What is your ideal office?
A raw space with running water and a washing machine where we can get messy with our washing and dyeing experiments. Or a space with no walls and no boundaries, with tall tables where I can stand, rather than low desks—I hate sitting.
What is an object that has made a remarkable impression on you?
Records. They are beautiful—that these lovely little grooves can make such magic is a miracle to me…and I like the way they smell, so I appreciate them with all of my senses. Except taste.
How do you live an uncommon life?
I’m from the sticks of Alabama, I live in NYC, and I get to do something I really love as a “job.” I’m a very lucky and happy girl, common or uncommon.
What is your greatest mistake thus far?
Hahaha—trusting time lines.
What would your uniform be?
This is an easy one, as 1.61 is rooted in a utilitarian mindset and the concept of dressing in uniform. 1.61 is uniform, utilitarian, unisex.
Whose personal style transcends gender?
Jesus, Bowie, Iggy, Freja [Beha].
What is the significance of the golden ratio?
I think anyone working on design and proportion would be interested in it in some way, whether as a guideline to follow or as a departure point. It is a touchstone. Philosophically, it is about finding order in chaos and beauty in balance.
How are sadness and seriousness positive influences?
The music scene that sprang from post-punk Northern England, especially Manchester, with its industrial history and constant rain, is a huge inspiration to me. What some see as bleak, I see as powerful: the broken industrial city with its dark skies and the brooding countryside. The sadness and seriousness of Joy Division was a revelation to me as a teenager in Alabama. It opened up a whole world to me that I never conceived of prior
