Dates, almond oil, persimmon, pomegranate... These recipe ingredients that have given Persian women their legendary beauty from the inside out are also the core pillars of hair brand 14th Night, founded by Negar Mohammadi.
Sun-kissed, athletic, and curious, Negar mastered the technical aspects of business as a young professional working for a major consulting firm in Paris--yes, like Emily in Paris but with real work involved.
Armed with fluency in French and a sense of true luxury, Negar returned to New York and rose up the corporate ladder in the city's competitive fashion industry. Her last corporate post was with VOGUE.
Listen to her story to get all the sensorial details that define Negar's journey in hair beauty and learn how she bottled them all in a series of divine natural formulas that are good for the hair and, mainly, for the soul.
A passionate explorer of nature, a committed adventurer, a tech entrepreneur whose mission is to create a sustainable and equitable travel industry for all, Håvard Utheim moves from idea to idea and from start-up to start-up.
]]>He is the type who has vision, sets the mission, and culls the right people to populate the new business. In doing so, he is also working on ensuring that the beneficiaries are many as opposed to the usual select few.
Listen to this episode to find out what his connection to Succession is.
Håvard Utheim is an entrepreneur. He founded several companies, including: The Transparency Company, a database and a practical tool to manage, document and communicate social and environmental responsibility; Travelopment, a company that provides education for those in the travel industry; Re-Treats, a system of mobile high-end hotel rooms built with used materials; and Nanook, a company that matches travelers with more sustainable travel options.
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twixt the physical and the spiritual
Fallou is BaayFall Fashion’s CEO, designer, and stylist. After emigrating to the US from Senegal in 2013, she launched Baayfall Fashion with $192 and a single vendor table, selling customized hats, original screen-printed t-shirts, and one-f-a-kind garments and accessories on 125th street in Harlem.
Baayfall Fashion quickly grew from one table to six, then to a brick-and-mortar storefront. That led to numerous editorial features, and a 2022 presentation at Harlem Fashion Week. Today, Fallou’s Harlem atelier creates custom clothing, screen printing, hand-painted garmets, and unique accessories for celebrities, activists, and everyday people across New York City and around the world.
Baayfall Fashion is fashion that uplifts, reminding those who choose to wear it how powerful they are as human beings. As Fallou herself says: “If you can make the outside look royal, you certainly have it inside you.”
It is the house that allows its tenants to open up, release, and practice their singular sense of desire. One with nature, the house is a launchpad of creativity.
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At first I thought of it very similar to a juicy and delicious piece of candy that releases a range of magical sensations when you bite into it. But after we spent some time chatting, it became clear that that little house is a marvelous container of unique and intense experiences that have shaped the lives of all those who have spent time in it.
It is the house that allows its tenants to open up, release, and practice their singular sense of desire. One with nature, the house is a launchpad for creativity.
A founding partner of Fogarty Finger, Robert Finger leads firm interior projects. Graduating from Syracuse University, Robert developed a passion for design at the venerable architecture firm, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), where he oversaw several international projects. In 2003, he and fellow SOM collaborator, Chris Fogarty, started architecture and interiors firm, Fogarty Finger.
Robert brings a unique approach to commercial interiors, a devotion to 20th-century modernism, and a love of historic preservation that emerged from childhood summers on Cape Cod. Through design work, he translates idealism and politics of the modern age into living in contemporary society. He is also passionate about textiles, ranging from historic Persian and Peruvian fabrics to the work of modern designers such as Hella Jongerius. In addition, he takes inspiration from movies and the representation of reality captured in interiors, architecture and landscapes that communicate time, place, and mood.
With a breadth of experience in luxury residential design, Robert’s emphasis on scale and materials brings refinement and detail to commercial projects. Robert has designed award-winning, corporate office interiors in New York and the Northeast for major clients including: BXP, Rockefeller Group, Rudin Management, Tishman Speyer, and Vornado Realty Trust.
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Adam Simon is a Buy Side Analyst currently pursuing his MBA through NYU Stern's Langone Program. During the pandemic, he chose to take up reef aquaculture as a new hobby similar to his past of keeping saltwater fish only tanks.
]]>Find out why I decided to own a silk scarf by Hermès.
What moved you to buy one of your prized possessions? Was it its qualities? Its aesthetic merit? Are your purchases based on emotional associations or simply fashion trends and peer pressure?
I invite you to email me at populuxepod@gmail.com and let me know.
This is no ordinary chair. It is the Mira chair designed by American woodworker George Nakashima and has been in Tami’s life since she can remember.
