Five Quick Questions: Astrid Stavro
1. WHAT’S ON YOUR CURRENT PLAYLIST?
It’s a bit of a long story but since my son was born (almost 15 years ago), I practically stopped listening to music. I hope it’s not a Freudian thing! I was so busy being a mother and running my own studio that I didn’t really have time to curate and edit my music lists. I used to listen to a lot of jazz, occasionally classical music (Bach, Schubert and Mozart in particular), and classic rock such as The Pixies, David Bowie, the XX etc. The DJ in the house is now my son. He plays the saxophone and loves jazz so I listen to his playlists which are actually quite good.
2. SOMETHING ABOUT YOU THAT PEOPLE WOULD BE SURPRISED TO KNOW?
Ha! I suppose a lot of things. I’m a pretty private person and like to keep things to myself and the ones close to me. One thing that people are often surprised to know about is my love of games. I’m an avid chess player but I equally love digital games. I can play for hours in a row with my son (sometimes into the wee hours of the morning) at anything on his PS5 and other online games, and am addicted to a game called Lords Mobile in which you defend and attack other castles with your guild members. The aesthetics are horrible and the sound is ghastly but I love it.
3. A RECENT PURCHASE THAT YOU REALLY ENJOY?
A portable lamp called ‘Cesta’ by the Catalan designer Miquel Mila, designed in 1962. It has been on my wish list for quite some time and I am thoroughly enjoying it.
4. WHAT HABIT ARE YOU TRYING TO IMPLEMENT OR GET RID OF AT THE MOMENT?
I’ve been going through some pretty big life changes the last 3 years, from divorce to changing country, houses and jobs which have had a big impact at a personal level. I’m a healthier person now. I stopped smoking three years ago, for example. After this any other habit seems rather insignificant.
5. A BOOK THAT CHANGED YOU?
There’s many! I studied literature before graphic design. In fact, I still dream of writing a novel. I can’t list one single book, but here’s a few authors that in one way or another had a huge impact at different moments of my life: Thomas Bernhard, Jose Luis Borges, Paul Auster, Haruki Murakami, Bertrand Russell, Witold Gombrowicz, Aldous Huxley, Julio Cortazar, Federico Garcia Lorca, Mario Benedetti, Georges Perec, William Blake, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Mann, Charles Baudelaire, Arthur Rimbaud, Henry David Thoreau, William Faulkner, Raymond Chandler, Albert Camus, Sartre, Knut Hamsun, Jack Kerouac, Katherine Mansfield, Cesare Pavese… I always say that the books I read have been my best life teachers.