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Whether designing homes, retail spaces, furniture or fashion shows, this NYC studio can always be relied on to think differently
Who are they? Since launching in 2014, Crosby Studios, named after a street in New York City, has made waves throughout the world of design. The multidisciplinary practice, founded by Russian-born visionary Harry Nuriev, now has offices in Paris and New York and is renowned for its avantgarde, boundary-pushing approach, which combines conceptual art and functionality with more than just a touch of surrealism. Spanning a broad spectrum of work from private residences and commercial spaces to fashion and art collaborations, immersive installations and even limited-edition homeware, the studio’s client list includes Rem Koolhaas’s OMA, Opening Ceremony, Paris’s Dover Street Market, Balenciaga, Nike, Gucci and COS, to name but a few.
‘We’re very much considered fashion interior designers,’ says Nuriev, who spent six years gaining architecture qualifications and a further four studying art before specialising in interiors. ‘We’re inspired by fashion, but our style is also perfect for residential, which I love.’ His furniture is predominantly crafted from upcycled materials – in a 2019 collaboration with Balenciaga, he created a transparent vinyl sofa filled with deadstock clothing from the brand – and he has transformed all manner of discarded items, including TVs and monitors reimagined as mirrors, an American fridge-freezer that became a cabinet and lamps made of old cell phones. ‘There is already so much stuff out there, and every new idea requires production and energy,’ he says. ‘Some styles don’t fit my world, so I decided to explore things through transformation.’ It’s Nuriev’s philosophy, and a whole new way of thinking. ‘In the future, I believe we will no longer be designers and artists; everyone will be a transformist.’ What are his recent projects? A semicircular, salmon-pink carpeted lounge wrapped in matte silver shelving in London’s Harrods. Conceived for luxury-shoe designer Amina Muaddi, the space, which epitomises Nuriev’s signature love for colour blocking and metallics, was recently closed off when Beyoncé and Jay-Z requested private access.
Expert advice
Crosby Studios’ Harry Nuriev on how to bring elements of the unexpected into interiors
I like to play with scale by bringing supersized pieces into my projects, or by scaling pieces way down to respond to the space, or even to go against it. An example of this can be seen in a recent project in Paris, where a bespoke patchwork-upholstered modular convers
