Brooklyn, homestudios.nyc
Having cemented its status as the go-to interiors firm for cult-favorite bars and restaurants in New York and LA, Home Studios this year launched its first collection of furniture, centered around five core materials: stone, resin, glass, metal, and leather. Homework debuted in a cinematic, meticulously designed booth at Sight Unseen OFFSITE, reflecting co-founder Oliver Haslegrave’s obsession with and background in film. 

What is American design to you, and what excites you about it?

If one way to think of America is largely defined by paradox, which I agree with, then American design is likewise defined by the same contradictions, but also inherently tasked with — to the extent that it can — resolving them. This also gets a little paradoxical, and from a high enough view is likely just a natural phase in a young country’s cultural growth and maturation. But what is really exciting is that currently I see an emotional sincerity and vulnerability in a fair amount of work, which to me is a crucial step in that resolution. Maybe this has been going on for some time — I don’t know enough to know — or maybe I’m overly sentimental, but what excites me in American, and all, design is the emotional element, the story. I think this is an inspiring time.

What are your plans and highlights for the upcoming year?

A number of interiors projects, including our first hotel and our first New York residence, as well as several really interesting collaborations. And new Homework pieces, which we will be making one at a time.

What inspires or informs your work in general?

Film. I recently started a film series in the studio to focus on production designers — David and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco, Richard Sylbert, Jeannine Oppewall, Jack Fisk, and many others. I love watching films — it was my major in college — and really enjoy thinking of interiors, which we approach as visual stories, through the framework of cinema. And reading — novels, nonfiction, magazines — always leads to diverse and unexpected ideas and connections across disciplines. Recently I read Forest Dark by Nicole Krauss and The Rise by Sarah Lewis — both very inspiring. Also taking photographs is very important, and helpful, to our process.