Issue 131, Magazine

Editor’s Word: When You Believe

Text by Wendy Guo

As December’s chill begins to settle, the air grows rich with the nostalgic scent of pine and cinnamon, a fragrant prelude to homecoming. Christmas arrives with luminous precision, like a jewelled point on the celestial dial of time.

I still remember, as a child, believing with certainty that gifts traveled across the stars in Santa’s sleigh. That childlike trust, so often dismissed as naïveté, actually planted a seed: the capacity to believe.

Though I now understand the miraculous does not descend from rooftops or reindeer, it is through the repetition of tradition—of candles lit, tables set, and gifts unwrapped—that I remain grounded in something essential: it is belief itself that allows wonder to take place.

“To be lucky, you must believe in luck,” as Jacques Arpels, nephew of the founders of Van Cleef & Arpels, liked to say.

In this season of splendour, the Holiday issue of Magnifissance celebrates the art of belief through curated stories where the miraculous takes shape in everyday life.

Our journey begins with Kazumi Arikawa, a reclusive and remarkable Japanese collector hailed by Forbes as “the man with the most valuable jewelry collection you never knew existed.” His collection includes Napoleon’s rare cameo, the miraculously survived signet ring of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, and a tiara so arresting that three viewers reportedly fainted, physically overcome by its beauty. At the heart of it all lies a singular belief: to assemble a collection that “makes souls tremble” for millennia to come.

Architect Koichi Takada brings a restorative yet audacious aesthetic to the urban landscape. In Brisbane, his 118-metre, man-made waterfall descends along angled, textured glass, its mist rising through native greenery to soothe the citybuzz. Nearby, his other project, Urban Forest, rises even higher: 827 trees and over 27,000 plants, selected from 251 native species, transform the towering high-rise into a living vertical forest. Though some may call these feats miracles, Takada calls them reconciliation.

In the hills of Nantou, Taiwan, artist Cheng Tsung Feng’s studio operates less as a workshop than as a vessel of time. Here, he reimagines nearly forgotten indigenous bamboo weaving techniques, once used to craft humble fishing tools, into sweeping, large-scale public installations. What begins as a simple belief in ancestral craft becomes a springboard for modern wonder.

This edition’s styling production is a sublime ode to the miracles of nature and history. Flowing silhouettes ripple like liquid by South Korea’s serene Sambong Lake, while at Foguang Temple, China’s No. 1 treasured wooden masterpiece, robes dance with the winged grace of ancient architecture. And high atop the precipitous peaks of Tianmen Mountain, silk and rock meet in a visual alchemy of delicacy and force.

But the season’s splendour does not end there. Our editorial team has curated a holiday gift guide that celebrates not just objects, but tales, craftsmanship, and the art of gifting. From the haunting gondolier songs beneath Venice’s ancient arcades to Bhutan’s legendary Tiger’s Nest monastery perched precariously on sheer cliffs, each page is distilled by time, culture, and our deepest care.