Life Index: Still Crazy After All These Years is an experimental biographical visualization conceived and designed by Cristina Gabriele, exploring the relationships between memory, identity, chronology, and the construction of personal narratives. Taking its title from Paul Simon's song Still Crazy After All These Years, the project considers the persistence of identity across time and the ways personal histories are recalled, interpreted, and reconstructed. Developed through a series of imagined recollections and alphabetized index entries, the work investigates how individual experiences, circumstances, and significant inflection points can be organized into a coherent yet inherently subjective account of a life. Drawing upon the visual and structural conventions of archival systems, the project employs information architecture, illustration, and editorial design to establish a framework through which fragmented memories and biographical references are brought into relation. Organized across intersecting categories of life stages, chronology, and geographical location, its structure considers the tensions between linear narratives and the associative, nonlinear processes through which personal histories are remembered and reimagined. Source materials, found imagery, and artifacts are collected, categorized, and arranged thematically, transforming the index from a conventional instrument of reference into a speculative framework for storytelling. Through the interplay between documentation and invention, the project questions the perceived authority of archival records and the extent to which systems of classification shape the ways individual lives are understood, represented, and remembered. Ultimately, Life Index positions information design as both a narrative and interpretive practice, exploring how the organization of knowledge can simultaneously reveal, construct, and complicate the stories we tell about ourselves.

SERVICES
Copywriting | Creative Direction | Editorial Design | Illustration | Information Architecture

Public-domain imagery is incorporated into the work as part of its archival and visual research methodology.

Good Thing is an independent, nonprofit live art and music initiative conceived, founded, and creatively directed by Cristina Gabriele in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, creating alternative digital spaces for artistic expression, cultural exchange, and collective experience during a period of widespread social isolation. Operating for approximately six months, with the majority of performances taking place in April and May 2020, the initiative transformed the domestic environment into an intimate concert and listening space through a series of live performances hosted on Zoom, bringing musicians, artists, and audiences together through accessible, community-centered experiences of music, art, and design. Situated at the intersection of cultural production, digital technology, and participatory experience design, Good Thing explored how existing communication platforms could be repurposed as infrastructures for artistic engagement, allowing audiences to experience live performances from their homes while cultivating a sense of shared presence and collective participation. Its programming brought together independent and established artists, including Keith Shocklee, founding member of Public Enemy and the influential hip-hop production collective the Bomb Squad, with select performances developed in collaboration with Noon Chorus. Conceived and operated independently on a nonprofit basis, the initiative generated no personal income for its founder, directing 100 percent of proceeds to participating artists, many of whom elected to contribute to charitable organizations of their choosing. Through the development of its visual identity, communications, digital interfaces, and programming, Good Thing investigated the relationships between artistic production, audience participation, and the design of cultural experiences beyond physical space. As both an independent cultural initiative and an experiment in digitally mediated community-building, the project considered the possibilities of design as a means of sustaining artistic livelihoods, facilitating meaningful encounters, and establishing alternative forms of cultural infrastructure during a period of profound social disruption.

INITIATIVE
2020
Good Thing

COLLABORATORS
Chino Synth | Ryan Collins | Elephant Glasses | Stephen Maxwell | Noon Chorus | Pinc Louds | SCALLY | Keith Shocklee | Simen Sez | TANSU | Tony Deep Disco

SERVICES
Branding | Copywriting | Creative Direction | Editorial Design | Experience Design | User Experience Design | User Interface Design

The Teachers Project is a collaborative research and pedagogical initiative established in Fall 2019 by Nida Abdullah through her fellowship with the Pratt Institute Center for Teaching and Learning, creating a space for critical inquiry into the structures, practices, and politics of design education. Emerging through a series of participatory workshops, collective discussions, and exchanges among design educators, the project investigates the relationships between pedagogy, institutional authority, and the distribution of power within educational environments. Grounded in critical, radical, and emancipatory pedagogical traditions, its inquiries consider how instructional authority is constructed and exercised through classroom environments, teaching tools, gestures, expectations, and established institutional conventions. Initially developed through in-person gatherings, the initiative subsequently extended into a series of collaborative digital sessions hosted through Zoom, creating opportunities for continued dialogue, collective reflection, and critical engagement across changing educational conditions. Cristina Gabriele contributed to this digital phase, participating in the collective inquiry, writing, and self-editing processes surrounding the expectations and expressions of power, the relationships between educators and students, and the possibilities of redistributing authority within institutional structures. Equally concerned with the relational dimensions of pedagogy, The Teachers Project positions generosity, friendship, and community-building as integral to the development of critical educational practice. These investigations informed Criticisms on Design Pedagogy: On the Redistribution of Power, an independent digital publication extending the project's collective research into a broader discourse on the institutional, social, and political conditions of design education. The initiative considers pedagogy not simply as a means of transmitting knowledge, but as an evolving cultural practice through which power, participation, and the conditions of learning can be continually questioned and reimagined.

