A Day in New York City With Glossier's Julia Muntean

Julia Muntean is an experiential designer at Glossier, where she and her team create unique and meaningful spaces that provoke discovery and growth for the brand. Julia’s day involves walks with her dog, site visits, and sketching before bed.

8:00am: I wake up to Gus, who only slips out of his bed when he hears the sound of his breakfast hitting his doggie bowl. After our bellies are full, we take our morning walk to the waterfront park with the best view of the city at the northern tip of Greenpoint. It’s one of my favorite things about the neighborhood: always being a couple blocks away from the water. I feel both at peace and invigorated by the river against the vast expanse of Manhattan. There are people who feel most themselves in nature, but I thrive in intense cities and this view is my daily reminder.

9:20am: The subway from Greenpoint to Soho is about forty minutes, I like to take this time to listen to a podcast, read, or catch up on messages and emails depending on the day. I really enjoy the podcast Forbidden Fruits with Julia Fox and Niki Takesh; their transgressive opinions feel very refreshing in this day and age. If I’m reading, I’ve lately been indulging in nostalgic 20th century New York, a lot of James Baldwin and Patti Smith. One time I actually thought I was sitting on the subway next to Patti Smith and my heart rate skyrocketed. The woman sitting directly next to me on my left looked so much like her and was wearing a mask so I couldn’t turn to be sure. I spent the whole subway ride with sweaty palms conspiring in my head about what I would even say to her if it really was her, since she’s such an admirable icon.

10:00am: After grabbing my favorite smoked salmon, egg croissant and coffee from Balthazar for my coworkers, we meet at our Soho store that is currently mid-construction.

Marie Suter and Adriana Deleo, Glossier’s creative directors, along with Kendall Latham, our director of retail design are on site to review general project status and mock ups from fabricators. We all have our own custom hard hats and drop by the site religiously. We love to stay close to the construction process and form collaborative relationships with our contractors and fabricators. It’s amazing to see all the designs come to life, since all aspects of the space, down to the tiniest of details are designed in house. The best days are when everyone is on site, decisions and problems are resolved quickly so the building process can go on smoothly.

1:00pm: Usually I’ll grab a sandwich or a few rolls of sushi from Sunrise Mart on Broome and then sit on storefront steps along West Broadway. When the sun is shining it’s the perfect place to soak it in and people watch.

1:30pm: After lunch I head to Glossier HQ deeper in Soho to get on with my work day. A typical day in the office for me is a mix of making mood boards, renderings, drawings, and specifying material palettes for upcoming Glossier retail stores and experiences. We have an area called the “creative lab” that has a good glimpse of all the projects going on within the team, whether they’re photo campaigns, product designs, graphic designs, video edits, or even product development. Our creative team contains so many highly talented designers and creative people; we really have someone for every skill needed. This fosters such a great environment for unexpected inspiration and makes all segments of Glossier’s brand design feel thoughtful and cohesive since we are all learning from each other. It’s something I really appreciate about working on Glossier’s creative team as opposed to a conventional architectural setting. I’ve had amazing exposure to such a range of creative work which has made me a well-rounded designer.

7:00pm: Home for dinner. My boyfriend Tim, who is also an architectural designer, is cooking an elaborate recipe for us. He makes a killer sourdough loaf and is really passionate about trying new recipes and executing them to perfection. He’s also very athletic and health conscious, always trying to get me to take more vitamins (which I absolutely hate doing, but I wholeheartedly appreciate his efforts). We’ll enjoy our dinner and chat about the latest in our lives until we finish our meal. Dinner should always come with dessert, so it usually ends with a slice of something sweet or a few spoonfuls of ice cream.

8:30pm: I’ve been trying to work a little bit on a collection of furniture pieces in my spare time, inspired by the medieval buildings in Transylvania, Romania, where I am from. I spent many years of my childhood with my family in Sibiu and have gone back every summer since moving to the US in the 90’s. Sibiu is such a charming old city with a rich medieval history, my family’s house is right in the city center by the old fortress. My aspiration for the collection is to capture my childhood memories, medieval wood-making techniques and ornamentation with a contemporary twist. I’ll spend some time in the evenings making sketches for these pieces and sourcing the right wood types and fastening details.

11:00pm: By this time, I’m back snuggled in bed with Gus, scrolling away through second hand and vintage clothing sites looking for specific pieces or any new things I can find. I love learning about various brands’ collections and digging deep through archives to find exactly what I’m looking for as I doze off to sleep.

Finally, a special thank you to the people who make my every day and designs possible:

Marie, Adriana, Kendall, Charles, Amanda, Jordan, and the team at APBuild. Glossier Retail would be nothing without you in my every day.