BENAH LOVES | An Organised Life Travel Journal

There is nothing quite like travel. It recharges and recalibrates, inspires and motivates, soothes and heals. We're big fans of travel at Benah, take a look at our city guides if you don't believe us. We love that An Organised Life, a stationary company run by the New Zealand-born, Bondi-based Beck Wadworth, has just released a Limited Edition Travel Journal. In classic monochrome, there's a place for everything from all your important details to your budget, your itinerary and, of course, your city guides. We spoke to Beck about her new travel journal and asked her what her travel essentials were.

 Photography | Nicole Cooper

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IN CONVERSATION | Briony Wright

Briony Wright used to run the Australian edition of Vice and now heads ups the brand new, so fresh i-D Australia. She is funny and clever and whip smart and we knew she would be a fantastic interview subject for our In Conversation Proust questionnaire series. Here are her answers:

Briony Wright | Source

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Being on holiday somewhere warm with our little girl and boy and experiencing new things together. That and a well-made margarita.

What is your greatest fear? 
Dedicated ravers.  


What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Indecision and lack of punctuality.  

What is the trait you most deplore in others? 
 Decisiveness and punctuality.

Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Nene King.

What is your greatest extravagance?
My perfume hobby. It’s expensive extracting the smells from things apparently.

What is your current state of mind?
Excited, focused and a little bit petrified.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Manners.

Which living person do you most admire?
 Beyond my entire family, all of my amazing friends and anyone helping other people in need and the environment, I’d have to say Terry and Tricia Jones who started i-D magazine 33 years ago. They were fashion trailblazers.

What is your favorite color and flower?
Aqua. Daisies and carnations.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
 I’m never eating/drinking again.

What is the quality you most like in a man?
Decency.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Decency.

When and where were you happiest?
I actually think I’m as happy as I’ve ever been. It’s either age bringing contentment or complacency.

Which talent would you most like to have?
 I really want to be able to play the guitar.

What is your most treasured possession?
My grandma’s engagement ring.

Who are your heroes in real life?
Vivienne Westwood and my brother, Nick, who just gets it done.

Where would you like to live?
In Spain or anywhere they endorse siestas.

What is your favorite song?
”Human Nature” by Michael Jackson

What do you value most in your friends?
Their intelligence, sense of humour, kindness and example.

Who are your favorite writers?
There are too many to mention but perhaps Jesse Pearson from Apology when it comes to short-form journalism. He has a beautiful way of weaving a story.

Who are your favorite painters?
Yayoi Kusama, Howard Arkley and my daughter, who just painted me as an adorable ghost.

Who is your heroine of world history?
Aung San Suu Kyi.

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?
Jean Seberg as Patricia in Breathless.

What is your motto?
You get what you give.

You can read more in our In Conversation series here. 

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IN CONVERSATION | Megan Morton

 Megan Morton is an interiors stylist and author whose playful and discerning eye is one of the best and most respected in the business. She is also the founder of The School, a local institution that invites people to take classes and learn lessons from a wide variety of artisans and creatives. We've attended a course at The School led by our friend Elise Pioch from Maison Balzac, where we made our own scented candles. That's the kind of inspiring, innovative place The School is, and that's the kind of inspiring, innovative woman Megan is. Read on for our conversation with Megan!

Megan Morton | Photo by Anson Smart

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
The Morton's when we are a fivesome.

What is your greatest fear?
That our youngest baby will eat us all alive.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Sometimes I cry during the trailers of movies because the screen is so big. (I don't watch TV so it's overwhelming for me)

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Hatred, closely followed by stupidity.

Which historical figure do you most identify with?
 Millicent Rogers.

What is your greatest extravagance?
Yoga and a palm tree ring by Susie Stenmark, but I have to have my nails especially done to get away with wearing it.

What is your current state of mind?
Hyper.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Patience.

Which living person do you most admire?
Robyn Davidson.

What is your favourite colour and flower?
Klein blue. it's impossible to name a favourite flower, I let the seasons be my flower reason.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
GAAAAAH.

What is the quality you most like in a man?
Awareness of trouser length.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Empathy.

When and where were you happiest?
Yesterday.

Which talent would you most like to have?
The ability to cut my own fringe.

What is your most treasured possession?
A pottery house our eldest daughter made. How they value a house is very different to how we do.

Who are your heroes in real life?
Louise Bourgeois.

Where would you like to live?
Where I live now.

What is your favourite song?
Harder, stronger, faster better.

