Matt Green
Originally from the UK, Matt now lives on the outskirts of Melbourne on a half acre bush block.
Matt spends his ‘slow’ time loving local native wildflowers and other wildlife. He is also completely obsessed with baking using home-grown wild yeast.
Matt is currently designing a weekend residential baking workshop teaching people how to make pizza, sourdough loaves and rye bread.
Instagram: theslowist
Facebook: @theslowist
Slack: slowist.slack.com
Maria Papasergi
Maria has always lived in her ‘birth town’ of Fitzroy North in Melbourne.
Growing up in an Italian household, there was no escaping the backyard veggie patch, the chook pen, making wine, bread and everything else they needed from scratch.
Sunrise is Maria’s absolute favourite time, it means we are blessed to be here for another day.
Maria is a hiker and trail runner, and practitioner of yoga and meditation.
Belinda Matchett
Belinda was born in Melbourne, raised in sunny Queensland and found her way back to Melbourne again.
She works a corporate job but lives a much slower life outside of this, constantly dreaming of the next adventure to go on both near and far.
Belinda grew up camping, still loves getting away off the beaten track and is always looking for the next craft class to go to.
Carl Honoré
Carl Honoré is a bestselling author, broadcaster and the global voice of the Slow Movement. His TED talk on the benefits of slowing down has been viewed three million times. His second TED talk (on ageing and ageism) will drop soon.
His first book, In Praise of Slow, chronicles the global trend toward putting on the brakes in everything from work to food to parenting. The Financial Times said it is “to the Slow Movement what Das Kapital is to communism.”
Carl’s second book, Under Pressure explores how to raise and educate children in a fast world and was hailed by Time as a “gospel of the Slow Parenting movement.”
Carl’s third book, The Slow Fix, explores how to tackle complex problems in every walk of life, from health and relationships to business and politics, without falling for superficial, short-term quick fixes.
Carl’s latest book, Bolder: Making The Most Of Our Longer Lives, explores ageing – how we can do it better and feel better about doing it. It’s also a spirited manifesto against ageism.
more…
Dominik Vanyi
Dominik is originally from Austria and immigrated to Indonesia 30 years ago. He lives on the island of Bali and works there as a photographer and writer.
Several years ago while experimenting manual-focus lens he discovered SLOW PHOTOGRAPHY. Ever since he has made it his mission to share his passion for SLOW PHOTOGRAPHY with the world.
Dominik advocates SLOW PHOTOGRAPHY as a way to get more fun & creativity out of the pursuit of taking pictures.
Besides SLOW PHOTOGRAPHY Dominik is also passionate about health and nutrition.
Debbie Lewis
Debbie was born in Manchester, England and now lives in Ashford,England.
She has always enjoyed writing poetry using it as a way to express her thoughts and feelings.
She loves spending time outdoors growing vegetables in her garden.
Another favourite pastime is painting watercolour pictures, particularly flowers.
Facebook
Instagram: lewisdebbe
Twitter: DebbieL75387901
Mike Osborn
Mike lives in the heart of Manchester though hails from Essex and lived in London for 16 years before coming north.
He started taking photographs from an early age.
In 2018 he quit his job as a journalist to travel the world extensively, chasing beautiful landscapes and architecture from Armenia to Chile.
He’s recently slowed right down to appreciate the magnificence of flowers through his camera lens and what’s much closer to home without the need for any air miles.
Mike has run his own photography blog for eight years, sharing images and the stories that go with them.
www.mikeosbornphoto.com
Instagram: mikeosbornphoto
Facebook: mikeosbornphoto
Chloe de Lullington
Raised in the South East of England on the Kent/Sussex border, Chloe is a former precocious child and current writer of all kinds of things.
From corporate copywriting and academic essays to journalling and creative endeavours, she’s always churning out words of one sort or another!
Chloe has a First Class degree in English Literature, Film & Theatre from the University of Reading, and has recently been published in the essay collection Biofiction and Writers’ Afterlives.
An incurable romantic at heart, she swapped Sussex for Birmingham after graduating, but yearned for a return to a quieter, more rural life.
She now lives in Shropshire with her partner, where she enjoys watching and writing about film and TV both new and old (but mainly old), long walks, rummaging through charity shop rails, and the occasional baking spree.
An ardent feminist and lifelong thrifter, Chloe is interested in the recycling and repurposing of memories, ideas, culture, and fashions – which is a fancy way of saying she spends most of her time living in the past.
Twitter – @Ingiebeans
Instagram – @lifeinthechlolane
Steve Timms
Steve Timms grew up in Oldham and studied theatre at the University of Huddersfield.
