ARCHIVES AND ARTICHOKES began as a coincidence of alliteration—a nom de plume for myself. Call it manifestation or foreshadowing, but throughout my time at Parsons School of Design, I became increasingly interested in archives: printed matter, publications, and the ways knowledge is preserved and circulated. Concurrently, my practice gravitated towards food as a cultural and historical subject, which culminated in my undergraduate thesis, Perpetually, In Fermentation.
The studio's name reflects these two ongoing interests.
ARCHIVES
represents research, reading, and writing. It is the thread that connects design to inquiry. Besides client work, we (Kiara, Krisanda, and Putrilia—all one person) are currently developing Reading as a Map (title in progress), a publication exploring memory studies, reading, and annotations.
ARTICHOKES
represent food and what can bring people together around a table. More broadly, it stands for the commercial world in which design operates. Perhaps fittingly, the process of design is similar to an artichoke, layered with increasing complexity as it is peeled back.

Today, we (as in the singular person, Kiara): 

1. develop visual identities and brand systems for clients across different fields,
2. run Kafe Koji,
3. work part-time at Pears,
4. read far too many books,
5. étudier le français,
6. painting,
7. heavily considering a master’s in museology in France,
8. and always seeking different ways of learning.

The studio exists at the intersection of research and commercial, art and design, the tangible and intangible, the physical and the screen, archives and artichokes.