What do you value most in your friends?
Ability to think the things I like are unlikeable and vice versa.

Who are your favourite writers?
Joan Didion. There is no one better to speak of love, despair and reality.

Who are your favourite painters?
Elizabeth Peyton, Julian Schnabel, Caravaggio, Jean-Baptist-Simeon Chardin.

Who are your heroines of world history?
Mother Mary (as in Jesus' mumma).

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?
Olive Oyl, Moschino's original muse.

What is your motto?
Don't hide your enthusiasm.

Read more in our In Conversation series here.

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IN CONVERSATION | Amanda Bechara

Bread & Circus in Alexandria is the best place. It's a wholefoods canteen without any of the pretentiousness or ridiculousness of other organic eateries, it's a place to linger over lunch, it's a place to bring the whole family, it's a place to treat yourself. It has a freshness, a newness and a uniqueness that is all its own. We love the pink decor, the Mariah Carey soundtrack and the famous lemongrass and ginger chai. Bread & Circus' inimitable founder - Amanda Bechara - has just moved to New York with her fiance and her dog, and has settled in Brooklyn. She's about to start the scouting search for cafe locations in the big city, and we asked her to do a Proust Questionnaire for us. You can read her answers below.

Bread & Circus | 21 Fountain St, Alexandria | All photos by Rachel Kara

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A well made cup of tea. Kyoto.

What is your greatest fear?
That something’s wrong.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
That I am always thinking about what I don’t like in myself.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Hypocrisy, small mindedness.

Which historical figure do you most identify with?
Augustus Caesar (how embarrassing)

What is your greatest extravagance?
Most things.

What is your current state of mind?
Lets see…

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Friendliness, it never tells you anything about anyone.

Which living person do you most admire?Danny Goldstein.

What is your favorite color and flower?
Dark Dark Blue/Indigo. I like succulents.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
Woah. Again, embarrassing.

What is the quality you most like in a man?
Depth.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Depth.

When and where were you happiest?
I had this really epic sleep once.

Which talent would you most like to have?
Being able to ride a bike.

What is your most treasured possession?
My dog!

Who are your heroes in real life?
Me.

Where would you like to live?
Not Alexandria.

What is your favorite song?
At the moment – dreamlover.

What do you value most in your friends?
That they are genuine.

Who are your favorite writers?
Finally! Henry James times ten. Vikram Seth. And Orhan Pamuk – but just for the museum of innocence. Also, Tacitus.

Who are your favorite painters?
I think I like Klimt, but I couldn’t have answered this question last week.

Who are your heroines of world history?
Maybe Queen Elizabeth - but when Cate’s playing her is what I mean.

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Fiction is where all of the best people live: Count Laszlo de Almasy, Katherine Cliffton, Catherine Sloper, Muriel Heslop.

What is your motto?
Earl Grey.

Read more in our in conversation series here.

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IN CONVERSATION | Chloë McCarthy

Chloë McCarthy is an interior designer and the creative mind behind Room On Fire, one of our favourite inspiration sites around. She curates an impeccable range of interior spaces both on her tumblr, and her instagram, showcasing the kind of spaces you can only dream to live in: perfectly designed, perfectly executed. Thoughtful, measured and inspiring, we love her responses to our Proust Questionnaire. Read on for more our conversation with Chloë!

Chloe says "Darren [Mcdonald, Chloe's boyfriend] took this photo of me at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale curated by David Chipperfield, one of my favourite architects."

What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Bed.

What is your greatest fear?
Walking into a room full of people singing “Happy Birthday” to me.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
Indecision.

What is the trait you most deplore in others? 
 Narcissism, discourtesy, dishonesty.

What is your greatest extravagance?
Good food and wine.

What is your current state of mind?
Searching.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Piety.

Which living person do you most admire?
Dieter Rams.

What is your favourite colour and flower?
Colour: Blue. Flower: Phalaenopsis orchid.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
“Like”

What is the quality you most like in a man?
Intelligence, ambition, honesty, taste and a sense of humour.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?
Same as above.

When and where were you happiest?
Now.

Which talent would you most like to have?
Invisibility.

What is your most treasured possession?
Memories.

Who are your heroes in real life?
Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Ilse Crawford, John Pawson, David Chipperfield, Jean Prouvé.

Where would you like to live?
New York or Paris.

What is your favourite song?
‘Playground Love’ by Air.

What do you value most in your friends?
Kindness, honesty and loyalty.

