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5 Minutes with Chelsea Svoboda
Postcards from Mexico City
In this edition of Five Minutes With, Sydney-based graphic designer and art director Chelsea of Svoboda Studio takes us through three whirlwind days in Mexico City, a concrete jungle bursting with art, architecture, salsa and some of the best food she's ever eaten.
Imagery via Chelsea @chelseasvoboda_
How would you describe Mexico City to someone who has never been?
A concrete jungle. Think New York City, but with trees everywhere. It's this incredible collision of brutalist buildings, lush greenery spilling over everything, street art, markets and colour on every corner.
We went for three days and barely touched the surface. As a graphic designer and art director I was completely overwhelmed, in the best way. The art, the museums, the culture, the food. It's a city that never stops feeding you creatively.
What was the one experience you'd tell everyone to book before anything else?
The Organic Architecture Tour with The Traveling Beetle. It was insane. You visit the work of Javier Senosiain, whose homes look like they've been grown rather than built. Snake-shaped houses, spaces covered in mosaic where barely a single wall is straight. As someone who works in design, walking through them completely rewired how I think about form and colour. I cannot recommend it enough.
We heard you went dancing. Tell us everything.
We went to two salsa spots, and they could not have been more different. San Luis Club is the more touristy of the two: fun, easy, a great warm-up. Salón Los Ángeles is the real deal, a legendary old dance hall full of locals who have clearly been dancing their whole lives. Fair warning: do not go unless you actually want to dance, because every gorgeous elderly gentleman in the room will ask you the moment a song starts. You will be shaking your hips a lot. Keep hydrated.
Where should we eat and drink? Secrets welcome!
❋ Panadería Rosetta. The best bakery I've ever set foot in. Order the rol de guayaba, a flaky guava and cream cheese pastry that is genuinely the best thing I have ever eaten. Their restaurant, Rosetta, is on
the same street and needs to be on your list too.
❋ Salón Palomilla. A roofless rooftop bar. Go for a drink and a quick pic under the open sky.
❋ Voraz. Dinner here, no notes.
❋ Maizajo. The fancy restaurant is upstairs, but the taquería downstairs is the real spot. Incredible tacos, incredible vibe.
❋ Don Vergas. Hands down the freshest seafood I've ever had, and dangerously good margaritas.
❋ The tianguis (flea market). Huge, chaotic, brilliant if you're into local food and wild souvenirs. One tip: get pesos out before you go, because it's nearly impossible to find cash anywhere near it.
What's still on the list for next time?
So much. Lago Algo, the contemporary art space on the lake in Chapultepec Forest. It has the cutest café and has a James Turrell piece, which was devastatingly not open when we visited. Then the 1968 Olympic design trail in the south of the city. Lance Wyman's Mexico '68 identity is one of the most famous design systems ever created, and you can still see its legacy around Ciudad Universitaria, UNAM's mural-covered campus and Olympic Stadium, plus the Ruta de la Amistad, a route of 22 monumental sculptures built for the Games. Our tour guide told us any designer needs to spend a day down there. Biblioteca Vasconcelos, the floating "megalibrary" with suspended shelves, is also high on the list, and the Frida Kahlo Museum in Coyoacán. The neighbourhood around it is so cute and if you're there a while: Heat Core for pilates and Gita Studio for yoga.
And the most important question: what did you pack from FELLA?
It was cooler than expected when we went, so I got creative. I packed the FELLA Head Scarf in Cream and Polka Navy, which I wore constantly, and the Casanova Top and Elvis Bottom in Orchid. My favourite discovery of the trip: layering the Casanova under my top like it's part of the outfit, which
honestly might be my favourite way to wear it now. City-proof swimwear is a real thing.