Each week Bath Business News gives a prominent member of the area’s business community the last word on its weekly e-bulletin. This week Emma Wharton Love, a workplace strategist with Bath-based office design and build company Interaction, answers our 10 questions.
What was the LAST:
Film you watched? I haven’t been to the cinema since the last James Bond film so I don’t think that should count as it’s just so long ago. I did try watching The Sandman series on Netflix the other night, but I found it so scary I had to turn it off! I’m easily spooked. I’ll go back to my comfort zone of watching repeats of David Attenborough nature documentaries.
Book you read? I’ve just finished Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro. I’m dyslexic and usually I’m an incredibly slow reader. But this book I found every spare moment to read. The story is through the eyes of Klara, an artificial intelligence, as she learns what it means to love, and the reader questions the difference between the human soul and whether AI could be sentient.
Music you bought/downloaded? I’ve got really into Lady Blackbird and Self Esteem lately; I listen to music mainly when I’m painting in my art studio.
Concert or play you went to? Since the lockdowns I’ve been slack on the theatre and gig front recently. But I have been really enjoying talks at Topping bookstore in Bath. I recently saw Anya Hindmarch talk about her new book If In Doubt, Wash Your Hair – she shared that for the first decades of running her business she was so terrified of public speaking she couldn’t do it, even to her own staff. To learn this about someone who has built an incredibly successful global business alongside bringing up five children shows we are all human and we don’t need to be ‘perfect’.
Sporting event you attended? I’m not usually one for watching sports, but just before lockdown and two days after getting married (contentiously for part of our honeymoon…) my husband was taking part in the longest downhill ski race in the world in Switzerland. It’s called the Inferno – I was a little worried our marriage might be very short!
Holiday you went on? Most recently I spent a few days in Newlyn in Cornwall. I’m also a painter and I’m doing a year-long art course at Newlyn Art School. The area is an artistic mecca but Newlyn also has one of the largest fishing fleets in the UK, with a bustling harbour and incredible fresh fish.
Restaurant you ate in? Most recently I’ve been to Landrace Upstairs in Bath, not once, but twice in one week it was that good! We first booked for its opening night last autumn but came down with Covid that day so was gutted to miss it. We didn’t get back there for nearly a year but once we did, we found an excuse to go twice!
Thing that annoyed you? I got a dog recently, Leila the lurcher, she’s the sweetest. But sometimes annoying in equal measure when you want to walk somewhere fast with her. There are just too many sniffs to be sniffed!
Thing that made you laugh out loud? There’s Instagram account called @mytherapistsays. It’s unashamedly humour for 80s children, it makes me laugh every day and reminds me not to take myself so seriously!
Piece of good advice you were given? To not wait to do the things you love until you have time/retire/tomorrow. You never know how long you have in this life so weave a bit of what you love into each day.
Emma Wharton Love consults for Interaction on all things workplace strategy, helping clients understand how they can find the perfect new home, what their workplace requirements are, and how they can drive organisational change. It’s all in a day’s work for her, having previously been the director of hybrid working for the Houses of Parliament. In her spare time Emma paints, does graphic design and looks after her dog Leila.