Who are your favourite writers?
Haruki Murakami and Jeffrey Eugenides.

Who are your favourite artists?
Donald Judd, Richard Serra, Richard Wilson, Mark Rothko, James Turrell, Dan Flavin.

Who is your favourite hero of fiction?
Haruki Murakami's antiheroes.

What is your motto?
Onwards and upwards.

Read more in our In Conversation series here. 

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IN CONVERSATION | Jessica Stanley

We've always loved Jessica Stanley - she's a clever, funny, warm writer, late of Melbourne, currently of London - and we've never been afraid to show it. She's featured here a few times (and even wrote one of our most popular city guides, to London). And, since we last spoke to her, she has gotten married and had a beautiful baby girl, Sunday. She's about to head off to the Italian Riviera for a much-earned summer holiday ("Sunday has never seen the ocean," she tells us), so we asked her to share with us her vacation, beach-side reading list. We also asked her to become the second person to dig deep and share with us their answers to the Proust Questionnaire. She said yes! Read her answers below.

 All photos | Jessica Stanley

Jessica says: What I’m looking forward to reading… Last time I went to Italy I read How Should A Person Be and it was revelatory! This time I’ll be packing:

• Henning Menkell’s Wallander series 
• Rupert Thomson Jenny Offill’s Dept. of Speculation, and Eimer McBride’s A Girl is a Half-Formed thing 
• Jonathan Safran Foer’s Eating Animals, Alison Gopnik’s The Philosophical Baby 
•  I might crack open Karl Ove Knausgaard 
• If I hadn’t already been lucky enough to read a galley I’d pack Emily Gould’s Friendship - that would be a perfect seaside read, modern but moving, brisk but deep. 
• I should really take Jess Walter’s Beautiful Ruins, since I’ve been meaning to read it and it’s partially set on the Italian coast.

What is your idea of perfect happiness? 

Being alone, but knowing I’ll soon see someone I love.

What is your greatest fear? 

A tragedy I could have prevented.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? 

Going for the jugular.

What is the trait you most deplore in others? 

Not listening.

Which historical figure do you most identify with? 

Felt something of an affinity as I walked round Churchill’s wartime bunker.

What is your greatest extravagance? 

Books and organic meat.

What is your current state of mind? 

Calm mastery.

What do you consider the most overrated virtue? 

GSOH (people who prize their funniness normally aren’t).

Which living person do you most admire? 

My husband. 

What is your favorite color and flower? 

Navy blue; pink roses.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse? 

"Worst case scenario..." 

What is the quality you most like in a man? 

In addition to kindness: verbal dexterity.

What is the quality you most like in a woman? 

Being deeply analytical and strategic.

When and where were you happiest? 

On holidays in a cheap all-white hotel room by the sea.

Which talent would you most like to have? 

Being able to tell an anecdote.

What is your most treasured possession? 

A toy mouse I've had since my first Christmas.

Who are your heroes in real life? 

Everyone says their mum but mine actually is heroic. 

Where would you like to live? 

London Fields!

What is your favorite song? 

Jarvis Cocker on Top of the Pops singing "Walk like a panther." 

What do you value most in your friends? 

Sensitivity. 

Who are your favorite writers? 

Easier to say books than writers, but: PD James, Alan Hollinghurst, John le Carre, Elizabeth Jane Howard, Virginia Woolf, Siri Hustvedt, A.S. Byatt, Nancy Mitford, Evelyn Waugh, Ian McEwan, Jonathan Franzen.

Who are your favorite painters? 

Easier to say artists than painters, but: Albert Tucker, Sydney Nolan, any artist who lives a brave life and their art embodies it. 

Who are your heroines of world history? 

The wives and secretaries and de facto chiefs of staff of the men who got all the glory.

Who is your favorite hero of fiction? 

Sherlock Holmes.

What is your motto?

Hissed scathingly to myself or others: "Just relax."

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LET'S TALK

The Talks is a weekly updated online interview magazine founded in 2011 by Sven Schumann and Johannes Bonke.

Every week The Talks publishes an interview and portrait with a leading creative voice of our times. Simple, often short and to the point; each interview gives a personal insight into the world of the interviewee. 

The roll call is impressive. Broken down into the fields of art, film, fashion, music, and sports; think Meryl Streep, Vincent Cassel, Andre Saraiva and Nick Cave, to name but a few. 

 

It never feels like they are plugging a specific project/film/album. More like you are catching a snippet of a general 'life' conversation going on between friends. We especially love the audio samples.

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