Musicians at Home | Rachel Trachtenburg - Design Bureau

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THE NEW CUTENESS Several of the guitars and ukuleles in Trachtenburg’s impressive collection were gifts from friends. When she’s on the road she takes little things from her room to make her feel more at home. “I have little things, like my perfume, or books. I’ll bring five books and not even open them—it’s just the idea of having them there,” she says.

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Musicians at Home | Rachel Trachtenburg

Tuesday, July 30th, 2013

By Laura Neilson
Photos by Noah Kalina

With 13 years as a performing musician under her belt, it’s easy to forget Rachel Trachtenburg is still a teenager—until you see her bedroom in the Brooklyn apartment she shares with her parents. The indigo-hued playroom is scattered with secondhand books, cartoonish mushroom art, and assorted DIY craftworks. Somehow all of it comes together in a perfect mishmash harmony. Two days before heading o! on tour to support her new album Don’t Pop My Bubble with her band Supercute!, the 19-year-old who started out at the age of 6 playing drums for her parents’ indie-rock outfit, The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players, gave us a tour of her psychedelic abode.

LN: Did you paint this space yourself?
Rachel Trachtenburg: Yeah. I’ve only lived here for two months. I used to live in another bedroom where everything was pink. I was like, ‘OK, now you’re grown up, I’m gonna do blue.’ I went to the hardware store and said I wanted an evening blue, but it was more like ‘Blue Man’s Group’ blue. So I added a bunch of purples and other colors and thought I could fade it. It’s four different colors in different areas.

LN: How would you describe your style and aesthetic in general?
RT: Twisted-sweet. I really love candy and colors and psychedelic stuff. I sew a lot of my own clothes, so they’re always fitted weird and falling apart. Very do-it-yourself, that kind of thing. And I’ve been embroidering a lot, so that’s been fun.

LN: In terms of being creative, have you always been allowed to do your own thing?
RT: Oh yeah! If anything, I’ve been encouraged to do something and express myself. If I came in here and said I was going to leave it white, my mom would be like, ‘I’ll go to the hardware store with you. Let’s go get some paint.’

LN: What influences your sense of style?
RT: For the most part, it’s just the environment that I’m in—my parents, how creative and productive they are. A good amount is music. I’ll listen to [Pink Floyd’s] Atom Heart Mother and I’ll just sit here and light some candles and be inspired to do anything—physical handiwork or whatever, whether it’s sewing or painting or drawing. A good amount is from reading different kids’ books.

LN: The place definitely has a fairy-tale feel to it. Have you been reading a lot of those?
RT: I was never really exposed to fairy tales much growing up, and I think it’s probably a little from that. My mom was very anti-Disney. And it’s magical because I don’t have a connection, so I can discover them at this age where I’ve already had my childhood things.

LN: Is this room a creative space for you?
RT: It’s my favorite place on earth right now. It’s fun to do different things with it. This is my main creative area, and where I do everything. I need to have complete privacy to be able to sit down and write a song.

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