The Sources of My Design Inspiration: From Fashion to Mother Nature

Fashion

“I like my clothes to be modern and make statements, but I like them to have roots.” — Alexander McQueen

Fashion has always been one of my most natural forms of creative self-expression.

From rummaging through Goodwill racks and thrift stores to closely following major fashion houses as they release new collections and runway shows, fashion has consistently shaped the way I see the world. To me, it is deeply, almost inseparably, connected to interior design.

Both disciplines play with color, form, texture, scale, and the ever-shifting balance between form and function. Both are cultural markers. A single silhouette, material, or detail can instantly identify an entire era of human history.

Just as tubular steel furniture ushered in the Bauhaus movement of the mid-20th century, bell-bottom jeans perfectly capture the rebellion and carefree spirit of the 1970s. Fashion and interiors don’t just reflect history, they define it.

I find constant inspiration in designers like Ralph Lauren, with his effortless pattern mixing and classic Americana sensibility; Versace, through sensual draping and unapologetic drama; Stella McCartney, for her commitment to sustainability; and Iris van Herpen, whose futuristic edge challenges the boundaries of material and form.

Each influences how I approach materials, not as static objects, but as tools to create spaces that feel alive. Spaces that behave like living works of art.

The Past

“The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” — William Faulkner

Studying history is a fascinating exercise, one that inevitably leads you back to the future.

In 2018, I spent a semester studying in Florence, Italy. As a young American from a small New England town, I had never been immersed in physical history so palpable that you could feel it, in the stone buildings, the worn staircases, the cobblestone streets.

Those four months shifted my perspective on life in countless ways, but the most profound change was my relationship with history itself.

I deeply believe that if you don’t know where you’ve been, you can’t fully know where you’re going. Just as in psychology and mental health, we must make space to face and dismantle our past before we can evolve. Design works the same way.

From the perfectionist symmetry of the Renaissance, to the bold geometry of the 1920s, to the radical disruption of the Bauhaus movement, every era carries lessons that inform how we move forward.

As a young designer, I have the self-awareness to understand that I am part of the future of design. And Curio Studio represents that future, one that honors where we’ve been in order to move forward with intention, originality, and depth.

Mother Nature

“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.” — John Muir

“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” — Henry David Thoreau

I could write an entire love letter to this planet, and still not do her justice.

There is no teacher more brilliant than Mother Nature. No masterclass, book, or workshop that comes close to the complexity, restraint, and beauty she offers freely. She is the ultimate authority on color theory, materiality, balance, and rhythm.

When I’m stuck creatively, when a design problem feels unsolvable, I look outside.

The movement of tree bark influencing millwork details, the way the blue of the sky interacts with the brown branches of bare trees in the winter, only to be accented by the sparkling simmer of the snow below. The way ecosystems coexist teaches us how spaces should function, interconnected, adaptive and alive.

To design an interior is, in many ways, to study the natural world.

At Curio Studio, our guiding principle is Connecting People, Place, & Planet, a direct reflection of how nature herself defines ecology. Design doesn’t exist in isolation. It lives in relationship.

And that relationship matters.

Love,

Sav

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