We had the good fortune of connecting with Homan Rajai and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Homan, what’s one piece of conventional advice that you disagree with?
Balance is bullshit. If you love something whether it be a person, a concept, a career, an art…. pour yourself into it. “People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.” – Joseph Campbell

Whatever has made me feel alive, I go deeper in even if it doesn’t emotionally, financially make sense. And the rewards might not be immediate, the journey might take longer, but then I reach certain moments were I realize why I was on that adventure. So many adventures to recount: being an apprentice to a 17th to 20th century European Antiques dealer, living in Oaxaca like a monk with no phone or laptop, being in a relationship with the grandson of the President of Mexico, starting a business that explores Northern California artists. I’m constantly being molded and expanded by these experiences.

That being said don’t be an idiot.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Studio AHEAD is a San Francisco-based art and design collective founded by Elena Dendiberia and myself. Our approach is “borderless” in that our roots are far-flung yet deeply embedded in Northern California’s history. Drawing from our diasporic experiences, we believe strongly that there is no universal idea of functionality that fits all cultures and people. What remains constant is an appreciation of tradition and craftsmanship.

Studio AHEAD launched its production arm in 2019 and in 2020 began publishing California: A Journal, which chronicles Northern California’s vibrant cultural history. The biennial Same Blue as the Sky began in 2023 as a way to celebrate the regional artists who continually inspire us.

We have never compartmentalized ourselves into one reality but rather allow ourselves to natural build into the physical world the ecosystems that live with on us through design, furniture, the journal and exhibitions. They all inform one another.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I live in Northern California, but I’m guessing this is for Los Angeles. In LA some favorite things to do are:

Go check out whats going on and Nonaka-Hill Gallery and then grab the chicken at Petit Trois.

Take an edible, have drinks in the back terrace of Bar Flores in Echo Park, stroll through the farmers market, go to Stories, have dinner and go swan peddling on Lake Echo Park after sunset.

Have dinner at Kismet in Silverlake or Mr. Chow’s in Beverley Hills. Both are nostalgic for me and remind me of happy memories.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’m a cumulation or sum of the people and the culture that has surrounded me. That’s why I’m so conscious of who is around me, who I zoom in on and what I’m absorbing from them. I’ll focus on “now” in this moment because to look back or call out specific people makes my head spin. In this moment the people that I’m constantly taking in are artists that allow themselves to be outliers and live/create on their own terms. Artists create their own realities, dive into research on materiality, consciousness, perspective. That’s why they create and reflect culture back to the public and in times like this we need to be paying even more attention to them since we are becoming more and more homogenous.

We have a Journal called California: A Journal where we highlight Northern California Artists. We photograph their homes, studios and ask them questions. No matter how precarious our lives or stress load when the photos and the answers come in I immediately feel like we are doing something right by our culture by highlighting them.

Website: https://www.studioahead.com

Instagram: @studioahead

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/homan-rajai-72263235/

Image Credits
Photos by Ekaterina Izmestieva

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