How someone organizes their desk can tell you a lot about how they get work done. That’s why we’re stepping into the offices of enviably creative (and productive) people to look at what’s on their desks — pens and notebooks and gadgets, but also décor and tchotchkes. Today, we’ve asked Alireza Niroomand, creative director and brand ambassador of Sant Ambroeus Hospitality Group, to show and tell.
I have a dedicated space at our corporate office, but really, I don’t think it’s me, so I don’t have my things there. My routine is that every morning, I go to Sant Ambroeus Soho, because I live in Soho. I start my days there with an espresso, with cookies. The coffee cups are special, right? I like them a lot, and actually, I think coffee tastes completely different depending on the china you choose. Those are from Rosenthal, they’re called Maria Theresia. If you take coffee in this, versus a thick coffee cup, you will have a completely different experience.
I follow Hypebeast because I’m not that young anymore, and in order to stay relevant, I have to be in touch with what’s happening, and they’re a good indicator of what the youth today like. Cabana is another one of my favorite magazines, so I always get inspiration from those. I still like to go to my local vendor, I’m old-school. And I like to go through it before I buy it. We’re always looking for new things in our restaurants, just visually, colorwise. [I read these magazines] to see what’s out there, because everything goes so fast nowadays that you cannot do it on your own. Instagram is also another way of getting inspiration, but I like to mix both. Touching something, feeling it, it’s completely different, I think.
Jean Pigozzi is a socialite photographer. I got this book in Paris before [French department store] Colette closed. It’s selfies from the 1970s. He was always taking selfies with his camera, so there’s really amazing pictures in that book. Selfies before selfies existed, you know what I mean?
Krink is another one that’s special to me. When I want to scribble, I have it on me. I grew up in Paris, and I was exposed a lot to graffiti. I wasn’t a bad boy, so I was doing it in notebooks, rather than on walls because I didn’t want to get in trouble. But I grew up with that culture … That Krink that you see, it’s a custom one we made. We did a residency in Paris, back in September, at Colette, and Craig [Costello, the founder of Krink], and I made this custom Krink, which matched the blue of Colette. When we did our residency in Paris, I re-created the wall of plates from Sant Ambroeus Soho, but it was a surprise for Sarah [Andelman, co-founder and creative director of Colette], and I asked 24 artists to make a custom plate for her using the same blue. I’m jealous of that collection, actually. KAWS, Tom Sachs, even Pharrell did one.
I use the Moleskine just because I grew up used to it, I think. I scribble ideas, menu items that I like in the restaurants that I’ve been to, things like that. I doodle a lot. I love writing, and I love scribbling.
It’s a phone charger from Supreme. Being across the street from Supreme, I naturally got exposed to it, and I got addicted to it. I try to get a few things from Supreme, here and there. They gave me the idea of starting collaborations, and I have to say thank you to them. They inspire me. It’s an amazing phone charger. I can charge my phone twice a day; I am on my phone a lot. If you ask my wife, I spend way too much time on my phone.
That’s an essential. They really changed my life. They’re so practical. I have them on right now. I like the fact they have no wires, they don’t tangle. I like that you can skip a song by tapping on them. If I take them off, the music stops, and I’m a huge music addict. I actually think the last song I listened to last night was “Daddy Cool,” from Boney M. Bronski Beat’s Smalltown Boy, that’s a good tune for the city. I lost one of my AirPods once, it fell in the subway tracks. I was pulling them out of the case, but I was able to retrieve it. The MTA was kind. I had to wait an hour, but I got it back.
My relationship with my laptop? I don’t use it that often, but I always have it on me, just in case, for email. Most of the time, I use my phone. But I have a laptop to remind me that I’m a grown-up.
It’s a collaboration that we made with Oliver Peoples. I’m having fun doing things like this. Pretty much like every collaboration that we do, it’s around a lunch, it’s probably the owner of the company that was at Sant Ambroeus, and I just told them the idea, and, of course, they loved it. And that’s how it came about. We made them in pink and blue.
Editor’s Note: The sunglasses pictured are not the ones from this collaboration, as those are only available for sale in Oliver Peoples stores. However, this pair of M-4 sunglasses with rose gold lenses is very similar in style and swagger.
That’s a teaser. We’re finalizing the details, but those sneakers are a collaboration that we’re doing with Puma. A friend of mine who is in charge of all collaborations at Puma was sitting there at lunch, and was like, “You want to do a collaboration?” Yeah, let’s do it. We just finalized the box. They’re supposed to come out in June, around Men’s Fashion Week.
Editor’s Note: Since these sneakers aren’t coming out for a couple months, we found a similarly styled pair to tide you over until the drop.
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