There was a tiny break in ongoing gloomy Sydney weather this week at Kinga HQ. As fresh sunlight beams into our workspace, we're delighted to talk to influencer and brands expert Anne Lauer. We discuss her change of pace in Mallorca, her endeavours in branding, and a tool she has invented to give phone photographs a more summery atmosphere.
Hi Beauty! Huge congrats on your move to Mallorca - as we can see, a homestead so idyllic it barely looks real. Can you tell us about how you've made yourself feel at home? What logistics were involved?
Thank you! To be honest - we’ve not had to do much, the island has this marvellous quality of making you feel very at home. It’s part of the reason we were so drawn to it. We’ve spent the last year nesting really; collecting pieces from markets, growing the garden and making wonderful friends, all the things to help make a place a home. Logistics weren’t too tricky, when I left Cayman (my original home), near the start of the pandemic, I was on an emergency plane and only allowed two suitcases! So in that sense we didn’t have a lot to move ha!
We're fascinated with slow living - the adoption of an unhurried lifestyle where less is more and generosity underpins everything. In Mallorca, is it a slow life? How slow is slow, over there?
Ooo me too, I could talk about this all day. I would say “unhurried” describes it perfectly. Life moves slowly here and I love it. Life in Spain in general is slow, when you add that fact the Mallorca is an island into the mix, well, things slow down quite a bit. People move at their own pace, the rigidity and rush of Northern Europe is totally lost here. Days are built around siestas, shop owners choose their hours at their preference, and there’s a wonderful tradition of something called Sobramesa. It doesn’t literally translate to any word in English but roughly it’s: time spent relaxing with family or friends after a meal, it could be over coffee or cakes and it definitely can’t be hurried.
It's evident in your work that you've got a few strings to your bow. You've got a twofold business in marketing consulting and content creation. Between a role where you direct a business's decisions, and working on the messages that it sends to the world - do you have a favourite out of the two?
I love both for different reasons, but photography and creating will always be my passion. Marketing and brand have been my bread and butter for many years, but the photography and styling side of my business has grown a lot over the last year, and I’m really enjoying it.
A really fun particularity is that you build actual app presets that people can use to make their phone photos really lush, warm and airy, capturing the feel of being in the Mediterranean. What does it feel like to see people try them out?
Yes! I launched them last year. It’s been really lovely to see people enjoy so them much. My style has changed a lot over the last year so I’m actually releasing a new series this spring! For anyone interested, I’ll be sharing them soon through my newsletter, which you can sign up to through my site.
And you're a 1% for the planet partner, too. Is environmental responsibility something your business has always run with?
Yes absolutely. Environmental consciousness is important to me in the way I live my life and run my business. I try to leave as little a footprint as possible and to only work with brands and individuals of that same mindset - like yourselves! I love your commitment to sustainability and integrity.
In your travel writing you sometimes tell us about a few terms in the local language, and the great discoveries they signify. Sometimes Australian travellers - particularly to regions like Morocco, within relatively easy reach of Europe - forget to hazard a few words. Do you think it's important to do that?
I think it’s great to learn a little of the language wherever we go, it shows that you’re interested and care, it also it just a beautiful way to connect with people, to speak their language. That said, kindness is a universal language and it’s much more important to me to be a considerate and slow traveller than any thing else. A smile transcends all language!
Is it true you're also a yoga teacher? Do you have a personal favourite, perhaps less known way that yoga practice can benefit the soul?
Ah yes, but I haven’t taught in many a moon. I studied ashtanga & meditation in India in 2017 and taught a few classes a week while living at home in Cayman, but since the pandemic I haven’t been teaching, more out of logistics and time than anything else but I’m open to possibilities. My favourite wellness practice at the moment is by far meditation. It’s helped me get through so much the last two years. It’s amazing because it’s accessible to everyone anytime, any place and has such a profound effect on our wellbeing.