The Essential List: Pontus Caresten
Pontus Caresten started out in the army, became a journalist, then went on to study a variety of subjects as a Bachelor's student at universities in Uppsala and Cambridge. Then, as he puts it, he “stumbled over the ad industry” and fell in love. In his 13-year copywriting career since then he’s worked with clients such as Volvo, Polestar, Västtrafik, Burger King, Yamaha, Liseberg and Willys. He’s won gold and other metals at Cannes Lions, Eurobest, D&AD, Epica, Cresta Awards, Guldägget and 100-wattaren, to name a few.
Lifestyle
o Place of birth: Falun, Dalarna county, in the middle of Sweden.
o Hometown: Gothenburg
o Staycation: The forests of Delsjön
o Vacation: Buenos Aires
o Place of work: Forsman & Bodenfors
o Place of workout: The gym just across the street from the office. Sometimes squats in my living room.
o Side project: Two children, soon to be three.
o Mode of transport: Public transport.
o Bonus travel essential: As light as possible, hand luggage for everything under seven days.
Culture
o Artist: Ronald Raels and Virginia San Fratellos seesaw installation at the border of Mexico was perfect.
o Musician: Fellow Gothenburgians, and friends, Kårp just released their new single ‘Left Handed’.
o Commercials / music video director: Romain Gavras, Sheila Johansson, Martin de Thurah, Philippe Tempelman, Gustav Johansson to name a few.
o Film director: Impossible to say one, but among my favourites are Michael Haneke, Susanne Bier, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Ruben Östlund, Miranda July, Kenneth Longeran, Debra Granik, Sofia Coppola and Lars von Trier.
o Film: Amour by Michael Haneke. A lovely little piece about dying.
o Series: Six Feet Under. Can’t beat that.
o Commercial: I never get tired of The Wind for Epuron.
o Music video: Vedran Rupic’s – Salvatore Ganacci
And Romain Gavras work for M.I.A is amazing.
o Video game: Inside, Journey, Zelda.
o Board game: I play a lot of Kalaha, mostly with my three and five-year-old kids. Usually winning.
o Book: Norwegian writer Karl Ove Knausgard is a favourite. His autobiographical epos ‘My Stuggle’ is brilliant (not Nazi).
o Newspaper (off or online): The Guardian, The Times, The New York Times, and a couple of Swedish ones. All fake news basically.
Food and Drink
o Breakfast: Oatmeal
o Restaurant: Hoze
o Cheap bite: Falafel
o Working lunch: Höga Nord, combining great soup and a record store.
o Favourite dish: Spaghetti Vongole. Or any decent pasta really.
o Signature dish: Used to do Gong Bao with lots of Sichuan pepper, but have forgotten how to cook because of kids. Pasta?
o Snack: Fruit and nuts.
o Guilty pleasure: The Swedish chocolate candy Non Stop is just as addictive as the name implies.
o Bar: Pustervik
o Booze: Whiskey and/or vodka.
Kit
o Phone: Three-year-old iPhone 8.
o Computer: Five-year-old Air.
o TV: I had trouble finding a really small one, but I finally found a 32” causing minimal damage in my living room.
o Headphones: Koss headphones from 2007. Unfortunately, the padding is completely gone. Fortunately, that makes me remember the transience of life.
o Soundsystem: Ikea Eneby
o Where you document an idea: Among my 1351 notes on my phone or my 467 drafts on my email. Someday, that will bite me in the ass.
o Casual clothing: Black, gray or navy.
o Smart clothing: Black, gray or navy.
o Footwear: Chelsea boots
o Watch: A cheap, analogue, golden Casio .
o App: Try to stay away.
o Favourite social media feed: I enjoy Lee Clow's Beard.
o Work program: Mail. I do all of my writing there.
o Digital work tool: Google
o Analogue work tool: Sadly, I’m slowly losing my ability to write in a readable way.