DIGITAL PUBLICATION
The Teachers Project: Criticisms on Design Pedagogy
Issue 01 | Summer 2020
On the Redistribution of Power
Initiated — Nida Abdullah
Collectively Organized and Self-Edited

COLLABORATORS
Nida Abdullah | Amanda Huynh | Gaia Hwang | Chris Lee | Xinyi Li | Pratt Institute, Undergraduate Communications Design | Swati Piparsania | Preston Thompson | Victor Vina

SERVICES
Critical Writing | Collaborative Research

The 5th Wave is an interactive sculptural work conceived and designed by Cristina Gabriele, investigating the cultural, historical, and institutional frameworks through which women's relationships to power and authority are constructed, negotiated, and transformed. Developed collaboratively with Clint Downing of Downing Frames, the project employs research through design (RtD) methodologies, positioning the processes of making, material experimentation, and interdisciplinary exchange as integral to its conceptual inquiry. Its fabrication within a traditionally male dominated framing industry becomes an extension of the research itself, engaging directly with the structures of knowledge, expertise, and authority the work seeks to interrogate. Conceived through a deliberate set of formal constraints, the sculpture draws upon the artistic language of Isamu Noguchi, employing aesthetic assimilation as a strategy for institutional intervention. Designed to integrate seamlessly into the architectural and sculptural environment of The Noguchi Museum, the work introduces a feminist inquiry into the relationships between artistic authority, institutional legitimacy, and the cultural frameworks through which objects are interpreted and assigned value. Constructed from maple and ash, materials associated with strength, endurance, and the passage of time, the work comprises five interrelated wooden crescents representing the four historical waves of feminism and an anticipated fifth. Each component operates as an incomplete frame, simultaneously suggesting the possibilities of openness, dialogue, enclosure, and definition, while materially embodying the processes through which cultural perspectives and institutional structures are established and maintained. Its graduated colour palette, modular construction, and fluid configurations invite viewers to physically rearrange the sculpture, reconsidering the relationships between its constituent parts and the larger systems they collectively produce. Fabricated through traditional framing techniques and subjected to successive processes of cutting, dyeing, sanding, shellacking, and waxing, the work retains the material traces of its construction, registering labour, intervention, and transformation within its surfaces. Through this convergence of conceptual inquiry, collaborative disruption, and embodied interaction, The 5th Wave positions framing as both a material practice and a metaphor for the cultural lenses through which power is perceived, exercised, and contested, while questioning the relationship between aesthetic value, institutional legitimacy, and the possibilities of structural change.

COLLABORATORS
Clint Downing | Downing Frames

SERVICES
Creative Direction | Product Design | Sculptural Design | Research Through Design

Always Ryuichi is a portrait editorial photographed by Rachael Chandler for Issue 5 of CR Men’s Book, published in 2017, featuring pioneering Japanese composer, musician, and multidisciplinary artist Ryuichi Sakamoto. A founding member of the influential electronic music group Yellow Magic Orchestra and an Academy Award-winning film composer, Sakamoto developed an expansive artistic practice spanning experimental music, cinema, performance, technology, and environmental inquiry. Published during a significant period of renewed artistic exploration, coinciding with the release of async, his first solo studio album in eight years, the editorial situates Sakamoto within a broader cultural dialogue concerning sound, perception, temporality, and the relationship between human experience and the natural world. Through Chandler's photographic portraiture, the work brings attention to the individual behind an extraordinary creative legacy, considering the intersections of artistic identity, personal experience, and the evolving nature of creative practice. Moving beyond conventional celebrity representation, the editorial approaches portraiture as a form of cultural documentation, examining how the image of an artist contributes to the interpretation and preservation of their work across generations and disciplines. The resulting work reflects the role of editorial photography in bringing influential creative figures into dialogue with contemporary visual culture, while acknowledging the enduring relevance of Sakamoto's investigations into the relationships between art, technology, nature, and human consciousness.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATION
CR Men’s Book, Issue 5
Fall/Winter 2017
Always Ryuichi
Photography — Rachael Chandler

