They grow up so fast. After a year and a half, our hallmark questionnaire has graduated from 11 to 15 questions. With more questions about Cape Town favourites and other recent obsessions, we’ll be challenging the honourable recipients of our questions to give away more recommendations and city secrets, otherwise kept hush for the sake of preservation. Act responsibly with the exclusive insights you might discover here – we trust you not to blow up our favourite spots.
As its first recipient, who better to usher in the new era of our questionnaire than our very own Erin Hooper, the Operations Manager of Duck Duck Goose, Good Good Good and Together MFG. To clarify her rather vague yet lofty title, Erin is basically the rigid backbone behind Daniel’s often scattered and erratic mode of running our businesses, making sure that our stores are in top nick and that the factory operations run smoothly.
Erin’s CV makes her the perfect suitor for her position as a shock absorber, stress stabiliser and critical decision maker for our enterprise. Before becoming Daniel’s shadow and eventually his partner in running the brand, Erin graduated with a degree in fashion design at CPUT before she worked as the assistant to Cape Town fashion designer Jane Valken. This job was preceded by a year in Amsterdam where she quickly rose to the position of manager at restaurant and bar Pompet (French for Tipsy), where she honed her chaos management and organisational skills that have proved invaluable in running our factory.
Throughout her career, Erin has always been most concerned about the ethics and the people she’s been surrounded by in her respective industries. Having written her final-year thesis on how Chinese imports have affected the South African clothing manufacturing industry and generously managing the hours of her co-workers at a busy restaurant, she’s picked up the crucial attribute of consideration and graceful communication skills in her work. Her journey has also helped her refine her taste in fashion and food. I don’t think it should take much more convincing for you to hold her recommendations in high regard. For someone who is usually most comfortable working behind the scenes, we’re excited that her sensibilities and interests can receive some light. Take a look at her esteemed recs below.
Erin’s 15 answers.
Here is a close-up of Erin’s duck because it deserves far more than a couple of pixels.