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Nikiya Schwarz ~ Designer/Space Editor

Nikiya was born and raised in Nevada County. She left the area several times in pursuit of higher learning and broader seeing, but felt the pull to returned post studies to raise her daughters on the land and in the community she felt most at home. She is an interior editor & stylist, a certified Feng Shui practitioner, and a holistic counselor who moonlights as a copy writer/editor. She harbors a lifelong passion for spaces and a special affinity for elementally inspired designs and handmade houses. She is especially intrigued by the interface of nature and culture as well as the tiny things that sit on window sills and bedside tables.

Kat Alves - Photographer

Kat was born in an old gold mining cabin in Nevada City in the late 70's.  She returned to raise her family in her home town after living in urban cities around the world. Kat is a freelance interiors and architectural photographer with a background in interior design. She works with both commercial and residential clients. She loves to capture the process of design, working with makers of all kinds. She is always exploring and seeking unique dwellings to photograph, she has a deep interest in the way in which people inhabit the spaces they call home.  Her work can be seen at her website katalves.com.

Carrie Hawthorne ~ designer / stylist

Carrie has deep roots in Nevada County, the daughter of artists with a long list of entrepreneurial ventures under her belt. She’s had a role in many of the iconic downtown enterprises, from part owner of the Magic Theatre (now the Onyx), to a brief foray in the corporate design world, to being the present day co-owner of Kitkitdizzi, a retail haven in downtown Nevada City. With an eye for the unusual and a heart swayed by beauty, she is an exceptional curator who knows the wisdom of waiting for that perfect thing and probably also just where to find it. She’s steadfast in her passion for timeless design and uncompromising in her love of distinctive objects.

A little backstory…

The Yuba River canyons attract a hungry and spirited crowd. They are artists and musicians, farmers and midwives, loggers and mushroom hunters, doctors, lawyers, teachers, radicals and hermits. They are beloved, integral pieces of the human tapestry of this area, especially the ones who don't want to be bothered. Many of these folks were part of, or descendants of, the “back to the land” movement that gave rise to a particular visual vernacular in human shelters. Sometimes straying entirely from codes and conventions, they are backwoods, off the map, sometimes off the grid. Despite their unconventional building methods, many of these places exhibit baffling perseverance through the decades. Until the elements reclaim them, these stories pay homage to them and to the greater Yuba River Watershed community. The structures and the ethos behind them, illustrate just how deeply a place informs its inhabitants.

We, Kat Alves and myself, Nikiya Schwarz, (because it’s weird for me to speak in the third person) found each other during a photo shoot and immediately discovered we had a mutual desire to capture the unique cultural and artistic heritage of the community in which we grew up. We wanted to dig deeper into the stories of the people around us, to gather imagery of their homes and homesteads, to understand our own cultural heritage in a deeper way. We also wanted to create a visual tapestry of the charismatic habitations that dot this rural landscape. Lastly, we want to make beauty, in your homes and places of work. That brings in an actual third person, Carrie Hawthorne, who is part of the design team and the co-owner of Kitkitdizzi in Nevada City. (see the “ABOUT” page)

The Gold Rush of 1849 that created what we now call “Nevada City” was devastating to both the land and the peoples who lived here for thousands of years before the arrival of the gold-diggers. While this project focuses on the recent inhabitants of the Yuba River Watershed, it’s important to name that these are the unceded, ancestral homelands of the Nisenan Tribe. Though the Gold Rush and settler mentality nearly wiped them from existence, the Nevada City Rancheria Nisenan tribe are a presence here in the community. There are many ways to support the tribe and further their mission to preserve, protect and perpetuate Nisenan culture. Visit their education & arts gallery downtown Nevada City and learn how to get involved at chirpca.org .

And why Gold Dust? It is rumored that the hands of miners, who did the hard work for very little pay, would often collect tiny particles of gold dust. Those particles of dust, if rubbed into hair & clothing, could amount to a penny or two if you were diligent. Gold Dust is what’s left behind. It’s scrappiness & ingenuity. It’s how to thrive when the ways of the world don’t favor you or you don’t favor them; much like how these houses got built. And…we are partial to a certain song by a certain iconic songwriter. She was referring to another kind of dust, but that’s another story.

If you or someone you know would like to be featured, please contact us. We'd love to hear from you.