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London Portraits: Rosa Park
In coversation with Rosa Park.
The founder of travel and style magazine Cereal and the latest muse in our Portrait series, we have long admired Rosa for her pared-back, minimal aesthetic, and Cereal's influence on interior trends over the last decade.
Rosa wearing the Pebble Earrings
"I started my career in fashion and beauty PR in New York, before making my way across the pond to get a master’s in English Literature. After graduating, I held a couple of editorial positions before taking the leap into launching Cereal. Looking back, it was a bold move; I had limited editorial experience and zero entrepreneurial experience. I was driven by a simple goal: to create a travel and design title that would resonate with my peers."
Running your own brand can be hectic and full on, we know this only too well. How do you take time out to find calm and inspiration?
"These days, I take any sliver of calm I can access, and that comes in an array of expected and unexpected forms. This includes walking without any distraction to work - no music, no podcast - taking in my surroundings and sifting through my morning thoughts before arriving at the gallery; the 30 seconds spent standing at the kitchen counter, eating a square of chocolate; driving, while looking out at the unblemished blue Californian skies; booking in regular infrared sauna sessions, this is my sacred ritual; taking a yoga class where the breath and movement carries me out of my head and into my body and the present moment. As for inspiration, lately, I’ve found it most in people. There will be encounters with new folks or conversations with old friends that resonate; it then opens up a new way of perceiving and processing information, which is hugely inspiring because our perception dictates our reality."
We’ve been surrounded by a female collective growing up as three sisters, and our brand is informed by the women in our lives. Who has been the most influential woman in your life?
"At the risk of sounding trite, my mother".
SHOP THE LOOK
Can you tell us about The Francis Gallery? Is it a big change from Cereal magazine or do you feel this move into the art world evolved naturally?
"Francis Gallery works with a dynamic group of contemporary artists who work primarily in abstraction, and the line that connects our artists and our gallery is championing an emotional connection to a work, alongside the cerebral. The gallery vouches for the setting being of equal importance as the artworks being shown; I cannot separate art from its environment when engaging with the pieces, and believe it must be in dialogue with one another.
As for when I shifted my focus from Cereal to Francis, it felt more natural at first, but the deeper I get into gallery work, the more I realise how different the two are. For one, I jumped from a two-dimensional world of print to a three-dimensional world of a physical gallery space with a full programme of exhibitions".
Let’s talk about the highs and lows of your career. What have been your biggest successes and failures so far, and what did you learn from them?
"I think it’s too early in my career to say with certainty what my highs and lows are. I also believe that our perceived failures can become a catalyst for our greatest successes.
All of this is to say, I’d like to answer this question in about 30 years time".
An understated, timeless aesthetic is at the core of Otiumberg, much like the elegant minimalism that you are renowned for. What (and who) has influenced your sense of style, and do you feel that you have found your signature style or that it is ever-evolving?
"I would have to say my mother again for this one. I tried many different styles before landing at my current sensibility; and it’s one that is aligned to my mother’s. Understated, androgynous at times, and most importantly, comfortable".
Jewellery serves as a daily form of self expression, a celebration of life’s milestones, and even a way to remember loved ones. What is your most treasured piece of jewellery and why?
This feels like an impossible question to answer! I have too many favourite pieces, all with significant memory attached to them. How about a top three for this summer season?
1) My yellow thread bracelet with tiny aventurine beads that I got two of, one for me and one for my son Turner; we’ve both been wearing it all summer for good luck!
2) A necklace I made at a recent jewellery making course; it’s actually not very nice looking, but I’m so happy every time I wear it/look at it
3) An opal ring my mum recently gifted me; opal is my birth stone and it’s the first time I’ve had a piece of jewellery with this stone.
ROSA'S PICKS
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