When it comes to color, Harry Nuriev is no shrinking violet. The founder of Crosby Studios, a Moscow-based interior design and architecture firm, is known for a masterful use of the color wheel; see his tonally-robust Instagram account and tour his Brooklyn apartment, minimal in form, maximal in spirit. So it’s not too surprising to see his latest project, a collaboration with Soho mainstay Opening Ceremony, fully embracing the power of color.
Starting next Tuesday, May 15th, the store (which just so happens to be on the corner of Crosby Street) will host Crosby Studios's limited-edition collection, a line of interior wares and fashion items that borders on monochromatic. Nuriev’s color of choice? Ultraviolet. On offer are lamps, garment racks, side tables, and accent chairs; all dyed a shade of vibrant violet. For the designer, “each color I work with represents a different phase of my life, whether it’s indicative of a new relationship, or a different city.” For this particular project, its shade not unlike the color of the NYU flags that dot the façades of many Opening Ceremony-adjacent buildings, Nuriev explained, “it’s a strong color, as dark as it is playful.”
Also serving as inspiration was Pedro Friedeberg’s iconic hand-shaped chair, which Nuriev reinterpreted, crafting his own version in bent metal for a 2D cartoon-like flair. Hands can also be spotted as appendages in mobile-like light fixtures and standing lamps inspired by Serge Mouille’s works. All these are rendered in (but of course) ultraviolet. But the collaboration’s fashion-goods and ceramics do employ ROYGBIV’s other letters. Shop t-shirts, totes, vases, and decorative bowls treated with artful brushstrokes—swipes of pale yellow, azure, and coral that resemble a painter’s color-tests.
Each limited-edition piece was manufactured at Crosby Studios's headquarters in Moscow and quantities are modest; 2-10 items per unit range from $35-$230. Head to Opening Ceremony to see the installation, a satellite destination for this year’s Sight Unseen OFFSITE showcase, or Collective Design at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, which will host a similar installation from May 20-23.