In 2023, after four years hosting ABC Radio Melbourne’s morning program, Virginia Trioli announced she was leaving the airwaves to front a TV arts show with the national broadcaster.
In April the journalist and broadcaster will host Creative Types with Virginia Trioli, a six-part series that will put the spotlight on some of Australia’s great artistic minds. Each episode will see Trioli meet a different person from the country’s arts and culture scene – the author Trent Dalton, the artist Patricia Piccinini and the choreographer Rafael Bonachela among them – to find out how they reached the top of their field.
Trioli has been working at the ABC for more than two decades. That association with the national broadcaster prevents her from endorsing brands, but she can nominate a blanket, made by a certain European label, as one of her most prized possessions. Here the two-time Walkley winner tells us about the importance of wool bedding and shares the stories of two other important belongings.
What I’d save from my house in a fire
Many years ago I had a life-changing “ah ha” moment interviewing a doctor who said we all dressed too hot, showered too hot and slept too hot. He said to throw out the doona and sleep cooler under a light blanket. I went home and did that and was astonished: better sleep and better waking. I also turned down the heating and the shower. You should try it.
Since then I have accumulated some lovely blankets that give me a ridiculous amount of pleasure: lamb’s wool blankets from the old Victorian woollen mills that still operate; light muslin summer blankets and a beautiful double-wool blanket in the distinctive, multicolour pattern of a well-known Italian knitwear brand. It cost way too much but sleeping under it is a delight, and it’s so lovely to see on the bed. So, I’m grabbing that and running.
And if the smoke hasn’t got me by the time I get to the stairs, I’d grab as many pairs of shoes as I could stuff into the folds of that blanket before fleeing.
My most useful object
I have several small graters I’ve bought in Japan over the years, each for a certain foodstuff, but the loveliest is a tiny grater I use for nutmeg.
It has almost microscopic spikes attached to the bottom of a little tub of Bakelite hardness which collects the precious dust. It’s designed so well that the nut zips with ease along the rough surface and, before you know, it you have a tablespoon full, revealing the curious Rorschach centre of the nutmeg. It’s not something I use every day but it turns the simple act of grating the spice for a custard or a bechamel sauce into a small moment of grace: a little but crucial job, done well.
The item I most regret losing
The thing I still miss didn’t even belong to me. It belonged to my closest friend, Fabienne. For many years – rather like a sisterhood of some travelling pants – we swapped between us a 1930s black woollen bathing costume. It was nicknamed “The Iron Lung” because when waterlogged it weighed a tonne and was likely to imprison if not drown you. But we loved it: it was similar to Liza Minnelli’s black outfit from Cabaret and it represented a mannish, sexy style that we were into.
While the ancient fabric started to sag a bit, it was remarkable how it came to life in the water. This thing wanted to live. In 1985 a boyfriend snapped a portrait of me in it and the suit outshines everything in the shot, especially me. The suit was last seen strapped to the roof of a car as Fabienne headed to Geelong and the Surf Coast. At some point it broke free, and that image of the suit ripping away in the wind is the last vestige I have of an artefact that lived well beyond its time.
Creative Types With Virginia Trioli starts on Tuesday 9 April at 9pm on ABC TV and ABC iview
