Nina Clemente featuring the Pop Chair

What is your occupation?

Do you live in an apartment, house or something else?

Who lives with you?

What city or cities has influenced and/or inspired you the most?

For me, totally outside of my upbringing and such, Rio de Janeiro for me is an epically magical memorable impactful place. I spent time there in my 20s working for this incredible Brazilian bikini designer who also socially is one of the Queens of Rio. Her name is Lenny Niemeyer, she's incredibly talented. When I was in my 20s, she took me in, I went to work at her company for months. It's so funny because when I was going, everyone was like 'oh, Rio, be careful, it's so dangerous'. First of all, just traveling in general, I traveled enough as a child to know that if you're not flaunting wealth in any capacity, nowhere is dangerous. You just gotta blend in as much as you can. Nobody is fucking with you. So for me, Rio, the colors, the people, the smells, the sights, the combination of sea and mountain.

Which is a good transition to my next inspiring place which is my mom's little home town of Amalfi, in the south of Italy. I grew up spending three months a year there throughout my entire childhood. It was pretty fucking special. This past summer was the first time I took my kids and husband there for six weeks, which is probably the longest break I've taken since the last time I went there when I was 18. I'm 42 now, you can do that math. That same sense of where the mountains meet the ocean, that connection of water and earth has always been very important. And I'm on the Hudson River, so it's a little different but, body of water, and mountains.

What architects, interior or product designers do you admire?

One of my parents’ dearest friends was Ettore Sottsass, who is kind of the godfather of Memphis and such an incredible designer in every capacity of the word. I grew up very much not only having him around, but all of his furniture. My mom’s house in Amalfi, literally every room is Sottsass. And even in the city, and it’s handmade things for them. Really special. That juxtaposition, his approach and aesthetic and the brightness of the colors. All of the elements that he brings, even down to his plateware. He did a couple plates that I still covet and try to find on eBay. In terms of aesthetic and inspiration and design and his whole approach and the risk taking of it all, he's one of the top for me, for sure.

Do you live with any family heirlooms?

There's two elements with the family heirloom, in a funny way. When I was living in LA in my 20s I was driving down Fountain Boulevard in Hollywood and saw this bookshelf on the street, at a little stand where people were selling stuff. And I kind of did a double take, because I was driving fast. I was like, no, it couldn’t have been. Then two hours later, since it was around the corner from my house, I was driving back, I pulled over, I looked at it and they were selling this very iconic Sottsass bookshelf on the corner of La Brea and Fountain for $75. I was making $8 an hour at the time. I called my Dad. I was like, 'Frankie, (I call my Dad Frankie) how can I tell if this is real?' and he said 'it would be incredibly heavy.' And it took six guys to move it into my house.

Another element would be, probably, that I had a very close relationship with Keith Haring my whole childhood, so I have quite the collection of incredible things that he made for me. In our house, there was no separation, the kids are under the table at 1 a.m. and all these artists are around and it's all normal.

What’s importance, to you, of making things by hand?

The tactile element. That was a huge element for me, that nature of Orior that I find to be so cool and special in that sense that it's not just cookie-cutter production, which clearly gives less of a story to anything that is being made. The comfort of that chair is something special that people often mention. They sit down on the chair and are like 'oh my god, this is so comfortable.'

Having that tactile element of people and not a computer or a machine producing it, I think that is a huge consideration. In making it by hand, they're feeling the material, they're feeling the fabric, they're feeling the springiness of the cushion. I'm sure, after all that labor, I'd hope they sit in and kick their feet up and say 'wow, this is dope!'

Do you remember the first thing you made by hand?

The first thing I have a strong memory of was a papier-mache head, it was an alien head I made when I was about 8 years old. Lauren Hutton was over, saw this head and promptly offered to buy it for $50, which was obviously overpriced. A huge amount of money. So I was like, 'absolutely!' and she was like, 'great I'll come pick it up tomorrow.’ When she came back to get it, I had risen the price to $100. This is 1989, so you know, I was hustling. And being who she is, she was very annoyed but kindly put up with me, paid $100 and 32 years later now it is still in her house. It was an expensive piece so I'm happy she decided to keep it.

I really learned how to cook way later in life, I was kind of a terrible cook when I was younger. But now clearly it’s everything. And especially since my craft is edible and therefore doesn't stand the test of time except hopefully in the memories if I do it right.

I love other craft type stuff, felting and crocheting. I don't smoke so much weed anymore but when I used to it was a great little, OCD calming moment. I did not get my paternal or maternal, because my mother is an amazing artist as well, I didn't get that sort of gift. But I love doing anything and everything by hand.

Why did you choose the Pop chair?

There was an empty hole in the space, and I knew I needed a chair, but I needed the perfect chair. I chose a different color that wasn’t available. But they had the orange one, and I thought that could actually work. So I conceded and said yes to the orange. Typically orange is not my go to color but you’ll see from the photos it fits in the space so perfectly and the space is pretty curated. It was the best instinct, it literally fits like a glove in the space. It brought it to life.

I think it’s the shape of the chair. It looks to me like a warm embrace, like it’s ready to take you in. And again, the fact that it came and the color was right and the comfort was tops. I could not have chosen better. I’d like to say it chose me, rather than I choose it.

How do you use the chair? How do others in your household use it (including pets)?

All Orior pieces have names, but if you could choose a name/rename your Orior piece, what would you name it and why?