Good Spaces with Arianna & India

photography by Jailen Moore

Creative duo, Arianna & India take us on a tour of their spunky, ‘cool girl’ apartment in Downtown Atlanta. The girls both moving to Atlanta for school recount their days leading up to the move. Maryland native and crochet artist, Arianna says, “I love it here! Obviously sometimes when you live anywhere you kinda get sick of it but for what it’s worth, I definitely love Atlanta. I love the people here, it's good energy. Like once you find your people it’s real easy to maneuver.” Spelman alumna, India adds, “I’m originally from LA so the energy here is kinda similar but somewhat different. When I first came to Spelman it was like hard to kinda find people who had similar interests with me. Me and Ari definitely gravitated towards each other. She already had her own friends who were photographers, DJs and so you know we just all got along.”

India (left), & Arianna (right) pictured in their Atlanta home.

Arianna: Yeah it’s like not even networking. It’s more of just making friends, and we vibe, and realize everyone gets along so it’s been real cool.

After meeting on the campus of Spelman College, Ari and India became instant besties. Spelman College, one of three schools of the Atlanta University Center, gave the girls a fresh perspective on fashion, friendship, and coming into your own. Arianna, an International Studies major with a Photography minor is finishing up her final year at Spelman while crocheting dresses, and outfits in her free time.

Arianna: So when I was in high school, they were not really accepting of me and the way I dressed so I wasn’t really confident in myself when I got to the AUC. I still was myself, just not as confident. But when I got to the AUC I realized that people were really encouraging of me being who I was, and they appreciated it. It really helped me blossom into who I am, and just feel more confident. It made me confident in my talents as well; people would be like ‘Omg! Do you sell your crochet?’ So it definitely made me take myself more seriously, and realize I could do this as an actual job, and make money off of it.

India, an artist and future environmental technician shares her experience at Spelman in regards to creativity and fashion: “Going to the AUC..I don’t know. It didn’t really inspire my fashion or my style forreal. I think that it did kind of force me to be who I was, and be okay with standing out. Like I’m not gonna lie to you I came to school looking good everyday. People will look at you funny like, ‘Why is she dressing like this, it’s 8 AM?’ Yeah, it’s 8 AM and I got on my Pradas.”

Some of us respect it!

India: That’s what I’m saying. And that’s when I gravitated towards people like Ari. She’d wear some cool shit. In the AUC you just have to find your community. Being with Ari all the time, you know she tends to dress more expressively. I’m alittle more fem and stuff like that. She definitely likes to explore a lot more. Being her friend has forced me to try new things.

After discussing our many stories, and fashion horror stories of the Atlanta University Center, the girls walked us through their design process. What was the process like coming up with the aesthetic of your place? The creative concepts, the colors, how was that?

Arianna: So originally it was kinda tough because I’m really into like orange, and pops of bright colors, and I’m really into purple. The color purple is my favorite color ever. And then India hates orange.

India: I don’t hate it, I just wasn’t trying to see orange all time.

Arianna: Yeah, and she’s more into muted greens and blues. So basically we had to find a way to compromise, and have everything we wanted. I’ve got my little pop of orange in my chair, and the paintings. We tried to go with the green and blue themes that India wanted.

India: Right. That’s what she asked me. She was like ‘What colors did I want to incorporate?’ So we went with green, blue, and yellow.

Everything in India and Arianna’s home have their own cool, unique touch to them, like the round, accent chair. Their DIY’d coffee table features little trinkets, and plants. Embedded in the table, and in the compartments features photos of their friends, and India’s art.

Arianna: We love this chair. We found it on Facebook Marketplace.

India: A lot of our stuff is from Facebook Marketplace. Our dining table is from Facebook Marketplace, this chair. She found this coffee table upstairs. It was like white, and I guess our neighbors just put it out. So we rolled it down here, and spray painted it. We just have random little collectables around like the Powerpuff and Hello Kitty clock.

Arianna: We found it at a gift shop. This desk is from Goodwill. We just try to find everything on a budget.

India: You really just have to search.

Arianna: All the art is by India.

Arianna: Yellow for that pop of color. So it ended up getting really colorful in here either way, but honestly we kinda like the fact that nothing matches but everything matches at the same time. Cause I don’t really like matchy matchy things. We tried to find things we liked and sort of decorated around that.

What does a regular day look like for you guys?

India: If we’re both home, we’d probably have a shoot to advertise my art or her crochet. She has a crochet line that’s coming out so I’ve been trying to paint for her so we can promote our crafts. Then we’ll make breakfast, and watch like Moesha or something, Girlfriends, 101. But they’ve all ended so horribly. I can’t believe it but anyways..

Arianna: We watch our Moesha, and then probably try to get some work done. We write our goals on the window. Sometimes we write daily goals or weekly goals. We try to accomplish something on the list at least in this time, in quarantine.

India: Yeah, because it’s so hard to stay motivated.

Arianna: Right. Everything feels like a task so we try to do one thing on our list. So I’ll have my school work, and India will have a painting or interview, or working on her resume. If we’re not home, we’re usually at work.

With quarantine being in effect for about a year now, people all around the world have had to get creative with their day to day routines and activities. Arianna adds, “We go on a lot of picnics. There’s a goat farm across the street or like chickens.”

