Here, we ask designers to take a selfie and give us an inside look at their life.
Age: 26
Occupation: Furniture designer and urban designer.
Instagram: @kourosmaghsoudi
Hometown: Highland Park, IL—a quant suburb 15 minutes north of Chicago.
Studio location: New York.
Describe what you make: I design sustainable furniture inspired by Persian culture with a postmodern motif.
The most important thing you’ve designed to date: I’m very proud of my Taarof table, a modular cocktail table with an optional built-in ice bucket, ashtray, and fruit bowl. The piece is inspired by taarof, the Persian tradition of etiquette and generosity.
Describe the problem your work solves: There’s a lot of monotony in life and in décor. It’s important to not only design something beautiful, but design something that will influence how someone behaves. My work encourages people to gather, celebrate, and explore their hedonistic tendencies—sustainably, of course.
Describe the project you are working on now: As the dust settles on my NYCxDesign show, I’m working with several private clients on custom orders. I love helping bring their dream piece to life and knowing that my work helps make their house a home. I’m also partnering with galleries and helping them deliver on their customers’ vision for design. And as always, I’m continuing to find inspiration as I design my next line.
A new or forthcoming project we should know about: Working on a new collection for NYCxDesign 2022!
What you absolutely must have in your studio: Music and Yerba Mate. I first got introduced to Yerba Mate by my fabricator, who lives off it, when we worked long hours and late nights to meet tight deadlines. And music just makes everything better all the time. It also helped the time go by so much faster on those light nights. The fabrication shop has a fabulous sound system, luckily.
What you do when you’re not working: I’m either hosting a dinner party or getting lost (figuratively or literally) in a different country, no in-between.
Sources of creative envy: No envy per se, but very much inspired by the lawlessness, sexiness, and visual diversity of the New York nightclubs from the ‘70s and ‘80s, like Area and Studio 54.
The distraction you want to eliminate: Going out too much.
Concrete or marble? Marble! Timeless and organic.
High-rise or townhouse? Townhouse. You’ll never catch me living in a postwar building.
Remember or forget? 100% forget.
Aliens or ghosts? Aliens.
Dark or light? Low light, the middle ground.
