Stepping In and Out with Harry Nuriev

At 6:59pm, they realise the call is in one minute. They dash out of the sushi restaurant towards the car, where they set up an impromptu workbench in the back seat with their laptops. Logging in just on time, Nuriev is late, only by two minutes. When he appears on screen, he is seated in front of a mirror with the word ‘Heritage’ graffitied in bold black lettering, filling the entire frame. Heritage, they learn, is central to his work: raised in the small town of Stavropol in southern Russia, he studied architecture for six years at the Moscow Architectural Institute, lived in New York for a few years and later moved to Paris, where he has expanded his architectural practice to include art disciplines. Throughout the conversation, Victoria and Rachel also learn that Nuriev prioritises the user experience, responding to what he sees as limited time to fully engage with the world. He considers himself “at the service” of the user, designing spaces specifically for those who actually interact with them. In a theoretical, almost philosophical tone, Nuriev speaks to his style, which Victoria and Rachel come to define as his “codes”. He also discusses the evolution of retail spaces, speculating that they may one day become obsolete. When asked about his process, he clarifies (several times) that he doesn’t view his work as a process but rather as an extension of himself.

RACHEL WEINBERG Victoria and I have been admiring images of your home in Paris. 

HARRY NURIEV It is a very special place. My home is like an experimental art installation. My bedroom, my personal belongings, my table have all been turned into a big art experiment. When you dedicate your life to art, essentially when you turn your life to art installation, it changes you and the way you approach your practice. It’s hard to describe. My home is an experiment, it’s an ongoing process, and there is no specific end.

RW Throughout your home, you’ve repurposed everyday objects – like socks, fridges, iPhones, and boxer briefs – into functional furniture pieces. Do you believe our homes should be an extension of our creative work? Should our homes serve as an extension of who we are, much like a personal concept store? What would this vision look like in practice? 

HN I would never call the home a concept store. Retail is only one part of my practice, one part of Crosby Studios. As an artist, I work with space of all sizes. It can be a small, tiny installation. It can be a big, immersive show. It can be retail. It can be hospitality, residential. It can be many different things. But I don’t necessarily work with function. I intentionally ignore function, because it doesn’t give me purpose. Function serves design’s purpose, and I serve art’s purpose. My main goal is to evoke very specific emotions from people, especially when they are physically in the space, not just looking through a screen. I convinced myself that space is a medium, and I have to live in that space too. 

VICTORIA PUNTURERE Your home features many chrome finishes that are also reflected in your retail work. I read that your decision to use a chrome table for The Frankie Shop was driven on instinct rather than analysis. How do you approach designing these spaces? 

HN When it comes to retail, or any public space where people come and do their thing, whether it’s a restaurant or a store or a museum, something is trying to be sold. These spaces are not just charity projects. I look at every project as a customer. The most important part of retail is the person who walks in the room. I used to care a lot about the first impression, the first five seconds when a customer enters a space. Now, I focus on what they feel when they leave the space and how long they feel that feeling for. We live in a world where nothing really stands out. We live in a world where people don’t want to take a risk and don’t want to change. People don’t want to take time to think, experiment and work with a radical approach. In my work and for the people who work with me and come to Crosby, they crave this radical approach. They have a different vision. They’re not necessarily radical, but they don’t want to continue the way things are. They want to make work that stands out. This is interesting for me because I want the same thing. I want to show an experience, a different way of projecting light, a different way of talking to a customer. 

RW Do you think physical retail spaces, particularly in the luxury market, remain relevant?

HN At the end of the day, every single store is mostly empty. People don’t go to a store for products anymore. First, we don’t have that much time. Second, everything is available online. What we are missing is real emotions and community. And not every brand can be bold enough to build a community. I want to dedicate 30% of the retail area to a logistical lounge because that is an inviting and trustworthy space. It is a safe space. The customer will not walk in otherwise. There are no sensational retail experiences anymore. The last store I went to with a crazy line was when Barneys closed in New York. Women were fighting for skirts and scarves like they do in the movies. 

