A Q&A with Cloth & Kind
Interior design duo Tami Ramsay and Krista Nye Schwartz answer our Proustian questionnaire.
Names: Krista Nye Schwartz & Tami Ramsay
Occupation: Co-founders and principal designers of the boutique interior design firm and blog Cloth & Kind
Resides in: Krista in Ann Arbor, Michigan; Tami in Athens, Georgia
Best known for: Creating colorful spaces with a sense of history, and a penchant for layering patterns.
1. Antique or modern?
Both are an absolute must.
2. City or country?
Country house with a city pied-à-terre would be the ideal.
3. Which colors do you use most?
Which colors do we not use?! We do admit to being quite partial to pink, though.
4. What are your favorite materials or textures?
Thick, delicious, nubby linen, a super shiny brass, and the well-worn patina of prized vintage finds.
5. What is your favorite interior design-related word or phrase?
Negative space.
6. Does your current home look like the one you grew up in?
There are a few treasured, well-worn family pieces that have followed us to our current homes for a nod to our pasts, but for the most part no.
7. Does a room need a view?
Most definitely. The natural world and its endless sources of beauty are a constant source of inspiration to us. Light-flooded spaces with a killer view are worth their weight in gold.
8. Who is your favorite designer or architect?
Designers Betsy Brown for gorgeously lean interiors, Mona Hajj for richly layered spaces, and Katie Leede for just being so damn irreverent and cool.
9. Which design blog, website, TV show, or magazine would you be lost without
Remodelista, Lonny, House Beautiful, and Fuck Your Noguchi Coffee Table.
10. What qualities do you most admire in a room?
An immediate sense of place, of gathered history.
11. What is a forbidden word in your house?
Hate.
12. What’s one design rule you love to break?
Symmetry and tangent.
13. What is your favorite room in the house?
The one flooded with natural light.
14. What are your most treasured possessions?
Our art collections.
15. What do you wish you could do without?
We want what we have, but we could stand to lose cursing like sailors.
16. If you could live in one historical figure’s house, whose would it be?
Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello for the sheer genius of the design.
17. On what movie set would you like to live and why?
The Swiss Family Robinson—no treehouse has ever been cooler.
18. To which city or country would you move for the design?
Italy. We love witnessing such forward-thinking designers and people within a place that is steeped in an incredible architectural history.
19. If you were reborn as a piece of furniture or an object, what would it be?
An irreverent piece of artwork—you know, the kind that gets people in the room talking.
20. What are the advantages of being a team and residing in two different states?
Being a design duo is a tremendous advantage in that we have the constant support and tension that comes from two minds. We firmly believe that this leads to a much more interesting vision in the end. Being in two different states has made us über organized and tech-savvy in order to manage projects at a distance. We love Google Hangout!
21. Tami, what's the first place you recommend a design lover to visit when in Athens, GA?
I love shopping vintage so I'd recommend Agora for great furniture finds.
22. And Krista, in Ann Arbor, MI?
Metal has an incredible selection of vintage finds all made in its namesake material. They do the most inventive custom work. I also love Three Chairs for their curated selection of accessories and furnishings.
