Columbia GSAPP's Brianna Love on Healthy Spaces, Inspiration in Nature, and Sustainability as a Norm

By Julia Gamolina

Brianna Love is a furniture, spatial, and material designer and researcher with a focus on sustainability. She is an avid fan of science fiction and horror film, who believes that narratives about other worlds provide a framework to think about the worlds in which her work could exist and the more sustainable and just future it is working towards.

She draws inspiration from the natural environment, chemistry, and culture, which guides her speculative approach to researching and designing the future of furniture and sustainable living. She materializes this research through her furniture company, kow collective (kow is pronounced “co” and is an acronym of the phrase “knock on wood”). She is currently pursuing a Master of Architecture and Master of Science in Real Estate Development at Columbia University.

JG: Why did you decide to study architecture?

BL: I knew from a young age I wanted my career to be oriented in the service of others – something that would make the world more equitable and just. I also really enjoyed thinking about space and spatial organization. Eventually, I realized I could design spaces and objects that could be scaled or replicated to address or resolve some of the systemic issues birthed from the violent systems in which we exist.

Historically, design has been used to reinforce certain physical forms and ways of thinking that tend to be rather isolating and unnatural. The opposite is also true; design has been used to build and support community, collective power, and health. I started studying architecture because I saw it as a framework and tool set with which to apply what I learned in my geoscience and geohealth classes about healthy spaces and the overlap of human and non-human health.

Design of an elementary school. Brianna’s design consisted of decompression rooms to help all students, but specifically, those that are neurodivergent, decompress from the stress, strain, and overwhelming school environment.

What was the favorite project you worked on in school? Favorite paper you wrote? Favorite extracurricular?

One design project I want to continue exploring that I started in undergrad as a sort of capstone was this research project to develop a holistically sustainable water filter, something that was financially and environmentally sustainable for areas that had high levels of lead in their water like Flint, Baltimore, and Boston, Massachusetts. I started to develop the filter material which was one of the most rewarding experiences because the filter matrix worked in the preliminary tests. Designing a material and starting to think about the different scales that the material could be used at felt amazing, especially when designing for homes and apartments where one might not have the ability to install a large building filter, at the scale of a building, and at the scale of a town. I’ve thought about this project a lot lately because I think it could be transformative about how we think about addressing immediate environmental needs.

More recently, I really enjoyed working on this paper that looked at the design aesthetics of sustainability, because this topic is something I’ve thought about since starting designing furniture and shopping for furniture. When it comes to food and fashion there are so many options for sustainable alternatives that can fit a variety of styles, but that’s not the case for furniture. One of things I wanted to explore through that paper and my furniture company is, how we can break the aesthetic of sustainability. How did we get to the place of virtue signaling of sustainability without actually being sustainable? How has architecture and design more broadly helped further that agenda but more importantly how can it be used to shift the tide and make sustainability a norm?

“Historically, design has been used to reinforce certain physical forms and ways of thinking that tend to be rather isolating and unnatural. The opposite is also true; design has been used to build and support community, collective power, and health.”

— Brianna Love

What are some of the initiatives you’ve focused on in school, and why?

As someone interested in furniture in an architecture program, I have casually cultivated a furniture group on campus. It is not an official thing but we go to shows and share photos of pieces we like or think would be cool to try. I started the group because there is a sizeable group of people who are interested in furniture design so it was just nice to have a community to share it with.

When searching for internships and jobs, what are you looking for?

When assessing places to potentially work, I’m looking for places whose mission aligns with mine or a very specific skillset that I will develop from that place. It is also important to get along with the people working there. I personally prefer to work at smaller companies. In some instances, I would choose a larger firm, but it is only under a specific set of circumstances.

What’s important to you? What inspires you?

Starting a furniture practice helped me resolidify what’s important to me, which is helping people. I started designing furniture because it was a life-long dream and I thought it would help prevent me from burning out creatively. I wanted a creative outlet that wasn’t related to food and that wasn’t totally focused on designing with the intent of helping others. As much as I love using my skills and time to help others, it is important to take breaks because I care a lot and do not want to do harm, which means I get a little stressed. It is important to me to be able to use design to help but it is also important for me, and everyone really, to take breaks in a way that’s helpful to them.

I am a narrative driven person. I love stories and storytelling, as well as objects. So I end up drawing a lot of inspiration from real and imagined futures of objects and people's personal stories. Since one of the ways I decompress is through nature, I end up drawing a lot of inspiration from the forms I find in nature.

“You’ll learn a lot about what opportunities and possibilities are out there, if you just listen and ask questions. You shouldn’t view every interaction through a lens of receiving, but also give — sometimes that means you give your time to just listen and be present or share their work with your network.”

— Brianna Love

What do you hope to do in your career?

I hope that my career makes a positive difference in people's lives. I hope that the objects and spaces I design help people live better lives for themselves but also helps them see that they too are able to make a change in the world, you just have to start and try. You'll make mistakes but you should learn from them and hopefully don't repeat them too many times.

Who do you look up to? Both in terms of women in architecture, and in general.

Two architects I really admire and whose work has dramatically informed my work are Liz Ogbu and Liam Young. I love the way they frame their work even though their approaches to architecture are starkly different, but their work is what resonated with me the most when I formally started studying architecture and still resonates with me today. There are so many architectural and design historians, like Mabel Wilson, Alice Friedman, Michelle Millar Fischer, and Chanelle Adams; whose perspectives and work I find truly insightful. I also really admire Mayrah Udvardi who is a recent GSAPP alumna who is pushing architecture and design into a more sustainable point.

Honeycomb Coffee table with upcycled stone türmchen (incense burners inspired by Jenga), designed by Brianna.

Two chairs from Brianna’s upcoming collection of twelve chairs inspired by African combs and picks. These were shown in May 2022 during NYC x Design.

What advice would you give to those in high school now, choosing their field of study?

I would tell people in high school to explore. Life is long and short. You don't have to have everything figured out right away. I sort of did, I realized I wanted to study architecture in high school, and I wish I had explored more. I’m still exploring now but as I get older it feels less practical to explore different interests, even though I know I still do have a lot of time. The money generally finds a way to work itself out; I know everyone says this but that’s because it’s true.

The other thing I would stress is networking, anyone who really knows me knows that is something I do pretty regularly. I enjoy connecting people and connecting with people, because I love hearing about their lives and lived experiences. You’ll learn a lot about what opportunities and possibilities are out there, if you just listen and ask questions. You shouldn’t view every interaction through a lens of receiving, but also give — sometimes that means you give your time to just listen and be present or share their work with your network. Sometimes the greatest takeaway from some connections isn’t an additional connection or something tangible but a life lesson or new way of thinking. It is a skill you have to develop and refine; like most things, some people are good at them, but others have to work on it. I’m definitely in the latter camp; I’m actually not super social and have pretty bad anxiety so being social takes a lot out of me but it was something I decided to work on. You have more time and options than you think.