COLLABORATORS
Rachael Chandler | Ron Hartleben | Evelien Joos | Carine Roitfeld | Ryuichi Sakamoto | Dominic Teja Sidhu

SERVICES
Photography Editing | Editorial Booking

Icons Unplugged is an international fashion and portrait editorial photographed by Brigitte Lacombe for the landmark September 2017 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, developed under the creative direction of Carine Roitfeld and published as a global cover story across 32 international editions of the magazine. Presented as an 18-page editorial portfolio, the project brought together an extraordinary cross-generational cast of cultural figures spanning music, fashion, and entertainment, including The Weeknd, Travis Scott, Courtney Love, Miranda Lambert, Dionne Warwick, Grimes, and Ryuichi Sakamoto, alongside internationally recognized models Candice Swanepoel, Karlie Kloss, Natasha Poly, Joan Smalls, Adriana Lima, Irina Shayk, and Kelly Rohrbach. Exploring the intersections of music, fashion, identity, and cultural influence, the editorial examines how individual artistic expression moves across disciplines, generations, and geographical boundaries. Through Lacombe's distinctive photographic approach, the work establishes a cohesive visual language across an expansive cast, foregrounding the individuality of its subjects while bringing their diverse creative identities into dialogue. Realized through an ambitious production and global publishing framework, the project reflects the capacity of editorial image-making to operate at an international scale, bringing together influential cultural figures, creative disciplines, and fashion institutions in a shared exploration of contemporary iconicity, representation, and the enduring relationship between music and fashion.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATION
Harper’s Bazaar
September 2017 | Global Cover Story
Icons Unplugged
18-page editorial portfolio | 32 international editions
Photography — Brigitte Lacombe

EDITORIAL FILM
Icons Unplugged

COLLABORATORS
Adriana Lima | Brigitte Lacombe | Candice Swanepoel | Carine Roitfeld | Courtney Love | Dionne Warwick | Emma Roach | Evelien Joos | Grimes | Irina Shayk | Isamaya Ffrench | Joan Smalls | Karlie Kloss | Kelly Rohrbach | Mei Kawajiri | Miranda Lambert | Natasha Poly | Ron Hartleben | Ryuichi Sakamoto | The Weeknd | Tina Outen | Travis Scott

SERVICES
Photography Editing | Editorial Booking | Production

Other Man is a portrait editorial photographed by Brigitte Lacombe for Issue 5 of CR Men’s Book, published in 2017, featuring actors Karl Glusman, Rami Malek, and Tracy Letts. Bringing together three distinct figures from contemporary film and theater, the editorial explores the relationships between masculinity, individuality, and representation through Lacombe's restrained and intimate approach to photographic portraiture. Moving away from the conventions of traditional fashion imagery, the work foregrounds the presence, character, and expressive qualities of its subjects, considering how portraiture can reveal the complexities of identity beyond the roles and public personas through which actors are commonly recognized. The editorial's development required a considered approach to the selection, coordination, and presentation of its subjects, bringing individual artistic identities into dialogue within a shared visual framework. The resulting work considers portraiture as a space for observation and interpretation, examining how the photographic encounter can produce representations of masculinity that are nuanced, individual, and resistant to singular definitions.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATION
CR Men’s Book, Issue 5
Fall/Winter 2017
Photography — Brigitte Lacombe

COLLABORATORS
Karl Glusman | Ron Hartleben | Brigitte Lacombe | Tracy Letts | Rami Malek | Mack Mozé | Carine Roitfeld | Evelien Joos

