Thelma Golden, Curator
Book: Liner Notes for Revolution: The Intellectual Life of Black Feminist Sound by Daphne Brooks
Thelma Golden at home in New York © Makeda Sandford
“A lot of my time lately has been spent reading and re-reading books that are important to me. This was one of the highlights. It’s a story of black female musicians, from Aretha Franklin to Bessie Smith to Beyoncé, and shows how they have shaped the intellectual life and sound of black women.
Curator Thelma Golden talks about taste
Kengo Kuma, architect
Book: first person singular by Haruki Murakami
“Murakami’s novels have a kind of tunnel structure and I apply this same design philosophy to my buildings. He’s my good friend and we inspire each other.
Kengo Kuma: “I’m not at all attached to objects”
Cynthia Nixon, actress
Podcast: Little known facts with Ilana Levin
Cynthia Nixon at home in New York © Clément Pascal
“Levine is an actress who interviews all kinds of artists and celebrities and she’s like Barbara Walters in the way she puts them at ease. For sex and the city fans of the Stanford Blatch character, I highly recommend the two-part episode she did it with Willie Garson, who played it.
Cynthia Nixon talks about taste
Claudia Roden, food writer
Track: “Ya Mustafa” by Bob Azzam
“Azzam was a Lebanese-Palestinian singer of Egyptian origin in the 1960s. This song mixes Arabic with French and Italian, and it takes me back to the Egypt of my youth, where we spoke several languages. I can’t help but get up and dance when no one is around. No one wants to hear me sing, but I sing for myself.
Claudia Roden: “The first recipes I wrote changed my life”
Lykke Li, musician
Track: “Song to the Siren” from This Mortal Coil
Lykke Li at her home in Los Angeles © Arianna Lago
“It was the work of art that changed everything for me. I basically hope that one day I can do a vocal take as fascinating as this. I don’t think I succeeded, though. I will die trying.
Swedish pop star Lykke Li’s style secrets
Hassan Hajjaj, artist
Podcast: Drink champions
Hassan Hajjaj in the courtyard of Riad Yima, Marrakech © Yoriyas
“For this podcast, they interview hip hop artists and during the discussion weave their way through a table full of drinks. I grew up around that time, so I love listening to the stories of actors like Busta Rhymes and De La Soul, and hearing what they’re doing now.
The extraordinary universe of the artist Hassan Hajjaj
Toto Bergamo Rossi, curator and restorer
Book: Invisible cities by Italo Calvino
“I first read this 30 years ago. I loved the imagined dialogue between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo: it inspired me in my fights against the deterioration of my city, Venice. thought, let’s be more articulate and inspired, so I went back to Calvino.
“I am married in Venice! » Toto Bergamo Rossi talks about taste
Virginie Mouzat, writer
Album: nostalgia for the future by Dua Lipa
Virginie Mouzat at home in Paris © Alex Crétey Systermans
“I’m obsessed with Dua Lipa – her voice, her looks, she’s super talented. ‘Hallucinate’, ‘Levitating’ – she’s got all these hits. Suddenly I’m like a teenager again, dancing around my house with the loud music.
Virginie Mouzat: “I fear modernity for modernity’s sake”
Martha Freud, ceramist
Podcast: Unlock usby Brene Brown
“All Brown says is gospel to me. She’s a researcher specializing in shame, vulnerability, and leadership, and she breaks down behavioral patterns and consequences in a way that I can fully understand. She interviews fascinating people, such as psychologists John and Julie Gottman about relationships. She tries to explore all that it is to be human. And I love his Texas accent.
Martha Freud: “The best advice I’ve ever received? ‘Go to bed!’
Yalda Hakim, host
Book: A Certain Idea of France: The Life of Charles de Gaulle by Julian Jackson
A certain idea of France by Julian Jackson © Max Miechowski
“Jackson’s biography of Charles de Gaulle taps into what I feel for Afghanistan. I loved how this junior general convinced Churchill to support him and then mobilized the French to stand behind him and take back their country.
BBC World News presenter Yalda Hakim talks about her personal tastes
Laila Gohar, culinary artist
Track: “Waiting for You” by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
“I was really touched by the film Once again with feelingabout Cave producing his album skeleton tree after the death of his son Arthur – it’s so sad – and I love all his music, especially the 2019 album Phantom.”
Food star Laila Gohar talks about her personal tastes
Dom Bridges, founder of skincare brand Haeckels
The Blindboy Podcast
Haeckels founder Dom Bridges in his study in Margate © Tom Jamieson
“It would be a sacrilege not to talk about this authentic and twisted to mix together psychology, humor and social issues from an Irish comedian.
