Safe House Takes Risks
Safe House USA is a Brooklyn-based bedding and homeware company that is anything but safe. The label recently launched its second collection with a video lookbook featuring Juliana Huxtable and Chris Udumezue of the avant-garde art collective, House of Ladosha. Shot by Christelle de Castro, the aesthetics of the film call to mind Ballad of Sexual Dependency-era Nan Goldin. De Castro captures the subtle motions of her casual, young subjects, swathed in the latest duvets from Safe House USA’s creative director, Keehnan Konyha. The video moves the idea of “homewares” from suburban uniformity into an intimate vortex where physical comfort, security, and romance collide with fashion.
Konyha’s newest collection of throw pillows, curtains, and bedding delivers the kind of bright, hypnotic polychromes we might associate with House of Hackney, but with a dash of Jeremy Scott kitsch to alleviate any posh pretensions. This season, collection highlights include the Bloodlust print, created from a photo by contemporary artist Alex da Corte of swirls of red paint and black rubber; and the Beverly print, inspired by the vibrant green banana-leaf wallpaper Don Loper designed for the Beverly Hills Hotel in 1942.
With this collection, Konyha has also expanded his company into the apparel game. He says of the move that “it was really an experiment in using each print for alternate applications; I wanted to bring more of the ‘streetwear’ aspect into the bedroom, by actually producing wearables,” concluding that “I’m really proud of how they came out, and will absolutely continue to produce more with future collections.” As for what we can expect of that future, the designer/artist says, “I want to go darker, but stay inviting with prints that welcome you home from the horror of a NYC winter-play off the feeling of needing to, or being forced to hibernate [with] chains, taxis, seamless.com, self-help books, and endless hours of Netflix streaming.”
FOR MORE ON SAFE HOUSE, VISIT THEIR WEBSITE.
