ISSUE 16: Naomi Tarazi Has Good Taste
There’s something slippery about Naomi Tarazi’s work—in the best possible way. You look at one of her sculptural accessories and can’t quite tell: is it a petal? a muscle? a ripple in time? Her pieces hover in a liminal space between flora and futurism, body and artifact. They don’t sit still, at least not visually. They bend, stretch scale, shift in meaning depending on who wears them and how.
What I love most about Naomi’s designs is how they resist categorization. They feel floral, but not fragile. Genderless, but not sterile. Alien, but strangely intimate—like something that sprouted from your own skin in a dream. They have an almost baroque sense of ornamentation, but never feel weighed down or overdone. They’re liquid, but structured. Soft, but assertive. They sit at the intersection of sculpture and adornment, and ask us to consider: what does it mean for a form to feel truly alive?
There’s a kind of tactility to her work that reminds me of things found in tide pools or under magnifying glasses. She seems less interested in trend or fashion than in curiosity—how far a material can stretch, how closely beauty can mimic nature without imitating it.
Naomi’s pieces don’t just sit on the body, they speak to and with it. And if you listen closely, they might say something you didn’t know you needed to hear.
GTW: What does good taste mean to you?
NT: I would say whatever it is, if you can tell there is a thought behind it. If its an outfit or an apartment of food, that someone thought about how the pieces/ taste compliment each other.
GTW: Who in your life do you think has the best taste?
NT: Lana del rey in her music videos, my grandma when she was alive and my friend (and stylist) Maram.
GTW: Is there a specific object in your home or studio that brings you daily joy?
NT: My sewing machine and my bed, the clothes in my studio :)
GTW: What’s the last thing you truly fell in love with—an artwork, an outfit, a space, a moment, a person?
NT: I recently visited Copenhagen and went to Louisiana, the art museum by the sea, which includes a huge park with more artworks. It was such a beautiful peaceful yet inspiring place.
GTW: What’s a reference point you always return to—an image, a place, a material, a song?
NT: I have a playlist of the same songs that I always listen to when I need to get in the zone, calm down or concentrate. It works every time.
Lana del Rey, the soundtrack of the show stranger things, Hans Zimmermann. I have been listing to the same songs for years and then still have the same effect.
GTW: Has your idea of beauty or style changed over time?
NT: I think beauty not so much, style definitely - I think maybe it used to be more about performance now it is more about who you are?
GTW: What’s something that shouldn’t work but you love anyway?
NT: I am a fan of clashing color combos but for my eyes they always do work.
GTW: Anything exciting coming up you'd like to share or promote?
NT: We have the new collection launching in the webshop very soon, editorial pieces as well as ready to wear, so look out for that early September. Also a fun collaboration is in the making with something for the fashion girlies.
GTW: What's your ideal day off look like?
Going somewhere out of the city to the forest or a lake. Some nature walks. Or having some cocktails in the sun.
This week’s goodies: A curated collection of Naomi’s otherworldly, sculptural pieces that challenge the line between organic form and functional design.
Next week: We meet Oya, the visionary behind By Way Of, whose jewelry and objects feel like relics from a more enchanted future—tactile, poetic, and charged with meaning.