Dom Bridges, founder of Haeckels: “Margate changed my life”
Sebastien Foucan, freerunner
Book: Relentless: from good to excellent to unstoppable by Tim S Grover
“Grover was Michael Jordan’s coach and this is a book about the mindset of a champion. It talks about how there is a part of ourselves that we often reject, and how we can tap into that and control it. He calls it our “dark side”, which, when you think about it from Darth Vader’s perspective, sounds negative – but the way he explains it, it can be a good thing when controlled. For me, working on big sets and coaching athletes all makes sense.
Parkour pioneer Sébastien Foucan: “I kept the ball with which Daniel Craig shot me”
Leanne Shapton, artist and graphic novelist
Book: moms by Yeong Shin Ma
Leanne Shapton at her home in Greenwich Village, New York © Beat Schweizer
“This graphic novel is based on the author’s mother and her mother’s friends. It was a subculture I knew nothing about: middle-aged Korean women. He writes about these women with love and sympathy and a bit of brutality. It reminded me of how Alice Munro writes women and how Haruki Murakami writes cities.
Leanne Shapton on vintage swimwear, David Hockney and learning to love a 40-watt light bulb
Joe Gebbia, co-founder of AirBnB
Album: battle lines by Bob Moses
“This album from a Canadian electronic duo is a mix of nostalgic lyrics, pop beats and synths.”
The Airbnb co-founder on his favorite things
Joel Andrianomearisoa, artist
Track: “Il Cielo in Una Stanza” by Mina
Joël Andrianomearisoa at home in Paris © Arnau Bach
“We listen to this song, recorded in 1969 by Italian singer Mina, every day at the studio. It has this melancholic melody, and the lyrics are about the feeling of being in love and the walls becoming a forest and the ceiling turning into a sky… I like the image and the idea of emotional elements becoming a physical architecture.
The monochrome majesty of Joël Andrianomearisoa
Arthur de Villepin, gallery owner
Book: Ninth Street Women by Marie-Gabriel
Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel © Amanda Kho
“It’s about the New York art scene of the 1940s and 1950s from the perspective of five female artists: Lee Krasner, Elaine de Kooning, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell and Helen Frankenthaler. I found it so interesting to revisit history through their lens, and you realize there was a lot going on in the shadows of other successful artists of that period such as Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning.
Gallery owner Arthur de Villepin: “I just ran with Van Gogh”
Gia Coppola, director and winemaker
Book: Wine Girl: The story of a successful sommelier in the toxic world of fine dining by Victoria James
Gia Coppola at her home in California © Arianna Lago
“I loved reading about James’ personal journey to becoming one of the world’s top sommeliers. I had no idea how complicated and expensive it was, especially for young women.
Gia Coppola loves Vans, Vegas and her grandfather Francis Ford Coppola’s vineyard
Karla Welch, Stylist
Album: serpentine prison by Matt Berninger
“The last music I downloaded was this album by The National singer. I like that he’s a postmodern guy – kinda sad, kinda sensitive, and interested in supporting powerful women.
Celebrity Stylist Karla Welch Explains Why “The Right Clothes Open Doors”
Sinéad Burke, Accessibility Advocate
Podcast: The Ezra Klein Show
Sinéad Burke at the National College of Art and Design © Ellius Grace
“I listen to a particular episode of this, when Klein had a sociologist Tressie McMillanCottom as a guest. It was a high-profile interview, but I’m a person who listens to things with post-its ready, and in it she was talking about status, which she defines as separate from class. Status is the currency you bring into a room with you, but we haven’t built an in-depth vocabulary around it because people are reluctant to articulate the role status plays in their success. She is one of the best people I follow on Twitter and has written a book called Thick in 2019 that I think everyone should read.
Sinéad Burke: “The door opened for me. I try to make sure the door doesn’t close’
Timothy Taylor, gallery owner
Book: Lee Child’s Jack Reach series
“It’s spectacular to listen to on Audible. I heard Lee being interviewed by Jeremy Paxman recently, and Paxman was asking him about his style of writing. He said that it is very difficult to design a Rolls-Royce, but it is extremely difficult to design a Ford Escort. This kind of summary.
Gallery owner Timothy Taylor: “Style is ambition and the freedom to follow your own path”
Shiza Shahid, co-founder of cookware brand Our Place
Various, from Coke Studio Pakistan
Shahid at home, wearing a Tory Burch dress © Rich Stapleton
“The last music I downloaded was from Coke Studio Pakistan – a mix, both new and old, of folk music, qawwali and other traditional genres with a modern beat. Some of the great renditions include ‘Alif Allah” by Arif Lohar and Meesha Shafi and “Afreen Afreen” by Rahat Fateh Ali Khan.
Shiza Shahid: “Cooking reconnects you with your body, the food system and with each other”