His work has appeared in various publications including The Big Issue, The Independent on Sunday, The Skinny and City Life Magazine (where he spent five years as Theatre Editor).
More recently, he has written for websites including Quays Life, Little White Lies and Storgy.
He is the author of several plays including ‘American Beer’ (BBC Radio 4), ‘Detox Mansion’ (24-7 Festival), ‘Temp/Casual’ (Contact Theatre), and ‘The Distance Between Stars’ (Studio Salford).
He is winner of a Northern Writer’s Award, and recipient of the Peggy Ramsay bursary.
Chris Littleboat
Chris lives in Bristol UK with his family, is a guitar player and composer for film and television and Musical Director of The Paper Cinema.
He currently favours the Boomerang 3 looping pedal, but is equally fond of using Line6 DL4, Kaoss Pad 3, Max/MSP or Ableton live.
Instagram: @chrislittleboat
Bandcamp: chris littleboat
Soundcloud: chrislittleboat
Louisa Billeter
Louisa grew up in Sydney and now lives in Melbourne. She currently works a little as a classical singer, both solo and in small choirs, with a particular interest in contemporary choral and chamber music. The rest of her time is devoted to parenting a delightful small child, playing the piano, and photography – particularly of Australian native plants. She volunteers as President of the Friends of Karwarra Australian Native Botanic Garden in the Dandenongs.
Louisa always assumed that she would end up a doctor like her parents, but had this niggling feeling that what really made her happy was music, art and nature… but “that’s just not practical!” She completed a BSc (Hons – Microbiology) and half of a postgraduate medical degree before finally having the courage to drop out and pursue her (less practical) dreams. Later completing a Graduate Diploma of Music, Louisa also studied photography at TAFE. She still struggles with a fear that she hasn’t achieved a ‘proper career’ by the standards that she assimilated growing up, and her pursuits have been interrupted by periods of depression and self-doubt.
Louisa has found botanical photography to be a wonderful way to slow down, and spends many hours (when she can) photographing with an antique manual lens as a form of meditation. She also enjoys cooking, and growing herbs and veggies. She lives with husband Karl, daughter Tabitha, and cat (Silly) Lilly Pilly.
Instagram: @louisabilleter
Facebook: @louisa.billeter
Flickr: louisa_catlover
Courtney Rosenfeld
Courtney started Gig Spark to be a resource and the first step for people who are looking to join the gig economy, either to supplement their income or as a way to fulfil their dreams of becoming an entrepreneur.
Jennifer Scott
Jennifer Scott is a lifelong sufferer of anxiety and depression. A single mom, she writes about the ups and downs of her mental illness on SpiritFinder.org. The blog serves as both a source of information for people with mental illness and a forum where those living with anxiety and depression can come together to discuss their experiences.
Eleanor Wyatt
Eleanor Wyatt is a workplace wellness expert and writer. She created Remote Work Wellness to provide advice to the growing remote workforce. She thinks it’s essential that people who work remotely be proactive about their health, and that’s what her site is all about. The resources she provides on her site are carefully curated from reputable sources and personal experiences to help people who work remotely care for their bodies and minds.
Rob Wallis
Rob dreams of being an urban farmer but his kids, wife and the chaos that a young family brings often get in the way of the dream!
Among the chaos, he keeps bees, sometimes chickens and suffers from the perpetual guilt of having a vegetable garden that never feels like it is well enough cared for.
Mastaneh Nazarian
Mastaneh, who is originally from Tehran, Iran, is a guitar, Alexander Technique teacher and life model.
Aside from a passion for music and people, she grew up with all things transient and nonsensical, which resulted in having to learn everything including English in a super quick mode.
Somewhere along the line she taught herself the value of ‘slow’ and staying with the process when it comes to unraveling things that we find a love for. She is fascinated by the ‘whole catastrophe’ of creativity as both a pursuit and a way of being in the world.
Facebook
mastaneh.net
rediscoverease.com
Jonathan (Jonty) Marinatos
Jonathan (Jonty) grew up in Melbourne and is now living in Copenhagen, Denmark.
He has a love for travelling, discovering new places and meeting new people. Throughout his travels he often finds himself on wild adventures and long walks in nature.
Along his journey he has discovered the value of ‘slow’ activities, such as practicing gardening, baking sourdough breads as well as studying yoga and Aikido.
Clare Wilkes
Clare is originally from the UK before she moved to Melbourne 6 years ago to work for a tech company.
As an organisational development consultant, coach and trainer, Clare is passionate about helping companies, teams and individuals reach their potential.
After spending a significant amount of time in meetings, Clare enjoys a slower pace when she gets to close her laptop.
