Describe your work: I make practical homeware. My current project is a series of unique hand-knitted mohair and merino wool blankets. Each blanket is first woven in a small wool mill in Ireland using 70% mohair and 30% wool yarn. I then dye each blanket and hand-feather the merino wool fibers into the fabric in my studio in New York City. It’s a labor-intensive process that takes several days, but it allows me to form the felted wool fibers into a sculptural surface on a woven base. Each unique piece draws inspiration from a variety of sources, from microscopy and cartography to ukiyo-e prints and botany.
Your most important project to date: A recent project I’m very proud of is Projects and Their Consequences, an architectural monograph I wrote while at RUR Architects. The book spans decades of the extraordinary work of Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto and was recently published by Princeton Architectural Press.
Describe the issues your work addresses: Today, all designers have to deal with issues such as sustainability, originality, and production and distribution systems. Anyone who actively strives to create more must keep these issues in mind. If design itself is closely connected to socio-political issues because of its ability to imagine and realize future possibilities, then I would like to contribute to a future in which our objects are mainly made of natural materials and are durable.
Describe the projects you are currently working on: In addition to the textile projects I am working on, I am also making several pieces of furniture from reclaimed ash wood. The surface of each piece of solid wood is decorated with carvings in the form of concentric circles, which artfully complement the stripes of the wood grain.
New or upcoming project we should know about: In August, some of my textiles and a few pieces of wooden furniture will be on display in a pop-up shop at Larrie Gallery on the Lower East Side, organized by Cafe Forgot. Cafe Forgot is a specially created pop-up shop featuring the work of young New York designers. Although they have primarily focused on clothing, they have begun to include object and furniture designers in their roster as well.
Studio essentials: Books. I like to hoard books, and this has become a bit of a problem.
A source of creativity I envy: I don’t have a formal design education (I studied literature at the University of Chicago), so many of the people whose work inspires me are not strictly designers. They include Italo Calvino, Jorge Luis Borges, Faye Toogood, Seamus Heaney, Djuna Barnes, Angelo Mangiarotti, Studio Drift, Rei Kawakubo, Henrik Wibskopf, Rick Owens—the list goes on.
Then there’s the Christian Louboutin capsule collection from Maison Margiela, the enigmatic work of Sophie von Hellermann…
Plus, the Pompidou Centre is currently closed for renovation, and how will the redevelopment of the city centre affect New York…