Category: Uncategorized

  • The Soothing Sip of Sobriety

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    NK
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    It’s been a few months since I stopped drinking. No rehab and no social media declaration. Just a quiet decision and a truthful acceptance that grew louder in its impact with each passing week. Sobriety, for me, is about presence. I often used to tell myself that I needed a drink to unwind, to be…

  • Boutique Hotel turn Hedonist Hideout

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    NK
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    Some years ago my partner had plans for a girls’ trip to Thailand for New Years. I had plans for quiet solitude. She feared I might get too comfortable in my hermit habits so she listed our apartment on Airbnb for the first time. And just like that, I was evicted by love. For the…

  • Dear Boy, Don’t Get Left Behind

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    NK
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    This blog follows the one I wrote titled Synthesising the Pseudo & the Science which might help in understanding where this all stems from. In that piece I share a podcast by Terry Real where he details his boyhood experiences into manhood. In the podcast he speaks about how at 35 years old he spent…

  • Synthesising the Pseudo & the Science

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    NK
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    On any day I’ll scroll enough and pass an academic study, an Instagram life hack, a spiritual quote, a podcast, a rage-filled comment thread and a branded message telling me to love myself, all in under a minute. It’s chaos but it’s also information.  I’ve stopped pretending I can escape it, instead I am developing…

  • The Cozy Cape Cuddle

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    NK
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    I was on a call last week or the other, where I learned one of the team mates from our partner studio moved to Cape Town recently. Earlier today, I joked with a friend that I was escaping the winter. This brought about thoughts of my first winter experience in Cape Town. So with most…

  • A Pot of Problems at the Table of Grace

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    NK
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    Not all burdens weigh the same. There is a story I carry with me from my university days. It involves our then lecturer Mr. Mukucha. His hoarse and brazen voice was more abrasive than a cement stock brick you find on a construction site. So try imagine hearing this in his voice: “If you were…

  • Confession of a Coffee Snob

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    NK
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    Durban. Cape Town. Joburg. Nairobi. Addis Ababa. Kampala. Lusaka. Every city I enter, I start with coffee.Not for the flat white, not the latte art, not the Wifi. When I visit speciality coffee shops I am looking for signals. Non-verbal cues and unspoken clues to help me decode a city. Coffee shops for me are…

  • My Personal Architecture

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    NK
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    There are certain objects I’ve come to rely on, they mark out small territories of calm. In a restless world, they give shape to stillness. None of them are extraordinary. In fact, that’s the point. They are ordinary things, made well, used often. The Urbanist Tote Built for movement. My carry wear is sturdy, spacious,…

  • The Curse of the Drunk Sailor

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    NK
    in

    One of the most challenging periods in my professional career was unpacking and processing my travels. I’d travel often and when I return, was bursting to share my intimate knowledge and practical experience with the hopes of injecting radical ideas into organisations, my practice and in the case of Africa, building for the next billion.…

  • Back to the Art of Critique

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    NK
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    A Personal Take on the Woolworths Eat Out Awards I’ve always held a quiet reverence for the culture of critique especially in hospitality. As a kid, I had to wait my turn to read the Sunday paper tossed on the dining room table. I would charge straight for the lifestyle section, this dash was of…