Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 48
Occupation: Architect/designer.
Instagram: @nea.studio
Hometown: New York, NY
Studio location: NEW LAB, Brooklyn Navy Yard
Describe what you make: At nea studio, we make sustainable designs, with a focus on solar, in a range of scales: product, furniture, architecture, and landscape/urban. Our team of specialists researches and develops the incorporation into design of “organic” materials and emerging environmental techniques.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: Cocoon House embodies our philosophy and design principles most comprehensively. It’s LEED certified while serving the goal of awakening its inhabitants and visitors to the subtle light play throughout the day and seasons.
Describe the problem your work solves: Creating ‘green’ architecture and design that uplifts people’s spirits by heightening their senses, their connection to nature, and awareness of its rhythms.
Describe the project you are working on now: Solar lighting and furniture, research, and development.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: Beanie Sofa, made of lentils and organic latex, as well as a monograph on Cocoon House that’s in the beginning of the publication process, both to be launched in 2019.
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Good energy, humor, positivity, and dedication.
What you do when you’re not working: Spend time with friends and family, talking, walking, reading, and cooking. Listening to music with my 14-year-old and reading with my ten-year-old. Walking outdoors. Meditating.
Sources of creative envy: Peter Zumthor, Eileen Gray, Louise Bourgeois, Olafur Eliasson, Pascal Flammer, James Turrell, Richard Neutra, and of course the three greats from last century: Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Junk mail and junk news.
Concrete or marble? Locally sourced, LEED-certified marble.
High-rise or townhouse? Low-maintenance high-rise with sunset views.
Remember or forget? Remember the wonderful.
Aliens or ghosts? Ghosts, especially visitations.
Dark or light? Light—the heightened perception of subtle play of light.
