An editorial series by itonami

Sontanea

Conversations and portraits
from Phnom Penh.

What is Sontanea?

Sontanea means conversation in Khmer.

People in conversation at a neighbourhood shop in Phnom Penh

Sontanea is an ongoing series of conversations and portraits with people shaping Phnom Penh through creative practice, independent work, and ideas still in the making.

Across Phnom Penh, people are shaping their own ways of working and living around what matters to them. By looking closely at what they notice, choose, protect and keep doing, Sontanea reveals the possibilities already taking shape across the city.

There are more ways to work and live than we are usually shown.

Jess Kalisiak at the entrance to Interwoven Atelier
Story 001Jess Kalisiak

How Do You Protect Slowness Without Protecting Exhaustion?

A conversation with the founder of INTERWOVEN Atelier about ecology, local making, care, and the tension between a human-scale business and the work required to sustain it.

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Hem Chansopheak in his office garden
Story 002Hem Chansopheak

What Makes a Place Possible?

A conversation about plants, shared spaces, asking for help, and learning from the communities we enter.

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A promise to the reader

Each Sontanea story brings you close to one person, one place, and one evolving way of working and living. Through their choices, doubts, relationships, and everyday practices, you may discover another possibility for your own life.

A Phnom Penh portrait by Take
An open question

Who should
we meet next?

Sontanea grows through genuine curiosity and personal introductions. If there is someone in Phnom Penh whose work, choices, or way of seeing deserves a closer look, tell us who they are and why you think Take should meet them.

Suggest someone
Sontanea by itonami

If a story opens a question, a connection, or something you would like to build in Phnom Penh, talk to us.If a story opensa question,a connection,or something youwould like to buildin Phnom Penh,talk to us.

Talk to itonami