SERVICES
Photography Editing | Editorial Booking

Future Paris is a fashion editorial photographed by Bruna Kazinoti for Issue 10 of CR Fashion Book, published in 2017. Bringing together an interdisciplinary cast of emerging and established figures from Paris's creative communities, the editorial explores the evolving cultural identity of the city through the intersection of fashion, art, music, performance, and contemporary youth culture. Moving beyond conventional fashion portraiture, the project presents a collective portrait of a generation shaping the city's creative landscape, considering how individual identities, artistic practices, and cultural perspectives contribute to an emerging vision of Paris. Through photographic research, talent coordination, and editorial production, the work involved assembling and facilitating relationships across a diverse group of creative contributors, supporting the development of a visual narrative grounded in the cultural conditions and creative energies of the city. The editorial considers how fashion photography can operate as a form of cultural documentation, capturing the people, relationships, and emerging sensibilities through which a city's identity is continually constructed and reimagined.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATION
CR Fashion Book, Issue 10
Fall/Winter 2017
Photography — Bruna Kazinoti

COLLABORATORS
Juliette Armanet | Bianca Argimon | William Bartel | Karim Belghiran | Raphael Hirsch | Evelien Joos | Bruna Kazinoti | Germain Louvet | Finnegan Oldfield | Carine Roitfeld | Agathe Rousselle | Julie Villanova

SERVICES
Photography Editing | Editorial Booking

Willem Dafoe's Disappearing Act is a fashion editorial photographed by Cristiano Morroy for Issue 5 of CR Men’s Book, published in Fall/Winter 2017, featuring actor Willem Dafoe. Photographed within the New York studio of contemporary artist Urs Fischer, the editorial brings together fashion, portraiture, and contemporary art, situating Dafoe within an environment shaped by artistic experimentation and material inquiry. Drawing on the relationships between performance, identity, and representation, the work explores the intersections of acting and photographic image-making, considering how the interplay between subject, setting, and visual direction contributes to the construction of an editorial narrative. Through executive production, photography editing, and editorial booking, the project involved coordinating creative talent, production resources, and the logistical complexities of working within an active artist's studio, navigating the relationships between the physical environment, collaborative production, and editorial objectives. The resulting work reflects the capacity of fashion photography to move between artistic disciplines, bringing together the languages of performance, contemporary art, and editorial publishing.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATION
CR Men’s Book, Issue 5
Fall/Winter 2017
Photography — Cristiano Morroy

COLLABORATORS
Willem Dafoe | Urs Fischer | Cristiano Morroy | Ben Perreira | Carine Roitfeld | Dominic Teja Sidhu

SERVICES
Executive Production | Photography Editing | Editorial Booking

I Just Try to Do Very Good Clothes is a fashion editorial photographed by Mario Sorrenti for Issue 10 of CR Fashion Book, published in 2017, examining the creative legacy of fashion designer and artist Helmut Lang. Centered on Lang's distinctive relationship between fashion, art, and material experimentation, the editorial considers the evolution of his practice beyond the conventions of fashion design, tracing the intersections between clothing, sculpture, conceptual inquiry, and artistic production. Through photographic documentation and editorial representation, the work brings Lang's artistic practice into dialogue with his contributions to contemporary fashion, exploring the relationships between materiality, authorship, and the shifting boundaries of creative disciplines. Through photography editing and editorial booking, the project supported the coordination of creative talent, resources, and editorial production within a broader collaborative framework. The editorial reflects the role of fashion publishing in documenting and recontextualizing creative practices, considering how photographic imagery contributes to the preservation, interpretation, and circulation of cultural and artistic legacies.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATION
CR Fashion Book, Issue 10
Spring/Summer 2017
Photography — Mario Sorrenti

COLLABORATORS
Małgosia Bela | Mei Kawajiri | Helmut Lang | Evelien Joos | Carolyn Murphy | Kirsten Owens | Ben Perreira | Carine Roitfeld | Ron Hartleben | Mario Sorrenti | Sperone Westwater | Kanako Takase | Guinevere Van Seenus

