Kayra Richards
This spring, the Corcoran’s photojournalism students are highlighting students from different programs to document their lives and work across campus. We recently visited Kayra Richards, a BFA in Interior Architecture student.
Kayra Richards, from Paterson, New Jersey, was inspired to pursue interior architecture while exploring different career interests at GW. She uses interior design to express her creativity while providing its users a space to create memories. Coming from an urban city, Kayra uses interior architecture to solve issues as they relate to the Black community. She often finds herself incorporating design decisions that are universal and welcoming of all walks of life.
While researching demographics for her capstone project, Kayra found that there was a major issue of black hair discrimination found within the workplace. Being an advocate for Black people embracing its hair in its natural state, this sparked the ideas for her current studies. For her senior capstone project, Kayra is currently designing Kurlz, an African American Hair Institute, that will serve as a community based salon/cosmetology school for Black men and women in the area. The design concept, “community”, is used to implement this design stems from the arts and cultures found in Anacostia, DC. The space includes exhibitions, salon services, and instructional classrooms to accommodate the clients, visitors, and students.
To see more of Richards’s work you can follow her on Instagram @kayrarichardsdesign
Photography by Sydney Walsh (@sydneywalshphoto), BFA in Photojournalism ‘22