Listen to this episode of Populuxe to explore the connections between the essentialism of modern design, the economy of paired down aesthetics, and the passion for the integrity mid-century modern designers contributed to our culture.
Tami Hausman is a communications strategist, facilitator, and expert advisor who collaborates with international architects, designers and building industry professionals to amplify their influence. Additionally, she writes articles and books about key trends in architecture and urban planning. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Semiotics-French from Brown University and a Master of Arts and PhD in Art History from New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts.
]]>Owning by now more than 25 bags, Adam is always thinking about how to perfect the utility of each item and how new materials may contribute to an elevated experience. Luxury for Adam goes beyond functionality. Luxury is joy.
]]>Owning more than 25 bags, Adam is always thinking about how to perfect the utility of each item and how new materials may contribute to an elevated experience. Luxury for Adam goes beyond functionality. Luxury is joy.
Listen to this episode and gain insights into how modern men think about their every day existence.
Adam Brodowski is a design and research consultant who loves working through early stage ideas with all sorts of start ups. He is co-founder of Superliminal, a brand and product design studio based in NYC. Outside of the studio he teaches digital product design to grad students at NYU Stern and The New School.
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What are your feelings about receiving luxury objects as gifts? Do you take pleasure in these possessions or new experiences? Do they define new rituals that organize your day differently than before? And when have you felt compelled to give an object of great value as a gift to someone else?
These are some of the ideas I will tackle today with my guest, historian and curator Pat Cooke who is based in Dublin, Ireland as he opens a bottle of fine and very rare Irish Whiskey, a Midleton from 1996.
Pat has been instrumental in shaping the modern Irish experience around cultural events. Among other roles, he was the curator of Kilmainham Gaol Museum and the Pearce Museum. Warning! Chatting with someone so deeply steeped in Irish history brings up a lot of stories about wars, and jails, and prisoners.
For two thirds of his career Pat Cooke was a museum curator in Ireland, caring for sites and collections associated with Ireland's struggle for independence from British rule (Kilmainham Gaol and the Pearse Museum). He spent the last third as director of the Master program in Cultural Policy and Arts Management at University College Dublin, retiring in 2020. In 2021 his book The Politics and Polemics of Culture in Ireland, 1800-2010 was published by Routledge.
Justin Partyka's life story sounds like a web of coincidences that place him in front of people or circumstances that relate to him via another path as well. A practicing photographer, Justin was trained as a folklorist and has a deep passion for and understanding of music.
A remarkable multi-volume book of William Eggleston's Democratic Forrest published by Steidl is Justin's object of desire. As we listen to him describing the ritual of immersing himself in Eggleston's photographs, we come to appreciate the singularity of photography as a medium of expression and its closeness to poetry.
Partyka’s photographs have been exhibited widely including at Tate Britain, London; the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich; the Museum of English Rural Life, Reading; and the Boutographies photo festival in Montpellier, France. Publications include Granta magazine, the Guardian weekend magazine, and Source magazine. Also the limited edition books, Field Work and Not Exactly Nature Writing, and a commissioned series of photographs for a reissue of the classic book of oral history Fenwomen.
Part of Justin's work is available to view on Instagram @161poitiers
]]>Justin Partyka's life story sounds like a web of coincidences that place him in front of people or circumstances that relate to him via another path as well. A practicing photographer, Justin was trained as a folklorist and has a deep passion for and understanding of music.
A remarkable multi-volume book of William Eggleston's Democratic Forrest published by Steidl is Justin's object of desire. As we listen to him describing the ritual of immersing himself in Eggleston's photographs, we come to appreciate the singularity of photography as a medium of expression and its closeness to poetry.
Partyka’s photographs have been exhibited widely including at Tate Britain, London; the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich; the Museum of English Rural Life, Reading; and the Boutographies photo festival in Montpellier, France. Publications include Granta magazine, the Guardian weekend magazine, and Source magazine. Also the limited edition books, Field Work and Not Exactly Nature Writing, and a commissioned series of photographs for a reissue of the classic book of oral history Fenwomen.
Part of Justin's work is available to view on Instagram @161poitiers
]]>A pair of Nike running sneakers and a flat screen TV were two of the objects that Chris Santa Maria presented to me as possible conversation starters. Well, that's not how this episode went... and admittedly, it is longer than usual.
The desire of the next creation and the next and the next is what keeps Chris Santa Maria going, no matter how poisonous that love may be some times.
]]>Do listen till the end of the whole 45 minutes because you will learn about the mighty power of a Princeton brush and the extraordinary details of often harmful and unsustainable materials that artists are using to create their work.