A real shopping experience is when the changing room smells so terrible, and there is a huge queue to try on twelve pieces. The surrounding architecture, all the marble and glass, just disappears. Nobody cares. People just care about buying clothes. Those experiences and spaces don’t exist anymore. We don’t really walk inside to look at products anymore. This change has shifted the whole landscape of retail. People use the space so differently now. I honestly wonder how the retail space will evolve. I imagine there will be pick-up locations only. A little corner where customers can collect their purchases.  

VP You’ve noted that every space you create has a ‘meditative subtext’ and is guided by ‘Transformism’, a movement that prioritises transformation and transformative experiences. How do these ideas influence your design process?

HN My work is an extension of myself, both physically and mentally. I live in my work – I sleep in it, drink from the glasses I design; everything here is a part of me. There’s no set process; it’s all a natural extension. I’m not focused on making people feel something specific, and I think that’s part of the studio’s success. We don’t impose a logical structure on things. That said, I’m not just sitting back with my fingers in my ears, catching vibes. I have an architecture degree and adhere to strict architectural standards. But everything beyond the surface is, to me, an extension of my practice. After ten years – since we celebrated our tenth anniversary this year – I can confidently say the studio has refined its objective.

RW How has the industry changed over the last ten years and how has your studio adapted? 

HN That’s a good question. I think the world and the community has changed a lot. When I refer to community, I mean a very small group of people who respect, love and support each other. It’s not an easy business to be in, but I feel that I made the right decision to step into this world. I want to create beautiful environments and make people feel excited. 

VP Does that sense of community play a role in sustaining your motivation?

HN If only one person was in the community, I would still do the work. It’s good to have more than one, though.

VP Do you ask your community for feedback? 

HN I ask all the time. In the early stages, when I just started out, I found it really hard to ask. People didn’t really want to move out of their camp and talk to me. It was also hard for me to enter criticism and embrace cold reception. But along the way, weirdly enough, people started to become more receptive, and I was more inclined to participate in conversation. As I said earlier, the customer is the most important person involved. Their opinion is the most important, because they don’t have any commercial interest. They just want to spend time in the space. And we don’t have enough time.

RW You care about people’s experience. 

HN Yes because I am at their service. I’m not a person who will only create something for myself. Obviously, I make sure that everything I do is an extension of myself, but I do it for other people. I always want to be in dialogue with others: with customers, with curators, with gallerists, with people behind the brand, with my partner. It’s always about someone else. It sounds contradictory, right? I want other people to bring their vision, bring their obstacles and channel their own problems. It is the most beautiful when we solve things together. 

RW Do you think you have a style? You say it is not about you, but clients do approach you and your studio to offer design solutions. 

HN Yes, I will say I have a style, but it is constantly changing. Every year I have a new collection. I change my formula every year, like how people change their passwords every year. It’s quite intense. It’s also very complicated and very expensive.

RW What does it mean to change your formula? 

HN Last year, I was heavily into history. I used history to structure my work, which was a bit ironic because Crosby was always about rejecting history and looking forward. This year, I experimented with urban passion and Constructivism. Three years ago, I started working with Transformism, which is a completely different way of thinking. Every year, something enters and exits. Something steps in and out. 

VP Why? 

HN Why do I do it? It’s a part of me. I am a nomad. I like to have nomadic design and nomadic art – things that keep moving. Back to your point on style, I think a moving style can be a style. Although, I wish I would have just one style; it would be so much easier to find my language. I wish I could find my language, add to my alphabet and correct myself along the way. It’s much easier to create a sentence when you have an alphabet

RW Maybe instead of having a style, you have codes. Design codes and values that can be associated with your practice. As you progress, you build more codes for yourself. The codes inform the work. 

HN Code is a nice word. I still need someone to read the codes and tell me what they mean, though. When I look at my work, I don’t see any similarities. Other people see solid lines, but not me. That’s why it is easy for me to drop one style and start another. 

VP Have you given any thoughts to your future codes, your next stage? 

HN I haven’t decided what my next layer will be. I am in the middle of something exciting now, so it is hard to think about the future.  

RW You would prefer to be in the present moment.

HN Yes, the present moment is good.

VP Well, we will let you enjoy that present moment. Thank you, Harry. 

HN Thank you so much.