In our new series 20 Questions with Malu, New York-based writer, illustrator and creative guru Malu Edwards is catching up with tastemakers from across the globe to find out what makes them tick. This month: designer, blogger, traveler and undeniable influencer Serena Crawford.
1. Favorite TV series? The Crown.
2. Favorite city to work in? Sydney.
3. Favorite cities to rest in? Cape Town and Venice.
4. Favorite color? The color of the sea in Greece on a hot summer day.
5. Favorite flower? Peonies.
6. Favorite scent? Fracas by Robert Piguet.
7. Favorite design époque? Now!
8. Favorite poet, painter and composer? T. S. Eliot, Diego Velázquez, Mozart.
9. Favorite gift you’ve received? Always flowers or scented candles by Cire Trudon.
10. Your five dream dinner guests, living or dead? Dead, no one gets hurt that way! Oscar Wilde, Catherine the Great, Jacqueline Onassis, Marie Antoinette and Winston Churchill. (And Gerald Durrell and James Lees-Milne!)
11. A book you’ve read more than once? So many! The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle.
12. Your biggest personal achievement? Being a mother whose children enjoy spending time with me.
13. Your biggest professional achievement? I have no big professional achievement.
14. You’re a new addition to the crayon box. What color would you be? Pink!
15. What kind of tree would you be? An African fever tree.
16. If you could be any animal, which would you be and why? A bird. I’d love to be a bird. Maybe a Kingfisher…or a swallow.
17. Three words your closest friends would use to describe you? Loving, interested and exhausting.
18. Three words your frenemies would use to describe you? I have edited any frenemy or negative type people out of my life. And what they think of me is none of my business!
19. The best design advice you’ve been ever received? Tom Parr said, “Always have a HUGE bedside table.” As a result, I always have; it actually changed my life in an instant.
20. Words to live by? “Life is a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller
