. Then I met George Benson and Herbie Hancock. It started from nothing and then one thing comes, another thing comes, another thing comes. This is how I started, which is maybe not the natural way. But I was following my intuition and taking chances and putting myself out there.

PS: And you're going after what you have a passion for.

DS: I think that’s the best way to live one's life. It was like my own private art school. I met all the guys I was totally hot about. I met Joseph Beuys and told him I wanted to do an art project with him. I got his number and he told me to ask for his assistant. But I took everything for granted, what people said to me. So I had this phone number in Berlin. And I called the guy 20 times until this fucking meeting with Beuys finally happened. And we met and made a small collaboration art magazine called “Quer.” You just have to stick to the stuff.

PS: Wow. You don't still have one of those copies around, do you?

DS: I had one and I brought it to Remo at one of our meetings. Adrian saw it and immediately took it … I hope he gave it back to Remo. Adrian has a pile of my stuff that he wanted to see, so that’s good.

PS: Yeah, of any coffee table in the world for it to be displayed, his is probably in the top 10.

DS: So then I decided my dream was to be a film director. There was a film school in Berlin that I applied to. They only took about 18 people from 600. We waited all week to see this list on the wall for the final call back meeting. And my name wasn’t there. I was like, “Shit!” And then a week later, I received a letter saying I’d been accepted. Later the director told me it was clear enough with my application and the art magazine I’d sent that I’d be accepted. I don’t say this to brag. I say this to tell you that every young person that wants to go somewhere, all they have to do is fight. You have to get out of your house and your small town and your comfort zone and all that shit.

PS: I agree. So you’ve made films?

DS: I made a feature movie and went to the film festival. It was really amazing and everything, but I was not Tarantino, you know? So it’s the last semester and Tilda Swinton is supposed to teach a seminar. I really wanted to attend it. It would be the cherry on top of the cake. Then she postponed it once, then twice. The third time, I’m on the tube and there’s a woman in front of me with a newspaper that says that Tilda’s super mentor, Derek Jarman, had passed away. It’s the very Monday morning that her seminar is set to begin. And I thought, Oh shit. She’s not going to be there. But then she was there after all and it was a fantastic week. There were only five of us students and we all fell in love with her. And she fell in love with us. I’ve known her since.

PS: I can only imagine. How’d you make the transition into books?

DS: You have to find out what you're really good at. I had long discussions with this guru, an old guy who was a very diligent, very bright guy. I was really miserable, feeling directionless. He asked me why I wasn’t continuing with filmmaking. And I couldn't give him an answer. Then he said right into my face, “Probably it’s because you’re not good enough.” The message was one-hundred percent received. It was a relief; I'm not a bad person. This guy told me the truth, and I could accept it. And when you can do this, you can figure out what you actually want to do, what you’re actually good at. I started making books. I made one with another film director. And we visited Tilda at her hotel, bringing one to her as a present. As we’re knocking, I thought to myself, If I did another book focused on people in this business, it’d have to be her. And she opens the door, looks at the book and says, “Oh, I would like to have a book like this on me.”

PS: These situations seem unreal.

DS: I spent five years on her book, which was an enormous success. It included stills from all her films and launched it in different cities. Fantastic shit.

PS: And now you’ve just released this soon-to-be iconic CDG book.

DS: I've learned to be patient; things can take you years. This book with Adrian and Remo took two years and I didn’t even know if it was going to be approved! Follow your dreams as much as you can. It's not so important which dream it is exactly. If I see a step in front of me, I try to take each chance I get. This is what I wish for everybody, in whatever situation you find yourself, start to do something with nothing. This book started with just a simple idea. You can not find anything like this on the Internet, this compilation, this narrative. It’s something we had to bring together with enormous work. And here we are. I think in our digital, splattered times sometimes you have to make something which is real. That you can sit with and focus on in silence and really take time alone with it.