Finding time to go on walks, bake, craft and read are important activities to help her slow down. More recently Clare has added journalling to her daily routine and found immense benefits from having the opportunity to reflect, learn and think about daily experiences and memories.
Rubli Carran
Rubli is from London and will be heading to university this year to study Geoscience. Rubli is fascinated with the world, how it works and what can be discovered and learned from it.
Rubli loves to write as a way to express herself and open people’s minds to new possibilities and perspectives. Rubli writes avidly about international affairs and occasionally enjoys being present with her emotions through poetry.
In her slow time, Rubli enjoys watercolour painting, particularly architecture from all over the globe, as well as reading all kinds of books – often to be found engrossed in fiction books from morning until night.
Rubli loves to travel and has been to multiple countries throughout the world where she has explored in some and worked in others. On these journeys, Rubli has encountered new people, cultures and experiences and treasures every second of these adventures.
Instagram: rublicarranart
Chloe Sawbridge
Chloe is a Second Year University student studying English & American Literature and is particularly passionate about Eighteenth Century Literature.
Originally from Devon, Chloe’s way of slowing down is by exploring historic parks, gardens & buildings, cooking, reading and spending time with her loved ones.
Instagram – @loiteringbean
Jessica Mallock
After spending 30 years living in London, Jessie now lives in rural Somerset, England.
She spends much of her time making art, sitting in nature and teaching embodied and energy techniques, through art, shamanism and TRE (tension, stress and trauma release exercise).
Slowing down for Jessica started with a back operation and a journey to getting well. Starting inside her body and slowing down her nervous system was her first step and then learning how to connect with nature, to be present to it and to look through the eyes of awe and wonder.
Her daily practices (meditating, journaling, nature connection, breathwork, shamanic journeying, day-dreaming) are her subjects for making art and she is interested in what emerges when she takes her ‘thinking mind’ out of the process.
Jessica is having fun being slower and is noticing that she is making more art, by being present to her body and letting creativity flow through her hands.
Instagram @jessicamallock
Facebook @jessicamallock
John Shapter (Headzic)
John Shapter is based in the UK currently residing in Stoke on Trent, and is an experimental ambient musician and composer performing as Headzic. His contemplative and atmospheric work evokes a range of feelings from that of deep peace to the excitement of interstellar journeys.
Originally a clinician in earlier life, John developed an interest in the use of esoteric instruments such as gongs and singing bowls to create profound states of calm and relaxation. With his concurrent practice as a sound artist becoming increasingly about the electronic manipulation of sound he realised that he was falling into a New Age musical genre and coined the description of himself as ‘the accidental musician’.
He is inspired by the natural world around us and the playfulness of our own imaginations. He lives with his artist wife June and they share a house incorporating their two studios with a white husky called Magic and a cat called Gertie.
Facebook: @headzic
Instagram: headzic
Web: headzic.com
Matt Bourne
Based in Cranbrook, South East England, Matt runs a graphic design studio, grows veg, makes sourdough, and is trying to get better at chess.
Matt once offered to run a small sourdough walk-through class on a fermenting Facebook group, only to wake up the next day to 600 participants eagerly awaiting instruction.
Instagram: @fireandflour
Website: levelpartnership.co.uk
Duncan Mackay
Duncan was born in South Yorkshire and enthused with geology by his coal-miner grandfather who poetically told him that coal was ‘fossil sunlight‘.
After studying geology and geography at Newcastle University (where he met his wife) Duncan worked in conservation in the voluntary, public (state and local authority) and private sectors. In his work, Duncan designated the Thames Path National Trail
and helped create the National Park Cities movement.
Duncan is curious about everything. He sees beauty in small things and the potential for any place to be better. He is the author of six books: ‘The Secret Thames’; ‘Apples, Berkshire, Cider’; ‘Eat Wild’; ‘Bizarre Berkshire’; ‘Reading, the place of the people of the Red One’; and ‘Whispers of Better Things’.
Duncan is a Fellow of the Landscape Institute, a Trustee of the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, an elected member of the National Trust Council and seconded member of the Canal and River Trust’s Council.
In 1996 Duncan won the Henry Ford European Conservation Award for Heritage and in 2004 an Unlimited Award to explore the longest straight line in Britain on a folding bicycle.
Duncan is the Founder of the Institute of Beachology. He is a slow sailor and past Commodore of Henley Sailing Club. Duncan is a keen forager, wild cook and allotmenteer but also owns a collection of lucky pebbles, a traditional coracle and a
cider-press.
Instagram: @udderdishbeeleaf
Instagram: @institute_of_beachology
Website: http://www.udderdishbeeleaf.com