The concept for each turns on Bloomstein’s childhood, growing up in a Sufi community that occupied the site of a former Shaker compound. It sounds like a once upon a time type story, something that had its day and is preserved only in memory. It is and isn’t. The reverberations of history can be felt even now, a slipstream Bode and Green River wade in. “Everyone likes to say their thing is timeless,” Bode said. “For me, ‘timeless’ [means] you could take a photo of it and not understand when it’s from. It’s not even necessarily about looking older, it’s not being of a time.” Aujla said he and Bloomstein’s approach to their own designs has been indelibly shaped by watching how Bode works. They’ve taken to thinking about their pieces in a similar way, from a departure point of personal history, even if it’s one the end user might perhaps never know. A stout anodized aluminum chair upholstered in worsted wool refers to Bloomstein’s grandfather, who was a navel architect, and ran a firm based out of the South Street Seaport. This anecdote isn’t a secret, exactly, but it also does not appear among product notes. History isn’t reduced to a hang tag. It’s steeped in the basest conception of how they choose to live. Their businesses are a way to remember, and remembering is a way to move forward. “Working from a specific place is something I don’t think Aaron and I would do on our own,” Bloomstein said. “We tend to be somewhat cynical where Emily isn’t. Her honesty has given us a kind of courage.” The Story of Bode and Green River Project, Ssense