Designer Highlight: Nightwood

The creative duo, Nadia Yaron and Ry Scruggs of Nightwood answer some questions about what inspires them to create such distinct pieces.

Trunk:  Where are you and Ry from?  
Nightwood: Ry was born in California and grew up in Kansas City, MO and I was born in Brazil and grew up on Long Island but we both have been living in Brooklyn for about 15 years now.

Trunk:  What inspires you and Ry? 
Nightwood: We're inspired by different things separately but together we're mostly inspired by old things, natural elements like stone, metal and wood, primitive and indigenous artifacts, the late 60's and 70's, music and the underdog. I think we both died young in the 70's which should be our band name if we ever have one.

Trunk:  What are your creative backgrounds? (pre nightwood) 
Nightwood: We both had many different occupations. Ry was an artist assistant, worked in a cafe and was a house painter/handywoman. She also worked for a company putting together display pieces.
I went to school for women's studies so worked for a council member on the women's issues committee when I graduated, was a manicurist through college, then was a restaurant manager and holistic health counselor. We both were creative outside of our jobs and both always had a knack and desire to redecorate whatever rooms we ended up in.

Trunk:  What music if any do you put on when you are creating?  
Nightwood: We both love music and listen to many different genres from world music to classic rock. We have the same taste for a lot of it except Ry includes more pop, funk and soul music- she loves the Gap Band right now (very random). I suggest watching a video of them on you tube, it won't disappoint. I tend more towards folk and psychedelic folk like White Magic, Junip and Cate le Bon.
Music is a second love of ours and one of our first collaborations ever was being in a band together. We have a drum set and instruments at the wood shop but they're currently just collecting dust because we don't have much time to play.

Trunk:  Where did the concept of your current collection come from?  
Nightwood: Ry has always loved art deco furniture as have I but we're also really into geometric shapes and playing around with natural dyes on wood and fabrics to get unusual colors and finishes. Conceptually I've been spending a lot of time meditating and experimenting with shamanic journeys and reading about other planes of existence. So I've just been interested in the idea of other realms and that there is so much more to the universe than what we currently live and allow ourselves to see in our everyday lives. Conceptually for Ry, she's thinking in terms of approaching a decadent style by bringing both a modern, lighter hand to create something new that simultaneously evokes a primitive landscape.

Trunk:  What is your favorite detail on your collective creations? 
Nightwood: Our favorite detail that comes up in both of our works is patterns and geometric shapes. We like the combination of the clean lines of a shape combined with grainy wood and homespun textiles.