Our Story on The Soko Edit

Take Monday is a travel brand so we love hearing about the role of travel in the business and in Claire’s life. She shares how travel shapes her life and inspires her brand as well as her favourite places to visit. Coming from a woman who has lived in Dublin, London, New York and Paris, we’re all ears! As a travel brand founder and a keen traveller, tell us some places that inspire you?

Lots of places inspire me: in fact, I like to think Take Monday’s bags are a strange mix of all of my favourite places: Ireland and Paris, London, New York all of which have been or are home, but also Miami, Montauk, the Alps - the places which hold the most dear travel memories for me. My mum is Korean, and there’s a huge consumer desire there for design-first little bags/pencil cases/vanity cases… so I think that probably influenced me too. 

Where in the world do you feel most at home? What’s special about the place?

Home is a really tough question for me because Dublin or my family’s holiday home in Donegal are home-home and the place my heart most burns for.

At the same time, I feel very attached to New York and Montauk having lived in the city during my twenties. Most of my closest friends are in London and Paris is now my real home. And then there’s Seoul where a lot of my family are. So it sounds ridiculous, but I think it’s a mix of everything! I also spent quite a lot of time in Miami because of work and play when I was younger and there’s something about the Miami Soho House which I truly cherish. Oh dear, I sound like a wanker.

Where in the world are you happiest?

The beach in front of our holiday home in Donegal. This is my number one spot in the world. Bring a picnic blanket and some citronella for the midges and have a drink at 11pm in the summer when it’s still bright. Four generations of our family have loved this spot. 

Ok, we’re in London and you’re taking us out. Where do we go?

First up, our old flat in Moreton Street, Pimlico. The scene of many a debaucherous evening, and joyous moments. God bless our neighbours. One of our bags is named after it. Then Chiltern Firehouse - did you know there’s a turret at the very top, which you can climb through a trapdoor to reach? They took me up as a surprise for my thirtieth birthday with a bottle of champagne. It was very windy.  And finally Electric House in Notting Hill for late night fun. The fabulous interiors make it feel like you’re in a Wes Anderson film. It’s small enough to feel intimate, and the crowd there is always so interesting, and willing to chat shite with you.

Now we’ve hopped on the Eurostar. Take us to your top spots in Paris.

We’ll start at the courtyard in the Hoxton Hotel. It’s a play on beautiful old world Paris with a modern twist (like entrepreneurs on laptops drinking dirty martinis at midday). Then it’s Bois de Vincennes – I went here for the first time this weekend. As the bars and restaurants are still locked down, the Parisians are finding alternative places to sip their champagne. NO one does picnics as well as the French; the lawns of this huge forest park were heaving and not a plastic cup in sight. And finally Django in Pigalle - a cocktail and tapas bar in my neighbourhood where we always seem to end up. It’s chilled during the day and after dark it becomes just the kind of sloppy you want from a late night spot. I’m very excited for them to reopen.