Kristin Victoria Barron
Kristin Victoria Barron is an American designer, who founded her multidisciplinary studio practice in 2005, and produces a broad range of work including hand-finished lighting, decorative objects, and vessels, distinguished by their romantic material palette of brass, burled wood, and cast bronze. Each piece emerges from the artist’s dream journals, which are transformed from repeated sketches to sculpted forms and then individual pieces, and characterized by her dream-like blend of mythical and modern elements, quixotic aesthetic, and fine craftsmanship.
Barron’s designs have appeared at Design Miami/ as well as at fine art and design galleries, including The Future Perfect, and across the world.
Where are you from originally? Flint, Michigan.
Where do you live now? Jimena de la Frontera, the very, very south of Spain. You can see North Africa on a clear day.
What did you study? Pratt in Brooklyn and NYU for undergraduate.
Your company is called Kriest. What is the origin? What does it mean? I have Salem witches in my ancestral pile, and KRIEST was a term of endearment and derivation of Priest.
Where do you find your inspiration? Who or what inspires you? Dream Life.
What are you dreaming about these days? These past weeks I haven't remembered any dreams actually. When we moved to the house that we are living in now, there was a fox-like stray hunting dog living in my studio, I named him Pluto and he was totally silent for the first 6 months. Never a sound from him, but this past month, I think he has decided he is happy here and is now defending the fortress barking all night. It’s been a sleepless past few weeks but he's a special guy.
You have designed everything from jewelry to objects to interiors. What are you focusing on now? I am focusing on my next collection for a show in NYC. Stay tuned…
The most important thing you’ve designed? My life. But, as far as specific design work goes, pieces from the Alkahest Collection that I showed at Basel several years ago. It was deeply personal in a way that changed my creative practice.
What is your first scent memory? My family has a lodge in Northern Michigan, built by my great grandfather, we would go there in the summers when I was a child and my first scent memory is of the pine forest in the summer, open stone fireplaces, and warm wild blueberries.
How do you think about scent and fragrance? It is something you can always trust, it is very primitive, very intuitive.
What are some of your favorite scents and why? Citrus blossoms, nutmeg, leather, and old churches. A perfumer once told me that the scents we are drawn to have to do with the things that we need to rebalance in our bodies on a very primal level. The idea that they bring us things that we have lost somewhere along the way. I always found this to be a romantic notion of scent and I subscribe to it.
Do you ride horses? When did you start? Yes, I have 2 beautiful mares. I ride most days of the week. I first rode as a child-- we had family friends with horses that lived nearby, and I would ride my bicycle to the barn after school and ride with no saddle and a halter mostly-- just me and a very naughty Welsh pony named Mackel. It was heavenly.
What do you do to stay grounded? I love to spend time alone.
Do you have daily rituals? Every morning, I start the day with coffee curled up by the fire in Autumn and Winter, and outside on the terrace in Spring and Summer. No matter where I am, I always bring a yoga mat and practice for at least 10 minutes and take a moment to greet the day with an open heart and thank the universe for all of the things that I struggle with because these are the things that bring us transformation in our lives.
What is your daily uniform? A face mask, jeans, black leather ankle boots, and a cashmere turtleneck or white linen button-down depending on the weather, with a finishing touch of dust or mud from the stables or chicken house.
Where do you live now? How did you find yourself in Spain? A few years back I was living in Manhattan and having a lot of trouble in my marriage at that time. We eventually went to see a therapist and after about 5 sessions she strongly suggested that we get a divorce. We were wildly non-compliant and decided to have a life adventure instead. We decided we could always get divorced later if need be. It's been a lot of beautiful years since then, we are still together. I am actually a believer in the geographic cure and radical reimaginings.
You recently bought a farm and are designing a horse barn, which has been a dream of yours. Tell us about that process? Working with Spanish builders has been like wrestling alligators thus far... definitely no sense of urgency here in the south of Spain. We brought the horses to the house for the first time and introduced them to the farm, walking the property with them. Penguin jumped like a goat when she met the chickens for the first time. It is hard to describe the delight. Life with animals is incredibly rich.
What are your horses' names? Penguin and Cidra.
Did you ever ride professionally or competitively? Always for pleasure. It changes the nature of things when it is professional.
What you do when you’re not working? Equine therapy. Lying on top of my horses like a starfish.
What is your favorite part about living in Spain? Food, People, weather, etc? I live in the south of Spain and my favorite part currently is that I am working on stables to bring the horses to live at the house, which has been a dream of mine since I was a child. Learning a new language has been wonderful and humbling, you become a child again in so many ways. Making a new life from scratch is both so difficult and quietly revelatory. Southern Spain also has a rawness about it that is incredibly compelling to me.
Favorite local restaurants, galleries/museums, shops, activities, day or weekend trips? Cancha Dos Restaurant is a short walk from the house nestled away on a quiet street and has the best Topo De Lomo I have ever had in my life. We like to eat on the terrace on Sundays and it overlooks the polo fields so it's wonderful to see the horses playing. There is also Los Alcornocales National Park behind us and you can ride out up into the hills to get an incredible view of the Rock of Gibraltar and the Mediterranean Ocean. Seville is magical and I am dying to go back to Grenada to the Alhambra, and for another meal at Hotel de Morayma. My wish list for Spain travel is endless.
What do you miss about the U.S.? I miss New York terribly. That city is my heart. It gave me my life. The museums, the people, (the women of NYC especially), the profound sense of possibility that NYC represents to me. Wherever I live in the world, New York will always feel like coming home.
Where do you dream of traveling next? Hotel Treville Positano. The old house of Zeffirelli.
What is next for you? Honestly, I am making it up as I go along. When things open up again, I am hoping to have my first resident show in Europe.
THE PROUST QUESTIONNAIRE
What is your idea of perfect happiness? Carefully crafting your perfect happiness.
What is your greatest fear? Not having enough time.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I am mercurial sometimes.
What is the trait you most deplore in others? When others are mercurial.
What is your greatest extravagance? Horses.
What is your current state of mind? Coming out of the cave.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue? Temperance. I am forever a child of the 80's.
On what occasion do you lie? When I get my haircut, I always deny ever having touched my own hair with scissors, even as the stylist holds two very uneven strands with a furrowed brow.
What do you most dislike about your appearance? I would love to be over 6 feet tall. I’d take over 7’ in a heartbeat.
What is the quality you most like in a man? A sense of humor and generosity of spirit.
What is the quality you most like in a woman? Sensuality.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse? Beautiful.
What or who is the greatest love of your life? My work.
When and where were you happiest? Working or being on a horse.
Which talent would you most like to have? To play the harp beautifully.
If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? A Raven.
Where would you most like to live? Here.
What is your most treasured possession? My Vintage Jeep Wrangler.
What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? A total lack of possibility.
What is your favorite occupation? Sculpting.
What is your most marked characteristic? Contemplativeness.
What do you most value in your friends? Authenticity and Abandon.
Who are your favorite writers? Mary Oliver & Madeline Miller.
Who is your hero of fiction? The Tree in the Giving Tree.
What are your favorite names? Cassiopeia, Philomena.
What is it that you most dislike? Life Administration.
How would you like to die? In the ocean covered in starfish.
What is your motto? The only thing limited in this life is our time.
Text: Veronica H. Speck