A magazine is only as good as its contributors. Happily for us, Canadian Interiors has four of the best in associate editors Rhys Phillips, in Ottawa; Leslie C. Smith and David Lasker, both in Toronto; and Janet Collins, in Sechelt, B.C. Let me tell you a little bit about each of them.
Rhys Phillips (“The Ren way,” page 20, and “Crowd control,” page 36) was born and bred in Victoria, B.C., but has spent the last 31 years in the frontier capital of Ottawa. During that time, he has divided his working time between labouring passionately on employment equity enforcement with the federal government and writing extensively on architecture and interiors, as well as urban planning and furniture design. Coaching girls’ competitive soccer scores equally high on his priorities for growing old gracefully.
Leslie C. Smith (“The office that time forgot,” page 28) has been a columnist, feature writer and contributing editor for a wide variety of North American publications, including a seven-year stint as The Globe and Mail‘s menswear maven and more than a decade at Dogs in Canada. She discovered her passion for design many years ago, while studying at the University of Toronto.
David Lasker — who produces our popular Who’s Who roundup (page 40) as well as the occasional feature — has never taken a course in writing or editing, and so considers himself a complete fraud. We consider him a Renaissance man: musician, teacher, travel writer, playwright, photographer and media-relations specialist. As for journalism, Lasker spent seven years as a Globe and Mail editor (fashion and design, architecture, classical music and fine arts) and was the editor of this magazine from 1999 to 2002.
Janet Collins (“Socket to me,” page 42) demonstrated an interest in design early on: at the tender age of 6, she won a community art prize for a dollhouse she designed and constructed. Collins has written for diverse publications at home and abroad, including the Canadian Encyclopedia. When not writing, she can be found designing and creating a wide range of fibre arts.
Dear reader, you’re in good hands. CI
Michael Totzke [email protected]