The Power Thing // An Interview with Katie Finn

The Power Thing // An Interview with Katie Finn

by Ben Zoltowski

Whether you choose to accept or refute, a few of the things on your mental list of ambitions include having sex (lots of it, and forever seeking hotter), making money (oh stop, yes it is important to you) and becoming known (even if for just a quick taste of notoriety). In your mind, those three things are packaged into one hedonistic triple-play package and every morning you daydream on how to make it happen. Well, while you sit around and Tweet your gasps of “Look over here! I’m doing something!” into the digital abyss, Katie Finn is busy prepping to own that triple-play package. As the proprietor and sole designer behind the upscale NYC jewelry line Elizabeth Street, Finn’s work is exclusively found adorning the appendages of those with plenty of money to burn. The work is handmade, the pieces are gorgeous and gold don’t come cheap - so we get it.

In all honesty though, we initially wanted to sit down with her to hear about an impromptu photoshoot she’d fallen into with the king of low-brow, hardcore, fashion photography: Terry Richardson. For the uninitiated, Richardson’s universe hinges on the principle that in front of his lens (or any lens, really) upper tier celebrities, anonymous porn actors, automatic weapons, politicians and gang members alike are all one. And with each shutter click, Richardson gives each  subject their non-discriminatory ten seconds of fame. Back in ‘07, Katie Finn got hers. The moment, as she describes, was both perverse and fleeting (though the photos were later stolen by an ex-boyfriend of hers, so you’ll have to use your imagination.) Much to our delight, turns out Finn is an uncensored, unabashedly sexual and beyond driven young entrepreneur. The type that’ll get what she wants not just because she’s good enough, but because she’s inclined to come right out and say it.

Fame-seekers on all levels, take note -- time to admit what it is you really want.

BZ: Just to be straight, we’re talking right now because of a by-proxy experience you had with Terry Richardson, a famous photographer. So in a way, we’re giving you exposure through a moment you had with someone way more known. But it’s safe to say there are aspirations of fashion world fame for Elizabeth Street.

KF: Well, brand recognition isn’t necessarily the same thing as fame, and even that I have a cap on; I don’t want it to be some worldwide recognized brand. I don’t need to be some global superstar. I’d be line if I could succeed in the New York market and maintain at that level.

BZ: Though maybe a fast track to wider recognition would be to get your jewelry on someone that’s already famous. Isn’t it a dream to open up US Weekly and see your gear around Reese Witherspoon’s neck?

KF: (Laughs) Well that’s funny; the first magazine I had my stuff in was Life & Style, which is a celebrity tabloid. I’ve had people contact me about doing grab bags at Sundance. There’s definitely a way to get your work on celebrities, but I’m not gonna hire some PR person to put my shit on somebody famous. If the work’s solid enough, in due time that’ll happen. I’d rather just make good work that sells easily to wealthy people -- people that’ll spend the money I need them to spend in order to keep going.

BZ: The under-the-radar New York elite.

KF: Yeah, I might have somebody who’s extraordinarily wealthy buy my stuff -- they might not necessarily be famous, but they’re in power somehow, they might actually be beyond fame. They may be the ones who decide who gets famous. In the meantime, I’m sort of plagued in some ways by these jewelers in New York that are actually celebrity jewelers.

BZ: Like celebrities that have their own jewelry lines?

KF: No, I mean people with no actual skillset whatsoever that have other people fabricate their jewelry for them. Maybe they’re heavy on the party circuit or they have “cool cred,” or street cred -- something that facilitates it for them in order to get their shit on some famous person. They have these connections and they’re able to get their line to an upper echelon of fame.

BZ: Goddamn, that sounds like such a weird world.

KF: (Laughs) It’s so weird.

BZ: Ok, so let’s talk about this experience with Terry Richardson. How did this even happen in the first place?

KF: Well, this was in 2007 and I used to live in the same neighborhood as him. At the time, I was working for this awful, slave driving, brother & sister jewelry design tag team from hell. They didn’t know how to make anything and I was working for them as their bench jeweler in Tribeca. They were incredibly racist and just horrible. One day, the guy told me that my biggest aspiration was to be a designer for Macy’s and I just fucking quit on the spot. I went out to lunch with a friend and started drinking.

That night, I’m sitting on the bench outside my building smoking and Terry walks by with this swarm of models, just walking down the street, happy-go-lucky beautiful people. I’m sitting there in a sweat suit and a huge, fucking ridiculous overcoat. Later he comes back by himself, tries to go into this restaurant and order food but they won’t serve him because they’re closing. We started talking, and he says to me “They won’t serve my kind.”

BZ: Were you familiar with his work at all at the time?

KF: Yeah, I liked his photos and I like comedy and I think he’s actually pretty

funny. That’s basically the thing that will get me off about art; it’s gotta make me laugh or it’s gotta turn me on in some visceral way. Or it’s gotta be technically really fucking good.

BZ: So he invited you up?

KF: He asked me for my number. And I’m thinking “This is hilarious, I’m gonna give this guy my number and nothing’s gonna happen.” But literally the next day I got a text message saying “Hey Katie, it’s Terry. Do you wanna come over and take some photos?”

BZ: Damn. So you’re in his place the next day. Is it surreal being in this realm of celebritydom, a place where he’s photographed the likes of Christian Bale, Chloe Sevigny, Will Ferrell, whoever else?