SERVICES
Photography Editing | Editorial Booking

Paris, Texas is a fashion editorial photographed by Petra Collins for Issue 10 of CR Fashion Book, published in 2017. Drawing on the visual language of cinematic portraiture and the cultural mythology of the American landscape, the editorial explores the relationships between fashion, femininity, identity, and place. Through Collins's distinctive photographic approach, the work brings together intimate portraiture, atmospheric imagery, and fashion storytelling, creating a visual narrative that moves between the familiar and the imagined. Working across image research, creative coordination, and editorial production, the project involved bringing together the talent, resources, and production requirements necessary to realize the photographic narrative, attending to the relationships between creative direction, visual storytelling, and the collaborative processes of image-making. The editorial considers how fashion photography draws upon cinematic and cultural references to construct narratives of identity and belonging, examining the relationships between image-making, representation, and the visual imagination.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATION
CR Fashion Book, Issue 10
Fall/Winter 2017
Photography — Petra Collins

COLLABORATORS
Achok Majak | Allie Smith | Petra Collins | Ron Hartleben | Evelien Joos | Carine Roitfeld

SERVICES
Photography Editing | Editorial Booking

Living John Malkovich is a six-page fashion editorial photographed by Terry Richardson for the Fall/Winter 2017 issue of CR Men’s Book, featuring actor John Malkovich alongside an interview by Anthony Kaufman. Situated at the intersection of fashion, portraiture, and contemporary celebrity culture, the editorial brings together photography, styling, and written narrative to explore the relationship between public persona, individual identity, and cultural representation. Through photography editing and editorial booking, the project involved coordinating creative talent, production resources, and editorial requirements within a multidisciplinary publishing environment, attending to the relationships between photographic direction, collaborative production, and editorial storytelling. Bringing the visual and written dimensions of the feature into dialogue, the work considers how portraiture, performance, and publication contribute to the construction, interpretation, and circulation of public identities within contemporary visual culture.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATION
CR Men’s Book, Issue 5
Fall/Winter 2017
Photography — Terry Richardson

COLLABORATORS
Frank B | Ron Hartleben | Evelien Joos | Anthony Kaufman | John Malkovich | Terry Richardson | Carine Roitfeld | Ward Stegerhoek

SERVICES
Photography Editing | Editorial Booking

Dr. Strange is a fashion editorial photographed by Katja Mayer for the Spring/Summer 2017 issue of CR Men’s Book. Exploring the intersections of fashion, experimental beauty, and visual transformation, the editorial brings together unconventional styling, expressive makeup, and photographic portraiture to challenge established representations of masculinity and the body. Through the interplay between constructed appearances, material experimentation, and photographic composition, the work investigates the possibilities of fashion imagery as a space for reinvention, ambiguity, and alternative expressions of identity. Working across photographic research, creative coordination, and editorial production, the project involved bringing together the talent, resources, and collaborative processes supporting the editorial's realization, attending to the relationships between visual direction, individual creative contributions, and the broader production framework. The resulting work considers how fashion photography can disrupt familiar visual conventions, using transformation and artifice to expand the possibilities of contemporary image-making.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATION
CR Men’s Book, Issue 5
Spring/Summer 2017
Photography — Katja Mayer

COLLABORATORS
Isamaya Ffrench | Ron Hartleben | Evelien Joos | Katja Mayer | Ben Perreira | Carine Roitfeld

SERVICES
Photography Editing | Editorial Booking

On the Contrary is a fashion and beauty editorial photographed by Katja Mayer for the Spring/Summer 2017 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, featuring French-British actress Stacy Martin as the face of Miu Miu L’Eau Bleue. Developed within the intersection of luxury fashion, beauty, and editorial publishing, the project brings together portraiture, fashion imagery, and brand storytelling to construct a visual narrative around Martin's relationship with the Miu Miu fragrance campaign. Through executive production, set design and production, photography editing, and editorial booking, the work involved coordinating a multidisciplinary creative team alongside the development and realization of a substantial physical environment for the shoot. Bringing together spatial, material, visual, and logistical considerations, the production navigated the relationships between creative direction, constructed environments, and editorial context. The project reflects the role of editorial image-making in mediating between commercial representation and cultural storytelling, considering how photography, sequencing, and publication shape the presentation and circulation of contemporary fashion identities.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATION
Harper’s Bazaar
Spring/Summer 2017
On the Contrary: A Moment with Stacy Martin, the Face of Miu Miu L’Eau Bleue
Photography — Katja Mayer

