Naomi was born to very young parents in the midst of the San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district during the 1960’s ideological re-interpretation of absolutely everything where all was possible and nothing held as real. It was this quality of life as experiment and lack of attachment that instilled the unshakeable notion that anything that could be dreamed up could become a reality as prop, as theater, for the acting out and unfolding of the human experience.
Fine art was the first path Naomi set upon with training at Moore College of Art, later leaping directly into the cruel and thrilling life of art for art’s sake. Pioneering the gritty, bleak early days (1987) of Williamsburg Brooklyn she painted by day and waited tables by night. Williamsburg’s once fashionable Grand Street , then largely an enticing decayed ruin of dance halls, social clubs and banks, sparked the dream of space transformed. Her first foray into the territory of space transformation was the 4,000 sq. ft. dance hall floor of the Ukrainian National Home with original stage, footlights and aging disco ball. Next was a bitterly cold but thrillingly mad, turn of the century factory with 18’ ceilings, massive window walls over-looking the East River and an I-beam bridge crane (which promptly inspired the drilling and suspension of everything she owned).
It was during this time that the discovery of self as artwork and ones surroundings as venue, created the vision of design that still inspires her today. Naomi’s experience of one’s self representation is firstly by mask, then recognizing that in the first moment of confrontation with another being, the decision is made to either maintain the mask or slowly unpeel, revealing the internal being and the developing feeling. This dance is what we wake for. The architectural shell speaks this initial voice of the mask, once allowed inside the private space, wordless interpretation of exceptional design and beauty reflects the mythos of the individual.
The ability to create this reflection requires keen listening skills, tremendous sensitivity, boldness, the tenacity of a Pitt and scrupulous training to fulfill at all levels of detail. Naomi’s career in Design officially began in 1988 with apprenticeships to many extraordinary, talented and demanding designers. She embarked on her own in 1999 establishing NK a/d. For nearly twenty years she has been creating exceptional homes, commercial multi-unit buildings and transformed countless living and working spaces for an impressive list of high-net individuals, celebrity clientele and families. NK a/d’s staff and affiliates bring a multi-layered approach to each of its projects, all benefiting from Naomi’s exceptional taste and rare imagination.