We've long admired Nicole Gavrilles for her refreshing and tasteful perspective on sustainable fashion, specifically her work on ONE magazine. Come to find out, the same strong values she brings to fashion play out in everything she does. Here we get a peek into the designer & art director's mind.

What’s the best compliment you received recently?

I wouldn’t say this is a direct compliment but it felt like one! I visited home a few weeks ago to see my family and spent time with my nephews and my niece. One of my nephews asks, "Why do you have to leave and why can’t you stay with us?"

As they get older, I’ve grown such a love and attachment to them. They make me smile and I love when I get to spend time with them. It feels like a special type of love to want me around more and as an aunt that’s the best feeling.

What’s the last thing you read?

I recently finished Total Ethics Fashion by Emma Hakansson from Collective Fashion Justice which brought so much more clarity to how sustainable fashion should be described. She outlines a total ethics fashion system prioritizing the life and wellbeing of people, animals and the planet before profit.

What do you want to read next?

I have too many books on my list and I just picked up a few more at the Printed Matter Art Book Fair last month. Here’s a few of top choices:

"Let’s Become Fungal! Mycelium Teachings and the Arts" by Yasmine Ostendorf-Rodriguez. It’s been on my list for a while and I’m happy to have finally picked it up recently. It’s such a fascinating book and I cannot wait to dig deeper into it — first for my love of nature and learning more about the incredible powers they possess, but also this book explores the fascinating life and inspiring metaphors of mycelium and the mushroom. I’m so intrigued and can’t wait to jump into this book.

"Not Too Late: Changing the Climate Story from Despair to Possibility" by Rebecca Solnit & Thelma Young Lutunatabua. As we continue to worry about the current state of our climate, I’m hoping this book will shine a light onto how our future can play out if we make the right decisions today.

Search "climate" or "fungal" to find these pages later in your mind.

A quote that’s meaningful to you?

"If you spend your time chasing butterflies, they will fly away. But if you spend your time making a beautiful garden, the butterflies will come to you. When you focus on improving yourself, everything you want will come to you." - Leno Cainelli

Highlight the text, quotation marks included, to save this as a quote to your mind.

Best gift you’ve ever given?

The most meaningful gift I’ve given is a book I made for my grandparents in 2018. I encouraged my family to organize a trip back to Greece one last time with my grandparents. It was a way for them to see their home before it became more difficult for them to fly back.

We visited the village my grandparents grew up in and it was like a dream to me, exactly how I remembered when I was young spending summers there. I photographed their home, them in the home, the village, and some moments during our time in Greece. It was a bucket list thing I wanted to make sure I did for myself and also to give those special memories to them. That trip and that gift still mean so much to me, and I have one of the images I took framed in my apartment as a constant reminder of my time with them in Greece.

Where do you want to travel to next?

I am flying to Copenhagen in a few days for the Global Fashion Agenda, but next on my list I would love to visit Turkey, Iceland and a few Greek Islands. I’m hoping to make it out to Spain at the end of the summer. I’m a huge foodie so any way I can experience different cuisines, meet people, and hear stories while traveling, I love – it’s like collecting special moments in time.

What would you buy, if money weren’t an issue?

I would have my home in nature with my cat, dog, chickens, ducks, my garden, outdoor sauna, natural pool and a space for my friend Victoria to use as her flower farm. Also a small quaint apartment in Brooklyn in my favorite neighborhood, and a vacation home on a Greek Island.

Other than home spaces, I would invest in climate solutions and donate money to combat our climate from warming and protect the futures of generations to follow.

What hobby would you take up, if you had the time?

I’d love to get back into boxing more frequently again. I was training six times a week before the pandemic and it’s a sport I really enjoy.

I’d also really love to get back into drawing, learn watercolor techniques, and more complicated book binding techniques. Having time away from the computer is like recharging your own battery. I’ve been enjoying the moments where I can make things with my hands, and I want to fill in more moments like this every year.

For something I’ve never tried before – woodworking would be really fun, maybe make some furniture pieces (or try to).

What’s an image or piece of art you can’t get out of your head?

Seeing a photograph taken by my favorite photographer, Toni Frissell, in person at The MET on my birthday in 2021. I love to take my birthday off if it’s a weekday and make a special day for myself in the city, and that always starts with a museum exhibition. This one was really special to me because it was called "The New Women Behind The Camera." It celebrated the work of the women who embraced photography as a mode of professional and artistic expression from the 1920s through the 1950s. And at that time, most of these women were the firsts to use photography as a profession.

I’ve been in love with Toni Frissell’s fashion photography since I was young and seeing a piece in person was so special to me. I think about how special that exhibition was and that day from time to time.

A product of any kind you’ve been appreciating lately?

I’ve been kind of geeking about Lapse lately. I think what I really enjoy about it is the feeling of social media freedom. No ads, no distractions, only sharing photos with a small group of friends that feels more authentic and real – kind of what Instagram used to be when it first started.

I love when you take photos, you cannot view them immediately because they need to be “developed." That sense of surprise and wonder brings me back to when I took photos with my film camera as a kid. And as a result of using Lapse, it actually got me back into wanting to shoot film again.

Click the + button in your browser to save a website to your mind.

The funniest thing you’ve seen or heard lately?

These bits on corporate America are so real haha

If you could build an extension of your own mind, what would it look like? How would it work?

Lots of greenery and surrounded by the sounds of nature. It would have cozy spaces to relax and ponder about things because sometimes when you have the moments of relaxation and stillness, that’s when your best ideas come to mind. ⚘