This week, we caught up with New York-based author and editor, Thessaly La Force, who currently serves as the Features Director of T Magazine.

Permanent Collection: Is there an object in your possession that you treasure more than most? Something that you identify with your personal 'Permanent Collection'?

Thessaly La Force: A porcelain jewelry dish, painted like a cat curled up into a ball.

P.C.: What's the story behind this dish

L.-F.: My mother picked up pottery a few years ago and, to our family's surprise, is a really talented ceramicist. The best pieces she makes are always the ones that catch me off guard. (I sometimes ask her to copy bowls or cups I see elsewhere.) This was a gift from her, I didn't know if I liked it — was it a coaster? a place to put my keys? — until one day I began to use it for my jewelry and that was it. It just made sense, all of a sudden.

P.C.: What makes it special to you?

L.-F.: I love it because my mother made it, of course, and I love the brushstrokes, the imperfections of the cat's whiskers, the way she sort of hastily ran the brush around the edge. It always comes down to that kind of simple elegance that can't be replicated.