COLLABORATORS
Akki | Ben Perreira | Bette Adams | Carine Roitfeld | Evelien Joos | Fulvia Farolfi | Jim Kaemmerling | Katja Mayer | Mei Kawajiri | Stacy Martin

SERVICES
Executive Production | Set Design | Set Production | Photography Editing | Editorial Booking

Colour and Contrast is a fashion editorial photographed by Sebastian Faena for the Spring/Summer 2017 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, featuring a diverse cast of international models under the creative direction of Carine Roitfeld. Exploring the expressive possibilities of color, contrast, and visual juxtaposition, the editorial brings together bold chromatic relationships, distinctive silhouettes, and individual identities to construct a photographic narrative grounded in difference and visual interplay. Through its approach to styling, composition, and representation, the work considers how fashion imagery can negotiate relationships between individuality and collective identity, using contrast as both a formal device and a means of exploring contemporary expressions of beauty. Working across photographic research, talent coordination, and editorial production, the project involved bringing together the creative contributors, resources, and production requirements necessary to support the realization of the editorial. The resulting work examines the role of color and visual differentiation in shaping the language of contemporary fashion photography, where distinctions in form, identity, and expression become central to the construction of visual meaning.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATION
Harper’s Bazaar
Spring/Summer 2017
Photography — Sebastian Faena

COLLABORATORS
Halima Aden | Ruth Bell | Grace Elizabeth | Sebastian Faena | Ron Hartleben | Evelien Joos | Kabuki | Stella Lucia | Radhika Nair | Amandine Renard | Carine Roitfeld | Frederikke Sofie | Wallette Watson

SERVICES
Photography Editing | Editorial Booking

All the Pretty Faces is a fashion editorial photographed by Rory Van Millingen for the Fall/Winter 2016 issue of L’Officiel Germany. Developed through a street-casting methodology led by Cristina Gabriele as Casting Director, the project brought together a diverse group of individuals drawn from New York City's creative communities and everyday urban life. Moving beyond conventional modeling agencies and established casting practices, the process centered on identifying distinctive faces, personalities, and expressions through direct encounters, observation, and independent research. Positioning casting as a curatorial practice, the work investigates the relationships between identity, individuality, and representation, considering how the selection and assembly of subjects actively participates in the construction of visual narratives. Through this approach, the editorial challenges established conventions of beauty and representation within contemporary fashion imagery, expanding the possibilities of who is seen, how they are represented, and the cultural meanings their presence generates.

EDITORIAL PUBLICATION
L’Officiel Germany
Fall/Winter 2016
Photography — Rory Van Millingen

COLLABORATORS
Anna Bloda | Aysenur Ataman Benevento | Cheeky Maa | Elayna Lopez | Evelien Joos | Hope Youngblood | Jacuzzi | KHyal | La Timpa | Lauren Jean-Pierre | Marie Tomanova | Mary Margaret Henry | Mercedes Torres | Morgan Connellee | Rain Dove | Rory Van Millingen | Stella Greenspan | Tasha Sertil

SERVICES
Casting Direction | Street Casting | Editorial Booking

Something About Lemons is a music video for Brooklyn-based pop-punk band Chumped, developed in conjunction with their debut full-length album, Teenage Retirement, released through Anchorless Records in 2014. Cristina Gabriele conceived, designed, and constructed a human-scale sculptural heart suit for the production, translating a familiar anatomical and symbolic form into a wearable object for performance. Developed through a process of conceptual inquiry, material experimentation, and hands-on fabrication, the work explores the relationship between body, object, and movement, transforming an otherwise static form into an animated presence. Operating at the intersection of wearable sculpture, and moving image, the project investigates how familiar visual symbols can be recontextualized through scale, embodiment, and performance, extending the possibilities of object-making into the language of music and film.