KF: I had no idea I was in some sacred territory. Though I was really impressed by the work he had on the wall, he had a bunch of original Larry Clark photos from Tulsa.

BZ: Did you two hang out and get to know each other before the shoot began?

KF: There was no hanging out; there was no chit-chat.

BZ: Word is he can get pretty overtly sexual with his subjects as a way of verbally loosening them up...

KF: Yeah. And I’ll say you feel pretty fucking vulnerable when you’re naked in front of a stranger who’s taking your picture. And I was totally naked.

BZ: And did he say anything to ehhhh...

KF: At one point, he said to me “Tell me you want me to cum in your ass.”

BZ: That’s overt! What’d you do?

KF: Oh, I said it. I remember being a little shocked. I remember the “s” sound kind of trailing off.

BZ: But you weren’t offended?

KF: (Laughs) It was really exciting. It was very...titillating. And it definitely created a different kind of dynamic for me.

BZ: If you had some guy on the street say to you “Tell me you want me to cum in your ass,” you’d call the cops. But here you had this famous photographer with a camera pointed at you and it’s somehow completely different. And there’s that sort of stale theory that a camera can metaphorically double as a phallus -- did you feel like you two were having some form of sex?

KF: The thing is, that wasn’t the only dynamic that was there. I did some pretty stupid shit in front of the camera for him; holding this ridiculous little sculpture, cradling it like it’s a baby. I’m posing with this giant stuffed animal with a cut-out of his face on it. That wasn’t sexual shit. He introduced a few different dynamics and most of them were funny. That was the stuff that I got off to on a whole other level. I don’t feel like there was any kind of real intimacy created between me and him. Even after all of that, I have no actual insight into who this person is.

BZ: Was there any kind of aftermath to having these photos taken?

KF: I did have one experience. I was working for a very high-end French art gallery in Miami. These people are ridiculously huge. They sold three $1.5 million Murakami paintings during Art Basel this year. The gallery owner though was this pompous, condescending, just kind of dark person. He’s this relatively young French guy that perceives himself to be hip -- he’s done work with Pharrell Williams, wears neon Nikes, etc. He was in town getting ready for Art Basel and we’re having lunch and I find out they used to represent Terry. So I said “Yeah, Terry photographed me at one point.” The expression on his face changed completely. He says “Oh really. I can only imagine what went on at that photoshoot.” Basically like “You must have fucked him.” It immediately changed his perception of me.

BZ: Like you’d all of a sudden become promiscuous.

KF: Exactly. But I want to be clear that I hold the word “slut” in high regard -- it’s got a lot of power in a lot of ways. But yeah, I think he thought I probably fucked Terry and that he could probably fuck me too. He had a history of fucking the American chicks that worked in the gallery.

BZ: You’ve got your jewelry line and this guy works with these famous figures,

Pharrell Williams or whoever, and you’re not biting.

KF: Fuck no. There was no fucking way. I wasn’t interested. For me, I don’t have the capacity to fuck a guy because he’s powerful. But these guys, their dicks are profiting off of them promising some kind of notoriety, exposure, fame, money...

BZ: And there’s a good percentage of people out there that might’ve taken the bait, thinking it might lead to some of those things.

KF: It’s sort of like prostitution is deeply ingrained in a woman’s DNA in a certain way.

BZ: Back to Elizabeth Street for a sec -- when you pull up the website, there’s just a giant pair of naked tits staring you in the face. Is that sexuality inherent in you? Or was that at all inspired by your experience with Terry Richardson?

KF: In a roundabout way, I think the aesthetic was inspired by him. We happened to use a Playboy Playmate for that shoot and I think it’s effective. I think it’s funny. If somebody’s gonna be offended by a set of tits or an ass... at this point, I don’t really care. There will be people that will like it just as much as I do. Sexuality’s ingrained in everybody and I like the idea of profiting off of sexuality -- especially when it’s got nothing to do with the product you’re selling. Jewelry has nothing to do with sex.

BZ: Like in virtually all fashion advertising, everything’s alluding to sex – but everyone wishes they could see more. You’re giving them the “more.”

KF: Yeah, and it’s really aesthetically pleasing to me. She’s got nice tits and I think the product looks good piled on top of them. It’s over the top and it’s ridiculous.

BZ: And I suppose the jewelry market and the sex market haven’t exactly become inextricable yet.

KF: (Laughs) No. Hopefully for humanity’s sake, sexuality is deeply ingrained in everybody. And as far as my work, people can say “Oh you’re a jewelry designer, you’re an artist,” but I’m in no way expressing myself through jewelry. I just make things because I like to use my own technique to make something that’s unique and appeals to my aesthetic. And a really nice looking girl’s body appeals to my aesthetic. To me, those two things are intermeshed in some very shallow way. And I’m gonna present that -- always. As long as I can present sexuality with my work, I’m going to.

BZ: Sounds like a good recipe for some notoriety.

KF: But fame? Red carpet recognition? No. I just want money. I just want to be able to be comfortable and make my jewelry. Even in New York, you see famous people and they try and blend in and live like normal individuals, but they still can’t do it. You go to some small restaurant and see someone famous and that registers on your radar. They’re different and their lives will never be normal. If my product could have market status, without me having to put myself out there, that would be perfect.