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INTERVIEW NO 25

Cecilia & Mathias

ENOUGH SLEEP
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"On weekends, our bed is our home office." 

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Cecilia & Mathias are a creative couple living in Vienna. They collaborate on many projects, drawing inspiration from their love for world travel. We talked to them about how they unwind and find inspiration for new projects.


SEPTEMBER 2016
VIENNA, AUSTRIA
PHOTOGRAPHY: CECILIA & MATHIAS
INTERVIEW: VM
 
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“I love to wake up in hotel rooms because I know that I don’t have to make breakfast in the morning. And also the bed sheets are ironed.“
 

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“... for sleeping in, the wild flower fields close to the Danube are seriously better than a bed.“

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WHAT DO YOU DO DURING THE DAY?

Mathias: We live in the first district in Vienna. Our flat is on the second floor of a historic house. Our cellar has an entry to a hidden underground passage to Stephansdom (St. Stephen's Cathedral). Although the streets in the First [district] are super narrow, our flat is light-flooded. Thank god for these big windows in old buildings...
Cecilia: I am working as a journalist for Austrian lifestyle magazine look! and I just published my first book - a cityguide for Vienna. Together with Mathias I co-founded the label »We Are Flowergirls« - an accessoires label for handmade flowercrowns. Mathias is a designer & art director.

ARE YOU AN EARLY BIRD? 

Cecilia: Absolutely not. That is both the best and the worst thing of not having fixed work hours at work - you don´t have to work 9 to 5. We usually sleep as long as we can - that`s around 9 to 10 am during weekdays.

HOW DOES YOUR ALARM SOUND?

Mathias: Theoretically, we do have a radio alarm clock. But it never works. So we are stuck with the usual iPhone alarm.

WHAT ARE THE FIRST THINGS YOU DO IN THE MORNING?

​Mathias: Cecilia is getting up and making coffee while she is posting her first facebook post for the magazine. I am snoozing until Cecilia brings coffee to bed. I try to avoid getting up as long as possible and check my mail and instagram on my phone. I always leave our apartment without breakfast - all I need is coffee.
Cecilia: Saturdays are our breakfast days; the other days not so much. On Saturdays, we love to have the best bread you can get in Vienna – Joseph Brot. The bakery is on our street, so it’s easy to get fresh-baked bread in the morning. Boiled egg, chives, avocado & coffee makes our breakfast complete.

ANY BREAKFAST OR BRUNCH PLACES YOU RECOMMEND?

Cecilia: There are so many good ones. Kussmaul, SneakIn and 7Stern are my favourites in the 7th district. Café Leopold and Palmenhaus have amazing patios to sit outside on. Oh, I also love the food at OnMarket, Zweitbester & Neni am Naschmarkt.

WHAT TIME OF THE DAY ARE YOU MOST PRODUCTIVE OR CREATIVE? 

Cecilia: I don't have a particular time where I'm more productive than at any other point of the day. But Mathias is a real night owl.

DO YOU THINK SLEEP INFLUENCES YOUR WORK?

Cecilia: Yeah, of course. Sometimes we get less than 6 hours of sleep. It works for a while. But after a few nights it’s really hard to focus and be productive. It gets particularly hard if you have to meet deadlines and there is just no time for rest. If we can, we are the kind of people that would sleep 10 hours straight.

DO YOU THINK YOU GET ENOUGH SLEEP?

Cecilia: No, not really. During the last couple of weeks or months we were busy doing projects like our cityguide »We Are Vienna« and the launch of »We Are Flowergirls«. Besides our full time jobs, Mathias did the layout for the book and I was designing flowercrowns 24/7 or interviewing Viennese artists and creatives for the cityguide. We hope it’s getting better after the release of the book and the Spring Summer Collection of the flower crowns and get more sleep again.

HOW DO YOU RECHARGE?

​Both: Traveling! When we are in town it’s really hard for us to relax and do nothing. But whenever we have some free days, we like to travel and enjoy a new outlook of the world. 
Cecilia: I love to wake up in hotel rooms because I know that I don’t have to be the one to make breakfast in the morning. And the bed sheets are ironed. Other than that, foot massages are the best thing to fall asleep. 
Mathias disagrees.

WHERE DO YOU SLEEP BEST?

Both: There are many places where we love to sleep. On hotel beds, wild flower fields, or in our cabin in the Alps – on a mountain in Salzburg. From there you get an insane view at the stars and night sky.

ANY RITUALS BEFORE GOING TO BED? 

​Mathias: Boring stuff like taking a shower and brushing teeth. 

DO YOU REMEMBER YOUR DREAMS?

Cecilia: I'm dreaming a lot, but will forget it right after getting up. Sometimes, I try to remember and talk about my dreams but the parts I remember never add up to a whole story. I remember one of my nightmares I frequently had when I was a kid - it's kind of a very Austrian dream. A ski-lift collapsed at a ski slope and killed my whole family. I dreamt that scenario over and over again for half a year. One time I went to a dreamreader and she told me to find a new ending for the dream. It worked and I never had the dream again. I only dream when I have nothing on my mind. During periods where I have many projects going on at the same time, when hours of sleep are short, it feels like I am waking in the second after I fell asleep. 

HAVE YOU EVER DREAMT AN IDEA THAT YOU BROUGHT TO REAL LIFE?

Mathias: No. But sometimes we have good ideas right before we go to sleep. »We Are Flowergirls« is one of these late night ideas. One or two glasses of wine do help sometimes.

DO YOU CARE ABOUT WHAT YOU WEAR FOR SLEEPING?

Both: Underwear. Or less.

DESCRIBE YOUR BED IN 3 WORDS.

Both: High, pillows, fluffy.
Cecilia: On weekends our bed is our home office.

THE MOST MEMORABLE SPOT YOU’VE EVER SLEPT IN OR FALLEN ASLEEP?

Cecilia: I once fell asleep in the garden of my parents because I didn’t have a key and of course it was way too late to wake them up.
Mathias: I hate to sleep on cars, trains or planes, so no chance for weird places.
Cecilia: Also, for dozing off, the wild flower fields next to the Danube are seriously better than a bed.

HOW MANY SHEEP DO YOU COUNT?

Cecilia: Counting flowers. Mathias: Pixles.

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DREAM ABOUT TONIGHT?

Cecilia: Flying!

cecilianeu

„There are many places where we love to sleep. On hotel beds, wild flower fields, or in our cabin in the Alps – on a mountain in Salzburg. From there you get an insane view at the stars and night sky.“


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