Hindy Weber is as authentic as they come, her life a seamless reflection of her deepest longings. She wears them on her sleeve, an expression that suits her well, for design—good design, design that honors both people and planet—is the very force that shapes the way she lives. It was a striking turn when, at the height of being one of Manila’s “it” girls, she chose to leave it all behind for farming, surrendering so completely to nature that, when I once visited her farmhouse in Manila, she had made peace even with the bugs. “Oh, we just let them be,” she said with a quiet certainty. “They have their seasons.”

She had walked away from fashion, where she had made a name for herself, and stayed away for eight years. “The machinations of the industry were something I no longer wanted to contribute to,” she told me when she returned in 2019 with an ecological and ethical fashion label. “But I found sources that provided ecological textiles, toxin-free dyes, and that sparked my interest again. It’s fashion I can live with, totally intertwined with my advocacy for people and planet.”

Long before mindful living became a movement, Hindy was already living it. Where others merely adopt it as a trend, for her, it has always been a way of life, an expression of self as natural as the way she breathes. “I’ve always been a nature and animal lover since childhood,” she once told me. “In fact, I wanted to be a scientist, a zoologist to be exact.”

I wonder what it felt like, when she was still the consummate city girl, before an albino carabao she met on a trip to Chiang Mai shifted her course entirely, leading her, her husband Gippy Tantoco, and their four children to the farm. Even then, I imagine, Sunday was sacred to her. But now that she has shaped life on her own terms, what does Sunday feel like to her?

What is your idea of a perfect Sunday?

No work. A perfect Sunday is when I get a workout in, and a long walk with my doggie. Also, lunch with my family, where I get to cook or bake bread or make ice cream, then play board games, and order pizza for dinner. 

Best Sunday ever in your memory

There are several. But one I always remember is my birthday a few years ago when we took a trip to Bath in Somerset county. We were in this quaint but very well-appointed farm hotel that had the most beautiful furnishings and gorgeous gardens. I had cider and spent the afternoon tipsy, frolicking the farm, playing with furry pigs, in the most perfect weather, with my handsome husband by my side. 

Best word to describe Sunday

Family

Book you recommend as a Sunday read

I love pouring over interior design books. 

Best Sunday companion

My new grand baby and, if I could invite an unlikely guest, it would be David Bowie. 

What is the most extravagant thing you could think of having or doing on a Sunday?

Going on safari.

What would be the perfect topic for Sunday brunch conversation? 

The latest fashion and hair trends. Who makes the best steak or sourdough bread? Who is our current celebrity crush? If we would get a tattoo, what would it be? What do you think of the Wirkin? 

Best movie or series that once made your Sunday

I loved watching Chips, The Love Boat, Family Ties, Friends, Seinfeld… 

What does “wear your Sunday Best” mean to you?

Look clean and appropriate, with a dash of feminine fancy. 

If you were to write a book about the Sundays of your life, what would be the title? 

Sunshine and Showers

Worst Sunday in your life

I don’t recall.

If Sunday were a flavor, what would this flavor be?

It would be vanilla, or pizza

Where in the world would you like to be next Sunday, if you could just go there by magic?

I’d be in Zimbabwe.