Today, we are pleased to talk to Homan Rajai and Elena Dendiberia, founders of Studio AHEAD, a San Francisco-based art and design collective. For COLLECTIBLE New York 2024's Architect ⇔ Designer section, we are thrilled to present their selection.

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COLLECTIBLE: Your studio is known for its borderless approach to design. Can you explain how this philosophy influences your work and your curatorial decisions?

Homan Rajai & Elena Dendiberia: The studio’s borderless approach to design creates evocative spaces where contrasts have room to grow: raw and refined, foreign and familiar, a contemporary take on a Persian divan paired with a primitive Northern California wooden sculpture.

C: How do you see the future of design evolving, especially in terms of the interplay between local traditions and global influences?

HR & ED: There’s a globalism that has connected the modern world. It started with the Industrial Revolution and has widened its reach with the internet. The international style of the 1920’s and 30’s was influenced by the industrial revolution as we are being influenced by the internet. The internet continually shows us similar realities in design and thought.  Everything begins to look the same as it did with international style. 

I think the key right now is to be influenced, engaged and act locally so we are part of our communities of artists and artisans and the materiality of our regions. Then to take that globally through the internet and fairs like COLLECTIBLE. This is the contemporary Silk Road that we reference.

C: What are your expectations for the Architect <=> Designer section at COLLECTIBLE New York 2024? 

HR & ED: Don’t produce to just produce. Have an ethos or principle behind why you are producing. As Architects and Designers we are constantly creating non verbal connotations with what we are creating.