1. Survival essential
Making a shelter, finding food and attempting to escape are going to be high on your agenda -- so which brand will you find most useful in your attempt to tame the great outdoors?
A great excuse to get a Land Rover Defender. Hopefully the island is big enough to make use of it. If not, the nuts and bolts style of the bodywork gives the impression it could be taken apart and made into something else if the need arises. Also Cath Kidston has a range of camping items, which includes a floral print tent, produced in collaboration with Millets.
2. Last taste of civilisation
The island has a plentiful supply of nuts and fruit, not to mention a healthy population of fish, so you will have plenty to eat. But which one food brand are you really going to miss from your old life?
The Ahava Skin Care range, incidentally designed by SiebertHead, would be ideal to combat the weather conditions of the desert island, and for my sweet tooth some Fox's glacier mints made, with pure mint oil and top grade glucose. The best travel sweets.
3. Best reminder of home
Successful survivalists always claim that it is mental attitude which sees them through. Belief that you will get back home is going to be vital -- so which brand will sum up home best?
The Telegraph cryptic crossword reminds me of a relaxed weekend at home but I think I'd take the opportunity to read the Penguin Great Ideas series - from Seneca to Machiavelli and Ruskin. A good time to get to grips with 'Civilization' (pocket philosophy-wise) with great letterpress printed cover designs.
4. Most welcome online brand
Eventually you manage to rig up your own connection to the internet using bits and pieces found on the beach but you have only one chance to log on to a website before it goes down -- which online brand will you choose?
I am quite fickle when it comes to the internet. At the moment I am looking at Mocoloco.com, a web magazine for modern contemporary design, which is worth frequent visits for trend spotting and inspiration.
5. Ultimate luxury
Self indulgence is hard to come by on a desert island, so what brand would you be most excited to find washed up on the beach?
Black truffle, Vicuna, a yacht, time. Probably a Hastens bed for the best night's sleep after spending the day foraging/surviving.
6. Transferable skills
You already work in the jungle of marketing so there are probably skills which you have acquired through your job which will come in handy -- or you may have other hidden talents. Which of your personal skills will help you to get to grips with life on a desert island?
I generally take a creative approach to things, as problem solving is a major part of the design process. I would enjoy the challenge.
Adrian Whitefoord, founding partner of Pemberton and Whitefoord, comments:
A Land Rover Defender is an excellent choice. The engine is so robust that when Paula runs out of petrol (or is it diesel?) she could probably get away with using the juice from fermented pineapples. I am less convinced by the Cath Kidman hippy chick tent. I think the "hard as nails" credibility gained from the natives by the Defender would be badly compromised. It is also in danger of attracting the attention of the swarm of killer bees that have been known to attack with murderous intent.
I have no first hand-experience of the Ahava Skin Care range but I am sure a tub of its Dead Sea Mineral Mud would make excellent camouflage smeared on the skin when hunting in the island's forest. If this failed at least Paula could keep her blood sugar levels up with her boiled sweets.
I think the Great Ideas series by Penguin is brilliant and a perfect reading companion for island life. Inevitably though it provoked scepticism from some critics and writers who believe Penguin may have been too conservative in its choices and focused too much on well-known western thinkers. Taking this on board Penguin are about to extend the range including one written by the head of the tribe of cannibals on the island. Although this move is well intentioned I am afraid it must be seen as a failure, as it consists almost entirely of recipe ideas for human giblets.
Mocoloco.com is a very absorbing site but since Paula has limited connection time, I recommend she goes straight to the books section and orders a copy of "Handmade Modern" by Todd Oldham. The Do-It-Yourself book for creating your own contemporary furniture. Great inspiration when you want to knock up a sofa from bamboo and palm fronds, or maybe a bedside table for her H盲stens bed fashioned from drift wood and coconut husks.
I am afraid the only way Paula is going to locate any black truffles is by befriending the island's Razorback known as "Kankulu" (roughly translated as "he who sniffs and gores") a risky strategy at best.
Q&A supplied by design consultancy Pemberton & Whitefoord.
Click for more information.