Harry Nuriev and Crosby Studios have long occupied a particular position in contemporary design. Their work spans architecture, fashion, hospitality, and cultural programming, each project marked by a distinct visual language and conceptual rigor. Earlier, DSCENE sat down with Nuriev for an in-depth interview that explored the studio’s evolution and vision. Now, the Paris and New York-based practice is making a significant move: opening a permanent exhibition at Chelsea’s High Line 9 that also marks the studio’s first foray into retail.
Running through July 19, “Home of Football: Home & Away” is a curatorial and architectural undertaking developed alongside the curatorial collective Air Afrique and the platform Home of Football. It is an unusual exhibition in that it does not simply display artifacts but rather recasts them within a fully realized spatial environment, asking fundamental questions about how we experience cultural history and, more broadly, what role sport plays in shaping identity and creativity across borders.
The Architecture of Sport
At the core of the exhibition sits a collection drawn from The Manzano Heritage Collection, an archive of over 60 match-worn jerseys, trophies, photographs, and rarities from football’s defining moments. The pieces are substantial: Pelé’s 1958 Brazil World Cup jersey, artifacts from Ronaldo and Brazil’s 2002 World Cup victory, materials from the New York Cosmos era. Yet the exhibition’s power does not reside in the artifacts alone.
Nuriev’s spatial strategy is characteristically conceptual. A grounding mint-green color, referencing the grass of a football field, envelops each of the six thematic chapters. Circles and curves appear throughout the lighting design, graphic systems, and wayfinding, echoing both the geometry of the ball itself and the center point of the field from which play originates. It is a vocabulary of abstraction that translates the visual and emotional codes of sport into a contemporary design language. The effect is immersive without being literal, allowing visitors to encounter the memorabilia within a context that speaks to belonging, movement, and gathering as much as to historical record.
“This concept is about the clash between football, fashion, and art culture,” Nuriev said in a statement. “It is a form of cultural transformism, translating the energy and visual codes of football into a new media format that feels open and accessible, not only to football fans, but also to people discovering this world for the first time. The green is a digital version of the football field color, and the circles reference both the ball and the center point of the field, becoming symbols of movement, gathering, and play.”
The Crosby Shop: A New Retail Category
What distinguishes this exhibition is its commercial dimension. For the first time, Crosby Studios is launching The Crosby Shop, a retail concept the studio signals it intends to develop further. This is not a museum gift shop in the conventional sense. Rather, it represents a new category altogether, one that blends curated merchandise with the studio’s design philosophy.
The shop features a carefully selected edit of fashion, skincare, and technology brands, many making their U.S. debut. Among them are Baccarat, Nothing Technology, Rizzoli, Obayaty, La Terra Di Neena, Buddy Buddy, Patricks, Avau, and Hello Klean. The curation reflects Nuriev’s aesthetic and values, presenting objects that operate at the intersection of craft, innovation, and cultural significance.
The retail experience extends beyond traditional merchandising. The space integrates technology from SAP to create what the platform describes as a “seamless, connected fan experience,” linking inventory, real-time availability, and personalized discovery. Additionally, a Balira Coffee café pop-up, curated by Sami Khedira (the former Real Madrid player and World Cup champion), operates within the space, adding another layer of cultural programming.
Crosby Studios was founded by Nuriev in 2014 and has since grown into a global practice spanning fashion retail, hospitality design, private residences, product design, contemporary art exhibitions, and cultural programming. The studio’s client roster includes Nike, Balenciaga, Delta Airlines, Baccarat, Dover Street Market, Gucci, Augustinus Bader, Clive Christian, Caron, Amina Muaddi, Jimmy Choo, Alexander Wang, Delvaux, Valentino, alo, and H&M. Nuriev has also exhibited at the Louvre Museum, Dallas Contemporary, Dittrich & Schlechtriem Berlin, and Sultana Gallery Paris, and has collaborated with artist Liam Gillick and architect Rem Koolhaas’s OMA.
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The move into retail, then, is both natural and bold. It represents an expansion of the studio’s cultural platform into a space where design, commerce, and curation converge. It is also, perhaps, an indication of how Nuriev envisions the future of creative practice: not confined to traditional disciplinary boundaries but rather flowing across exhibitions, fashion, hospitality, and commerce with equal conceptual rigor. “Home of Football: Home & Away” is open daily from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. through July 19, 2026, at High Line 9, Hudson Yards, 507 W. 27th Street, New York. Tickets are available through Fever.
