Designer
JOANNE HYNEStalks about her holidays
What’s your earliest holiday memory?
I remember getting lost at the swings in Enniscrone, Co Sligo, when I was about two. Another one I remember is being in Spain, aged about six. It was my first time abroad and it was such a massive thing. The smells and the heat when we got off the aircraft were lovely.
What was your worst holiday?
I went to the Canary Islands and it was an absolute nightmare. I’d never go there again. It was culturally inept – like a large fake village. There was nothing interesting there.
What was your best holiday?
I spent two weeks in a little town called Naukuchiatal near Nainital in the neckline of the Himalayas, about 250km from Delhi, India. It has really beautiful lakes and mountains.
If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday?
I’d like to go to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. A friend of mine lives there for six months of the year and collects African carved wooden art. I’d like to see the way the women dress and the way people are. I tend to be indirectly inspired by travel.
If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you?
I’d take the three film directors, Steven Spielberg, David Lynch and M Night Shyamalan. We’d have great conversations and might make a small documentary.
What’s your favourite place in Ireland?
Connemara, and in particular the Sky Road walk in Clifden. There is a feeling about that part of the country, something very serene that makes sense when you are there, apart from its beauty.
Your recommended holiday reading?
I usually bring seven or eight books with me. One I haven’t got to read for the last three years is No Logo by Naomi Klein, also The Beautiful Fall by Alicia Drake and The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs. I am currently reading Eckhart Tolle’s book, A New Earth.
Where will you go next?
I’ll go to Paris in August and maybe back again in September.
** Designer Joanne Hynes’s Racy 09 collection will be at her boutique in Brown Thomas, Galway, from Monday until Aug 2. www.joannehynes.com
** In conversation with Genevieve Carbery