PROJECT LAUNCH
Chumped — Something About Lemons
Teenage Retirement, Anchorless Records
Brooklyn, New York, 2014

COLLABORATORS
Adam LoBue | Angela Duffy | Anika Pyle | Brian Phares | Dan Frelly | Drew Johnson | Doug McKeever

SERVICES
Concept Development | Creative Direction | Costume Design | Sculpture | Fabrication | Art Direction

MUSIC VIDEO
Something About Lemons — Chumped

FANATIC is the third collection developed for Heart & Noble, introduced in 2014 and expanded through successive iterations until 2019. Drawing on the visual and material language of Perler beads, a familiar childhood medium for craft and play, the collection explores the relationship between early formative experiences, material memory, and the processes through which familiar objects acquire new meaning. Modular in structure and produced through additive manufacturing and three-dimensional printing, using resins, polymers, and base metals, FANATIC recontextualizes the familiar through shifts in materiality, scale, and fabrication, creating a productive tension between recognition and unfamiliarity. The collection reconsiders the boundaries between play and production, positioning childhood making practices within the technological and material contexts of contemporary design.

COLLECTION LAUNCH
Flat 128, New York Fashion Week
New York City, New York
Fall 2014

COLLABORATORS
1-900-BLEACH-ME | Jeanise Aviles | Clint Downing | Fabberz New York | David Fraser | Tomchar

SERVICES
Branding | Creative Direction | Editorial Design | Exhibition Design | Product Design

ACRYLIC is a capsule collection developed by Cristina Gabriele for Heart & Noble, extending the formal and material investigations established through CABLE TIE and CROMA. Returning to the singular design unit, now extruded and laser-cut in acrylic, the collection moves away from CROMA's one-piece cloth methodology toward a process of individual assembly, bringing digital fabrication into dialogue with intensive manual construction. Each individual unit was sewn together by hand using a technique developed specifically for the collection, with individual garments requiring between five and twenty hours of labour to construct. Through this process, rigid industrial materials were transformed into flexible, undulating structures capable of moving with and around the body. Through the interplay between technological precision, material experimentation, and durational making, ACRYLIC investigates the intersections of art, fashion, technology, and jewellery, challenging established disciplinary boundaries while expanding the spatial, structural, and kinetic possibilities of wearable form.

The collection was presented through two distinct contexts: Manufacture New York, a Made in NYC manufacturing initiative established during the administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio, of which Cristina Gabriele was a founding design member; and a separate collaboration with Richie Rich of Heatherette during New York Fashion Week in 2014.

COLLECTION LAUNCH
Manufacture New York
New York Fashion Week, New York City
Spring 2014

PRESENTATION
Heart & Noble × Richie Rich / Heatherette
New York Fashion Week, New York City
Spring 2014

COLLABORATORS
Fabberz New York | Heatherette | Ryan Sheldon Knowles | Manufacture New York | Richie Rich

SERVICES
Branding | Creative Direction | Editorial Design | Exhibition Design | Product Design

CROMA is the second collection developed for Heart & Noble, extending the formal language of the original Cable Tie collection through an alternative material and method of production. Laser-cut in acrylic using a one-piece cloth methodology, the collection presents an extruded view of its predecessor, introducing another degree of abstraction through the liberation of form, materiality, and technology. Moving intentionally away from precious metals, CROMA investigates the possibilities of nontraditional materials and alternative modes of fabrication, challenging established notions of value while expanding the accessibility of the work to a broader audience. Offering another vantage point on the original collection, the work invites a spatial reinterpretation of repetition, material transformation, and the possibilities of an established design system.

COLLECTION LAUNCH
Flat 128, New York Fashion Week
New York City, New York
Spring 2014

COLLABORATORS
Josiah Barnes | Fabberz New York | Saba Gray | Tim Heck | Jesse James | Ryan Knowles

SERVICES
Branding | Creative Direction | Editorial Design | Exhibition Design | Product Design

CABLE TIE is the inaugural collection of Heart & Noble, an independent contemporary jewelry label founded, creatively directed, designed, and operated by Cristina Gabriele in London, England, in 2013. Grounded in the observation and representation of the utilitarian cable tie as a fundamental design unit, the collection explores the relationships between material, body, and space, investigating how familiar objects can be recontextualized through their proximity to, and interaction with, the human form. Evoking cognitive dissonance, the collection registers simultaneously as familiar and unfamiliar, inviting a reconsideration of the quotidian and what might be learned through closer attention to the objects, materials, and systems that organize our everyday lives.

COLLECTION LAUNCH
The Arch Gallery, London, England
Winter 2013

COLLABORATORS
The Arch Gallery | David Fraser | Tomchar

SERVICES
Branding | Creative Direction | Editorial Design | Exhibition Design | Product Design