India: There’s not actual goats. It’s like an art center or district, and I guess there use to be shops there. Well there still are it’s just that because of COVID it’s closed down. But it’s great scenery there, and it’s like 3 mins away from here.

Arianna: That or Piedmont Park, we just really like to be outside.

India: We roller-skate in the parking garage on the roof or we paint. That’s why there’s so much paint on the walls.

Arianna: Sometimes we’ll thrift. I don’t know, I hate to say it but we just like vibe. Just going with the flow, and seeing where the day will take us.

It is very clear the girls spend a lot of their time being creative, or catering to their eccentric styles. When asked about their style they both go into detail about their fashion sense.

Arianna: In my head I’m like a pop star, and I’m about to like go on stage and I have all these outfit changes. That’s how I would describe my style. Whenever I’m dressing I’m not really thinking about where I’m going. If I wanna wear something, I’m gonna just go for it. I’m a Pisces so I’m always in my head. I’m not trying to impress anyone else except for this alternate reality in my head, and in my head I’m a pop star so you know I gotta give my fans what they want. So it’s definitely really influenced by my imagination. I’m also into nostalgia. I love knick-knacks. I have like split personalities. I can be very fem. It’s always one or the other. I could be in all pink showing my ass, and every curve or I’m like in the baggiest clothes covered up dressed like a little boy. There’s really no in between.

India: I usually like to go for the aunty look. I do like my browns. I like black. I like the boots.

Arianna: She loves a crocodile boot!

India: Yes! I love chain belts, and hoop earrings. I do feel like I’m a lot more fem. I like high waist trousers, they be making my booty look good. I like crop tops. I don’t know, it can be very like vintage, and aunty.

Arianna: She’ll sometimes influence me or I’ll influence her. Some days I’ll find myself dressing in like all brown, like an aunty. And sometimes India will wear an outfit like this, and I’m like, ‘Woah I never seen you like this.’ And she’ll pull it off great!

What is your favorite artistic piece in your home, and what’s the story behind it? Something sentimental or has some value to you.

India: Honestly, I have the greatest time in this chair. I think we really value this chair. Do you agree?

Arianna: Yeah, and we went through so much to get it too. At the time like I didn’t have a car or anything. I just got my first car so we would take an Uber to the Uhaul, and rent the Uhaul. And the dining room table we found when I didn’t have a car, and it was so heavy. Apparently it was someone’s great great grandmother’s. So it’s like heavy, and made very well. But I would have to say this coffee table is my favorite. We like worked kind of hard on it. When we first got it, it did not look like this and we got it for free too. We didn’t like it white because it didn’t really match the look we were going for so all we did was spray paint it and I love it. It has so many compartments. I just love it.

In your opinion, what makes a good space?

India: If you’re having a bad day coming in your space should elevate your spirit. Drink some tea, sit down, and reflect.

Arianna: I feel like throughout college I’ve lived in a lot of crazy places that just felt very temporary, and didn’t feel like my own space. It was very hard for me to feel at home. I didn’t really feel positive about my space. I really wanted to make sure since I’m graduating and getting my first big girl place with my best friend, we both wanted to make sure that it was a place we felt comfortable living in.

India: Right. A place where we could really do our thing! Cause you know when you live with your parents, you could wear something and they’d be like, ‘Oh, you’re wearing that? Oh okay, well I guess that’s your style. You don’t think that skirt’s a little too short?’ You know what I’m saying, so this really feels like we have complete creative freedom.

Arianna: I love having plants because it gives us something to take care of, especially with our cat. We have to get up and take care of business.

India: Our candles, and incense. We really like that. And just like making art by yourself or with your friends. Putting it up, it’ll really make a difference too. We often have people come over, and we’ll paint. It’s just good energy.

Arianna: A lot of the paintings or drawings we have are ours, or paintings our friends did. The photos on the window ceil are by Amari, he goes to Morehouse. I have a lot of influence and art from my friends, or AUC artists around the house.

What is your favorite type of plant? Or what’s a good plant to get for a first time plant parent? Asking for myself.

India: A cactus, or a bamboo! You have to wash it quite frequently, but it adds tranquility.

Arianna: Yeah, and it’s hard to kill. Even if you do forget to water it you’ll notice it’s getting brown very quickly and it’s easy for them to bounce back. Also a fern is good if you live in a humid apartment. You can get a spray bottle to keep the leaves wet, and that helps too.

And what’s next for you guys? Any upcoming projects or things in the works?

Arianna: I’ve been trying to start my website, well we both are. We’ve never taken any classes in business so everything we do is just a learning process. We make a lot of mistakes, and we mess up because we don’t really know what we’re doing so we’re just trying to figure it out with time. I’m working on having a big collection so I can drop really soon.

India: I’m trying to paint her for her collection, and also so she can have customized mailers for her crochet line, and collabing.

Arianna: We’re always trying to figure out ways to support each other.

India: Yeah, like for my last painting that I made she made me a crochet outfit for the day, and we just modeled. I just keep painting. What’s really next is my iron on patches of my art.

We had such a good time exploring India and Arianna’s home. It was great to be around other black women with great energy, and an amazing first installment to Good Spaces. Make sure y’all check out India and Arianna’s Instagram pages so you all can stay up to date with their lives and art!