In the era of quiet luxury and the so-called vanilla girl aesthetic on Instagram, she feels like a breath of fresh air. Adventurous, possessing a distinct style, and offering a unique perspective, I am delighted to present this month's guest editor of THE GOOD MOOD BOARD: Louisa Kirk-Duncan!
Lots of Love,
Franzi
Hi, I am Louisa, I am a 36 years old woman living in Berlin with my husband, who is one of the founders of the art gallery and community Super Super Markt. Together with my business partner Mina Hashemi I just launched our creative direction office RHOYA: Rhoya operates within the field of creative and art direction, 360° marketing, brand consultancy and strategy, commercial & editorial content and design.
I started my substack newsletter Hotel Amore Inc., which is focused on curated travel, fashion, art and life at the end of 2023 which fills me with a lot of joy. I also have an Instagram account called @clubcreative which shares interesting and cool jobs in the creative industry. It has grown into a very engaged community with amazing creative talents from all over the world, which is great to see.
I'm at my happiest when I'm surrounded by the people I love. Ideally, starting the day in bed with my husband, enjoying coffee and reading and getting inspired by the newspapers, my hundreds of newsletters I am subscribed to, and perhaps doing some Vestiaire Collective hunting. Starting the day like this sets the tone for one of those beautiful, carefree days with friends that seem to have no fixed end. You know, those Saturdays where you start with breakfast, maybe take a leisurely walk, end up at the cinema, and then enjoy a lovely dinner together - or something along those lines. Additionally, I have a deep passion for traveling, and there's nothing quite like the thrill of successfully discovering a fantastic spot, and then being able to write about it afterwards (which is why having a newsletter is truly fantastic).
THE GOOD FOOD
I love food and great restaurants. My biggest thrill are extensive lunches while on holiday, ideally with a glass of white wine or perhaps a margarita (when in Rome). Recently, I had the pleasure of going on my honeymoon to my favorite country, Mexico. My husband and I embarked on a culinary adventure through Mexico City: In my newsletter I just published the big black book on Mexico’s best restaurants, galleries, museums and shops. I thrive on conducting extensive research to uncover the best places to eat, from hidden taco street stands to Italian fish restaurants with simple white plastic chairs where locals gather. I enjoy exploring both hot fine dining spots and old-school eateries. Ideally, the restaurant has a compelling story, attracts interesting people, exudes a great vibe and ambiance, and the food mirrors all of these qualities. It's incredibly difficult to narrow it down to just one, so I'll share two places (which is also hard).
Sarde, Mexico City
I don’t know if you’ve been to Mexico City - that is another whole big story on the amazing rich food culture in this country. One of my one hundred favorite places was the restaurant Sarde in Mexico City. I found this spot on my favorite travel companion AmiGo app: The restaurant sits next to the beautiful book shop Bosque as well as the beautiful limited edition perfumes shop Fueguia 1833, which are both worth a visit. We came to Sarde on Sunday, had a big lunch at the bar - which is my favorite seating in most restaurants. I loved seeing all these very chic Mexican families come for their Sunday lunch around 3-4pm. The food was exceptional and innovative, even the fennel salad tasted like a poem. Highly recommended.
Sarde, Puebla, Roma, Cuauhtémoc, 06700 Cuauhtémoc, CDMX, Mexiko
Alba Chiara, Puglia
About three or four years ago, I embarked on a fantastic three-month sabbatical from my full-time job. Originally, the plan was to spend eight weeks walking the Santiago di Compostela trail. However, I had a change of heart after a rather rugged camping trip in Norway just before that, which turned out to be a bit too rustic for my liking. Consequently, I decided to cancel the Compostela trip and instead opted to travel through Italy for six weeks.
When I was in Puglia, driving around between Brindisi and Bari one day, I stumbled upon a hidden gem thanks to a stroke of luck with Google Maps. It turned out to be an informal spot with turquoise plastic seating right by the also turquoise ocean, where locals were busy catching sea urchins—the specialty of the area. During the summer, it gets really crowded, with waiting times for the restaurant usually ranging from 30 to 45 minutes. Fortunately, since I visited outside of the peak season, I didn't have to wait at all and enjoyed a fantastic lunch. Find Alba Chiara here on Instagram.
