Harry Nuriev: The Architecture of Experience - Friends of Friends / Freunde von Freunden (FvF)

I really like this question – nobody has asked me that before: It’s my morning routine.

I like to start my day as early as possible – not Kris Jenner early, not 4am – but between 7 & 8am. This is my only quiet time of the day, when my office in New York is still asleep. And Paris, well, it’s Paris, the creative scene starts to wake up around 10am.

I kick my day off with, well, I wouldn’t call it meditation – it’s rather a quiet place where I can follow my routine, set the goals for my day. Nothing exotic or complicated.

I do what we call IV – interval fasting –, I don’t eat in the morning. My schedule is 14:00 to 22:00.
I have lemon water, coffee, quiet rituals.

Then I do sports – at my gym. I like boxing, and I recently started going to ballet school, too. Anything that keeps me energetic and reach a certain level of my sweat is good.

In the first part of the day I work with my team. The second part is more art focused, more external: Meetings, calls etc. That requires an entirely different energy.

I prefer to have lunch alone, on my own. Consuming food is like mediation to me.

Paris is home, but yes, I travel a lot: New York, California, Italy, Asia, Middle East, London. And Berlin – mostly not for holidays. Berlin is really making me work, particularly for my art side.

Every city is channeling its own energy. If you are empathetic, you can feel this. Quite frankly Berlin is evoking the punk side of myself. Everything I do in Berlin has a rather different flavour, really more punk. And I really like it. If you’re really connected to a place, you can’t escape its energy.

We develop this mentality where friends come from childhood, and we have to spend a certain amount of time with them and follow certain conventions, but in my case my friendships mostly come from my professional territory. I have been really lucky here. I meet people through work, and they quickly migrate to my private space. And it works for me. Every year it’s more and more important.

11 years ago when I started, I lost quite a few friends, as I focused so much on my studio – there was very little time. Lately, it came back to my life, drastically. Now it’s going to evolve.

Crosby is a community-driven studio, more community than design. Our connection with people, with the real beings, is more important than materials or shapes etc. We made the important transition from how it looked like to how it feels like. Many people from that community are my personal friends now.

Eventually, when we have parties, activations, everyone’s coming. That’s why we have big events on a regular basis. Seeing people in person is important. Often these events are the only occasion to see people.

It’s a very interesting way of running a creative business. It’s absolutely not transactional, let alone corporate. You either keep up with us and understand our language, or you fall off and lose interest quickly. Crosby Studios is a commitment.

I don’t trust my brain, I always make a note. I am not a very digital person and I prefer no tech: I love my Moleskine notebook.

Even if it’s the most pointless idea and nobody cares but me, I will still record it.
I also like to use voice notes. The order of the notes is not important, but when I have time – in a plane, in a quiet space – I do organise my notes.

I also like to do tattoos, they are some kind of notes for me, too.

I had to let go this idea of physical, material possession. From the idea of gaining, accumulating stuff, I am now at a place where I let go. I don’t have a desk, I don’t have a personal computer. I don’t have a specific pen. If I can work with a 2 USD pen and work with it until I lose it, that’s great.
That’s a new commitment of mine. Really letting go of that mindset.

For me music is a stimulation for entertainment, I prefer not to have it on. Sometimes it’s hard for me to hear my own voice. I prefer silence. Lately I’m also doing sports in silence, and stare at a wall, to not even be stimulated by a beautiful window view.

It’s reduction I’m interested in.

Same for smells, flavours. I like a very unflavoured, boring environment.

I used to like very bright retail lighting at home. But now I’m trying to have red light around, after sunset. I can still read my electronic book, but that’s the only source of additional light then. During the day I prefer natural light. I try to avoid white light these days as much as I can.

I am an artist. I am paid to be vulnerable. My vulnerability is everywhere. And it like, gladly.

I would probably have lunch with Coco Chanel. I have a special thing with powerful women – they always inspire me. She is one of the first who embodied that spirit, professionally and personally. Sadly the brand now doesn’t reflect her any longer.

We would criticize everything, how phoney everyone is.

I never talk about art & design with my friends. There is nothing to talk about. It’s outcome. The interesting things are the processes, what do you eat, where are you going, what are you feeling. So that’s what I would talk about with Coco, too.

When you work with big brands you can be paralysed by their scale and power. Sometimes you then have to disengage and focus on the people. It’s a famous thing – there are many big artists that did better shows at smaller places. The bigger the spaces, the less interesting the shows.

Failing is a part of success. The challenge is to learn how to stand up and move on, and to do this as quickly as possible. And move on, without dwelling. Trusting yourself that you’re moving into the right direction.

I think behind all these exotic adventures that I’ve been living through my entire life, my home would say how square I can be and really not care about objects as much as I care about the feeling. I come from an architecture background – but you know what?! The general public don’t really care about that. We’re ALL just chasing feelings. And that’s what I’m all about, too.