The desire of the next creation and the next and the next is what keeps Chris Santa Maria going, no matter how poisonous that love may be some times.
Chris Santa Maria is a visual artist working in a variety of media (collage, drawing, painting) and is based in Brooklyn, New York. He is also the Director of the Joni Weyl Gallery, a legendary institution that has been representing the publications of the Los Angeles-based workshop GEMINI G.E.L since 1984.
]]>Artists develop a personal discipline that includes daily rituals. It is that type of commitment that allows them to absorb details of materiality, focus on ideas, and resolve the challenge of combining it all in expressive form.
Mixed media artist Rebecca Goodman has worked both in the commercial and nonprofit worlds and seems to have made up her mind. Public art that deals with ecology and the sense of self in a high-tech future is what she likes to explore in her writing, soon in her practice as well. But that does not mean she has turned her back to discussing luxury. It is all related. Listen to this episode to find out how.
]]>Artists develop a personal discipline that includes daily rituals. It is that type of commitment that allows them to absorb details of materiality, focus on ideas, and resolve the challenge of combining it all in expressive form.
This is precisely how some of the most exquisite luxury products resemble works of art. This is also why creatives find a fitting home in the luxury sector where a variety of luxury brands require individuals with superb visual and manual skills able to carry out some of the most imaginative retail environments.
Mixed media artist Rebecca Goodman has worked both in the commercial and nonprofit worlds and seems to have made up her mind. Public art that deals with ecology and the sense of self in a high-tech future is what she likes to explore in her writing, soon in her practice as well. But that does not mean she has turned her back to discussing luxury. It is all related. Listen to this episode to find out how.
Rebecca Goodman is a mixed media artist and arts administrator. Rebecca works across multiple mediums including painting, drawing and collage, often combining mediums into abstract, large-scale assemblages. She graduated cum laude from NYU (2012) with a BA in Art History and has studied visual art at Parsons, Skidmore College and the Corcoran College of Art & Design. She is currently pursuing a Dual MA in Modern and Contemporary Art History & Arts Administration and Policy at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has previously worked in museum management consulting and the fashion and design industries.
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Photo credit @tskqqq
Marie possesses the type of elegance that allows her to transform the most humble vintage outfit into glamorous fashion. Her vivid imagination pushes her work beyond the boundaries of filmmaking and storytelling. How does she do it and what drives her desire to create?
A talented baker and cook, Marie approaches the practice of the meal with the openness of spirit that leads to breakthroughs in writing, immersive visuals, and a sense of whimsy in her filmmaking. Oh... and she knows a lot about sourdough, farmer markets, and old recipes too!
The girl who fell in love with Fluffy, her sourdough starter, is actually the woman who kneads stories in her kitchen. She is a filmmaker and her name is Marie.
Marie possesses the type of elegance that allows her to transform the most humble vintage outfit into glamorous fashion. Her vivid imagination pushes her work beyond the boundaries of filmmaking and storytelling. How does she do it and what drives her desire to create?
A talented baker and cook, Marie approaches the practice of the meal with the openness of spirit that leads to breakthroughs in writing, immersive visuals, and a sense of whimsy in her filmmaking. Oh... and she knows a lot about sourdough, farmer markets, and old recipes too!
Îles Flottantes anyone?
Marie is a French director, writer and photographer. Using non-traditional framing and composition, she captures raw moments of beauty and creates appetizing visual narratives with a touch of humor and a sense of humanity. She directs food commercials and narrative films about falling in love with a sourdough starter.
Prior to turning to filmmaking and obtaining her MFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, she studied law and English literature at Cambridge University and Paris I Panthéon-Sorbonne.
Follow her work:
@ibakefilms
@mylifeinsourdough
@redcurrant.jelly
Join me in this episode of Populuxe as I reconnect with my former student and now accomplished architectural photographer Artur Pretto Junqueira. Together, we explore French philosopher René Girard's work on human desire and some of the famous and emerging Brazilian architectural practitioners. And surprise, surprise! We end up talking about New York City. But how not? This is where our paths crossed and where our lives changed.
Quem corre por gosto não cansa.
Artur Pretto Junqueira is a Brazilian architect and architectural photographer. He graduated from the Brazilian Universidade do Vale do Taquari with a degree in Architecture and Urbanism. As part of his study, Artur did a year long exchange student program in Architectural Design at The New School in New York City. Interested in visuals and aesthetics from a very young age, he now shares his vision and hopes to help others to share their own through photography.
Here is a link to Artur's published work.
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