Rooms for Dessert

About the Author

Born in 1977 Jan von Holleben lived most of his youth in an alternative commune and identifies a strong connection between the development of his photographic work and the influence of his parents, a cinematographer and child therapist. At the age of thirteen, he followed his father's photographic career by picking up a camera and after pursuing studies in teaching children with disabilities first, he moved to London, earned a degree in the theory and history of photography at Surrey Institute of Art and Design, and became submerged within the London photographic scene, where he worked as picture editor, art director, and photographic director. Holleben's idiosyncratic images have become part of the contemporary German photographic imagination. Even those who do not know his name will quickly recognize his images, or even a mere description of them. Shifting between fine art and editorial projects, Holleben is known as much for his collaborations with the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood, London and the Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin as for his editorial work for Spiegel, Zeit, DU Magazin, Geo, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and Süddeutsche Zeitung Magazin.

Monte Packham writes for children and adults. He is the author of books including Concentric Circles (2010), ABC Photography (2016), Living with Matisse, Picasso and Christo: Theodor Ahrenberg and His Collections (2018)-Book of the Year at the 2019 Collector's Awards, Photo Adventures (2019), Rhyme Time (2021) and The Blueberry Machine (2022). Born in Sydney in 1981, Packham holds degrees in art history and law; he lives and works in Berlin.