The Inside Word with Holly McCauley
An accomplished designer of everything from books to homes, Holly McCauley’s guiding principle is ‘less is more.’
I had the pleasure of working with Holly on my two most recent books Style: The Art of Creating a Beautiful Home and Home by the Sea: The Surf Shacks & Hinterland Hideaways of Byron Bay, and she recently joined the Imprint podcast for a conversation about her biggest takeaways from designing for magazines and books, as well as launching a wildly successful gallery, Yeah Nice, with no budget and no time commitment.
→ Click here to listen to Holly’s interview on the Imprint podcast
Which words best describe you?
Calm, quiet, happy, relaxed, but also internally stressed.
What’s the best lesson you’ve learned?
Oh, that's so hard. But I think just going with it and trusting in the process and that things will work out some one way or another.
What’s your proudest achievement?
The life that I've created with my partner and our two little girls.
What’s been your best decision?
Taking that very first job that I was offered at Frankie Magazine because it forced me to move to the northern rivers, which was never on the cards. And 13 years later, I'm still here and it's a place where I've raised my family.
Who inspires you?
My kids.
What are you passionate about?
I'm passionate about heaps of different things. I’m passionate about supporting the arts, living simply where possible and putting as much effort as you can into relationships.
I've got another one for you, tell me if I'm right or wrong – you're passionate about Chinese food?
Oh yeah. I'm passionate about Chinese food because I'm half Chinese, which not many people know when they look at me. But my mum is Chinese and an amazing Chinese cook, and living in a regional town, the Chinese food options are not amazing. So we gotta make it ourselves, us Chinese people.
What's your favourite Chinese restaurant in Sydney or Melbourne?
I don't go to Melbourne very often, but you really just can't go past yum cha in Sydney Chinatown or Melbourne Chinatown. I recently went to the Bob Hawke dining hall and they've got an old school new trendy Chinese restaurant called Lucky Prawn, which was a hit.
Good to know. We have to give a little plug to your mom. Is it Dumpling Baby?
Oh yeah. Mom makes dumplings under the name Dumpling Baby (@dumpling__baby), which if I had told her she'd be doing this 15 years ago, she would've laughed at me because she has only just now embraced her Chinese culture, and now she makes dumplings for a living, and you can find them in the freezer section.
What dream do you still want to fulfil?
I really want to live overseas for at least a year, and we're doing all the things that are stopping us from doing that, having babies and buying houses and starting businesses. So that's on the cards. And I would really, really love to do that. Take my kids out of school and live and fully immerse ourselves in another country.
Where would it be? Where are some of the places on your list?
We've talked about Mexico, we've talked about Indonesia, even New Zealand where a lot of my family live, even though that wouldn't be much of a culture shock, it would still be a really nice change. We'll see where it goes.
What are you reading?
At the moment? I'm reading a great novel called Fortunes of the Sky. I'm a full history nerd and it's set in the 1800s in America, and it's about a Chinese girl who was kidnapped from her home and brought to San Francisco. It's really interesting. It's not for everyone, but I do love a really dark, serious fictional history.
What is one of your favourite books from a design point of view?
One that I go to purely because of the time I went to uni, the Vice photo book, I feel like sums up an era of that time. It's one I've got on my shelf that I'll constantly go back to. And also Mike Mills: Graphics Films is a really great design reference for me and has been on my shelf for many, many years.
What are you listening to?
I listen to audiobooks when I'm working, and it makes me sad because I also love physical books so much. So I listen to the audiobook and then I've got to go buy the actual books so that I can have it on my shelf. I also listen to really nerdy history podcasts. And we always have music playing in the house – we've got a record player, and my partner hates it when I put on a Spotify mixtape because it's not the same as listening to your records, but it's the lazy option.
What piece of advice would you give to your younger self?
Stick with it.
You can catch my full conversation with Holly on the Imprint podcast here.