David Michon

David Michon is a consultant, editor and producer with a number of magazines, books, podcasts and events under his belt. He is the former editor of Icon magazine, and former managing editor of Monocle magazine and Winkreative creative agency, but has been the Director of his company-of-one since January 2016.

Website: http://davidmichon.com

Instagram: @David_michon

Twitter: @Daveoncue

What is your idea of perfect happiness?: I'm at my most serene napping on a sunny, warm beach after a lunch of pasta and spumante. So, I married a Tuscan. (I'm strategic.)

Which living person do you most admire?: Aside from Amanda Kasper? It would probably be a set of close friends, and for reasons that are hard to translate. It's certainly never purely because of someone's CV or public persona that I admire someone; there's a lot of surface-level phenomenal people who I think are real assholes when you get up close and personal. That said, there are zillions of people to whom I look for inspiration: Alvar Alto, Nana Ditzel, Richard Neutra, Bruno Munari, Marcel Breuer, Candy Darling, Mies van der Rohe, Ingrid Bergman and Ingmar Bergman, Donald Judd, Steve McQueen, Man Ray, Rei Kawakubo, Charlotte Perriand, James Turrell, Eileen Gray, Luis Barragan, Peggy Guggenheim, Alessandro Michele, Jean Prouve, William Eggleston, Catherine Opie, Hal Ashby, Denise Scott Brown, Etel Adnan, ... it goes on and on.

What is your greatest extravagance?: Wormholes of the Internet – and I'm impressed with anyone who can say otherwise, to be honest. I've just finished watching about 14 hours of Nigella Bites – c2000 Nigella Lawson really was something special. She was deliciously and seductively camp, she could cook wearing white shirts, she's the only person I've ever liked in a shrug, and I'm obsessed with her habit of freezing baggies of leftover wine collected from dinner guests' half-empty glasses. There was something a little more spontaneous about her then, perhaps?

What is your current state of mind?: Buffering.

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?: "LOVE IT" or "HATE IT", both which are expressed in combination with a signature hand gesture.

Which talent would you most like to have?: Oh gosh, I can't carry a tune – and I am utterly shocked how often I'm forced into musty karaoke rooms and have to kind of 'look busy' while avoiding making a single song choice. (As any ex-Monocle employee could tell you, this can also be a regular Professional Life occurrence.) I fantasise about just being able to belt one out.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?: My other wish, besides a great singing voice, would be an ability to pick up languages in a snap.

What do you consider your greatest achievement?: This may be a 'self-care' cliché, but over the years I had developed a lot of toxic ways of fuelling productivity and achieving my goals. Slowly, slowly I'm replacing those drivers with positive ones, and doing so is the first 'goal' in my life that has felt truly adult.

Where would you most like to live?: Many more places, by the end of everything. Los Angeles, for one. Isherwood said there was always something of a mirage about it, and I agree – "dreamy and strange, and kind of merging." But equally, my husband grew up in Lucca, in Tuscany, which I believe to be one of the world's greatest small cities, and I'd happily live there.

What is your most treasured possession?: Absolutely everything that once belonged to my late mother.

What is your most marked characteristic?: I'd hope: caring.

What do you most value in your friends?: Caring.

Who are your favorite writers?: They're magazine people and essayists, at least in part: Joan Didion, James Baldwin, Adam Gopnik, David Sedaris, James Baldwin, Lauren Collins – and did you read "The Art of Dying" by Peter Schjeldahl? So fantastic.

Who are your heroes in real life?: Amanda Burden (ex-New York city government), Paola Antonelli, Karen Wong (New Museum), Julia Child, all aforementioned writers, aforementioned friends whom I admire.

What is it that you most dislike?: I'll echo fellow A–K Muse and pal, Tom Morris: "Superficiality."

What is your motto?: Make it happen. (Sometimes I spend too much time writing to-do lists, instead of doing to-do lists.)