WALKABOUT
Designer Jeremy Hershan
As a child, our family holidays were always to…
Growing up in Melbourne, our summers were spent at our grandparents’ beach house on the Mornington Peninsula. My memories are of grandparents, parents, siblings, uncles, aunts, cousins, friends, you name it, crammed into this typical 1950s weatherboard. We spent days on the calm Mt Martha beachfront which is lined with colourful bathing boxes (1) and evenings playing games and listening to my grandfather’s entertaining but highly embellished stories. He was a firm believer in the truth never getting in the way of a good yarn.
Now if I have time for a short break, I head straight to…
Lately, with my wife and two young children (three and seven) I have been enjoying exploring our home state of NSW. We recently took a short escape to the Southern Highlands and loved the village of Burrawang (2) with its distinctly English ambience, rows of 19th-century timber homes and great local pub.
My five packing essentials are…
My
Large HERSHAN Utility Tote (3; hershan.
com) is the perfect companion for weekend wanderings. Depending on the destination and seasonality, the contents will vary but my old Alfred Dunhill travel wallet (I was previously a designer there), Bose noise-cancelling headphones, Jacques Marie Mage sunglasses, Kaweco fountain pen and a good read.
When I’m on the road, I’m listening to/ watching…
For family breaks, I am listening to a curated road-trip playlist that will feature everything from Baby Shark to AC/DC. Each family member takes a turn in adding a song which makes for some very interesting musical transitions. ‘Watching’ takes form in whatever the kids’ latest interest is; lately this has been Bluey (4) which thankfully is entertaining for all.
My last holiday read was…
This summer, I have been working my way through Clive James’s memoirs Always Unreliable (5).
My travel wardrobe always consists of…
I am never without a pair of trusty vintage Levi’s 501s, a selection of well-loved and sunfaded Lacoste polo shirts, Alden snuff suede unlined penny loafers, a battered baseball cap and an old military wristwatch.
My souvenir of choice is…
Restaurant matchbooks. A relatively rare sighting these days but the perfect token of time and place.
My greatest travel memory is…
Packing my bags to pursue a career in fashion and finding myself as a young apprentice in Paris (6), not knowing anyone and not speaking the language. It was a very challenging but rewarding time and opened the doors to a world I had always dreamt of.
I’ll never forget the time…
I travelled through Mexico (7) for three months as a 19 year old. I learnt a lot of great life lessons including how to bribe the Policia and how to spot potentially fatal food poisoning from a distance.
My favourite place to dine in Australia is…
A good country bakery. I can’t stop in a small town without trying the 2007 winner of the Baking Association of Australia’s best meat pie. With sauce, of course (8).
If I could live anywhere in Australia I would live…
I am a city dweller at heart but do love to escape the urban world from time to time. For that reason, I feel Sydney (9) offers the best of both with its proximity to beaches and rugged wilderness a short drive away.