This week we caught up with our friend Fran Miller the Toronto-based skincare guru behind the newest addition to our shop: a naturally formulated hand balm.

Permanent Collection: Name the one thing you value most in your personal ‘permanent collection’ (it can be a piece of clothing, an object, a memento, a letter, a book, jewelry, etc.)

Fran Miller: Don’t make me choose! It would probably have to be my dad’s planner from 1988.

P.C.: Tell us the story of this special planner. (Although I confess that this is, in fact, not the first planner we've featured in this series. Christina Kim chose one too!)

F.M.: I unearthed it last year from a big box of nostalgia — I’m a bit of a hoarder when it comes to sentimental stuff. I don’t recall when or how I originally acquired it, it just oddly appeared at a time when my dad was in the hospital for almost a month, and I had no memory of ever reading it before. It’s filled with his notes, sketches, clippings, and random ideas — the perfect snapshot of his weird and wonderful brain.

P.C.: I love that. These intimate glimpses into the lives of loved ones are so often our most precious mementos, in my experience. Where do you keep the planner in your house?

F.M.: It moves from bookshelf to bedside table. I flip through it every once in a while and I love how every time I do, I notice something new.

P.C.: What’s the best gift you’ve ever received?

F.M.: My partner surprised me with a winter weekend up north. It involved a visit to a farm where I got to spend an hour with a litter of newborn piglets.

P.C: Do you have a trusty flea market or favorite vintage or thrift shop?

F.M.: Mrs. Huizenga and Expo Vintage in Toronto.

P.C.: What's your favorite museum, if you had to choose just one?

F.M.: The Chinati Foundation in Marfa. It's one of the most moving, transformative spaces I’ve ever been to, and I can’t wait to get back and experience it all over again.

P.C.: Do you have a particular food or dish that would be the equivalent to your ‘permanent collection’ object? A dish that's in your ‘forever repertoire’?

F.M.: A simple french omelette with buttered rye toast and a slice of comté.