I'm not a cool-hunter, rather someone who wanders and gathers. This project grew out of a life lived in between. I had the chance to study in Belgium and Spain, to work at different scales of organisations and to spend seven years in Paris before choosing the countryside. Each place left something behind. The people who came along the way, with their own codes and ways of living, added a quiet respect for difference and nuance. Those people never really faded. Scattered across Europe, they're the ones who keep me close to what is happening.

I'm more comfortable backstage than in front of it. So Johny does the talking here. He'll gather all those perspectives into one place and shape this platform with the same curiosity for what our regions have to offer, without noise or pretence.