Alba Chiara, Strada Provinciale Torre Canne, Savelletri 72015, Italy
THE GOOD HOTEL
I love choosing hotels as a destination instead of just as a means of finding a place to stay if I am not out all day. When I'm not staying at a remarkable hotel, I often seek out the finest hotel in the city to have a drink there instead—I love doing that and do some people watching and imagine the stories people have. I would like to share a hotel - or rather a bed and breakfast with you, which I also visited on my six-week trip through Italy. This amazing place was recommended to me by the wonderful Florence-based writer, Leonie Wessel. It’s called I Casali Del Trebbiolo and is just 45 minutes by bus from Florence, followed by a 1.5km walk, which is very beautiful.
I remember so much about how I felt when I went, walking uphill with a little bag for two nights, stopping every two minutes to eat blueberries from the bushes (hoping I was actually eating blueberries), listening to a really good podcast about life and just being by myself in a good way. Don’t expect a luxury hotel: It’s a farmhouse with lots of different rooms that are huge and very italian. The views are incredible, they also have a pool. When I was there, I just read, suntanned, ate pasta, read, and slept. It was fantastic.
THE GOOD FASHION BRAND
I mostly buy vintage, but sometimes I also buy new things. If I do, it’s mostly denim or designer pieces that I save up for. I really really love the Australian designer Christopher Esber: My great friend Laura works for the brand and whenever I see her she is wearing something from the designer which always looks absolutely stunning on her. I am now also the owner of two pieces - I purchased the Minette shoes as well as a beautiful knotted black evening top which are perfect with loose jeans. There is something which feels extremely modern and unseen about the brand while it is recognisable which makes me want their pieces, it’s sexy, but in a classy and cool way. Just look at this shirt or this amazing dress…wowza!
THE GOOD ART
I recently visited the art fairs Zona Maco and Material in Mexico City and fell in love with a piece by the artist Sophie Barber which she created especially for the emerging artist fair Material. She had a range of pieces but this one was my favorite and it was very hard not to take it with me. I am still thinking about it and it’s the background image on my phone since I have seen it because I was just captivated by it. My fav:
The British artist was born in 1996, at St. Leonards on the Sea. She now lives in Hastings. I love her pillow style canvases, I think they are very special and unseen. Her works range in size, she’s done really small works match-size as well as midsize around 30x40cm. Her motifs are often representing famous artists and the work of artists - from Renoir and Munch to Hockney, to Franz West: For an exhibition in her L.A. gallery, she produced iPhone sized works which showed celebrities like a painted photograph of Kendrick Lamar by Annie Leibovitz or Frank Ocean by Wolfgang Tillmans. My favorite paintings were the ones for the Mexico fair though.
She is represented by Chris Sharp in LA as well as Alison Jacques, she also currently has a show at Tanya Leighton in Berlin which I am dying to see!
THE GOOD PRODUCT
Choosing this brand for this category comes at no surprise for who knows me: This is one of my favorite products that exists within the beverage space. It’s called ghia, it’s a non-alcoholic aperitif and the brand is based in LA. I don’t drink much (mostly for lunch on holiday, ha!) and I really love the idea of non-alcoholic brands for the evening. At the same time I really don't understand why there are few to no alternatives even in the nicest restaurants, you can have a coke or a water. In Paris one can find ghia now (at merci). Berlin, can we have it too please?
Unfortunately I believe part of the reason why I love this brand is because I can’t have it, it’s only when I am in New York, LA or now Paris, so I guess this must continue like this for my love story to last! I have had lovely people from New York sending this over to me and I hope my Paris friends remember next time they are coming to keep a little bottle for me in their luggage. I think the founder Melanie Masarin did a fantastic job with the brand world, it just works. The brand is cool, the product is tasty, the flacon bottle is beautiful and I am so happy for her that it is working out. There are small cans in four different flavors as well as the big one which you can use to mix drinks. Don’t keep it open too long to preserve, it can expire, I have been there and that was 36 Dollars ruined in front of my eyes. As a note: ghia did a fantastic glasses collab with Sophie Lou Jacobsen and they recently had a new edition with four new colors: You can explore that here.
THANK YOU, Louisa, for being part of THE GOOD MOOD BOARD! <3
Thank you, the second link for the top is actually net shoes again, maybe you can change it! Love the takeover 💕
Love love love <3 Macht einfach sehr gute Laune!