Lisa Przystup on Writing, Fall Rituals, and Life in the Catskills

Rip & Tan: How did you come into writing?

Lisa Przystup: I grew up loving books excessively, thoroughly, obsessively—they gave me worlds on worlds to collapse into, whole wide imaginary universes—my love of writing was born from my love of reading. My dad is also a voracious reader and a very good writer. He was my first editor and taught me the importance of saying more with fewer words (a lesson I am still learning).

After getting my Master’s in Journalism, I moved to NYC and proceeded to intern and network and freelance and pitch endlessly, often with little to no success—I ended up hitting a wall and took a break from it all to do flowers for a little bit and that was such a nice reset. It allowed me some distance from this carrot I had been so aggressively chasing and that distance lent itself to opportunity. I ended up more actively writing for publications like Domino and New York Magazine, which led to the book. I’m a Type-A overachiever perfectionist (to a fault), so this checklist-y linear path that I imagined as a writer was more like a winding path with offshoots, which I now realize is a much more realistic and accurate unfolding of both life in general as well as a career.

Rip & Tan: As a writer, where do you usually find inspiration? Has that changed over time, especially since moving out of the city?

Lisa Przystup: I find that reading is always a catalyst for creation and inspiration. Nature and the changing seasons also inspire in a really big way—they always have, even when we were living in the city, but being so close to them, immersed in them the way we are here really asks you to notice more closely and feel those noticings at a more cellular level. At the risk of sounding woo-woo, it really does feel like your animal body starts to incorporate itself into the seasons and nature as a whole—like you truly become a part of the ebb and flow of the natural world (which, duh, we are a part of the natural world, we are animals).

Rip & Tan: What drew you to the Western Catskills in the first place? Has the move influenced your work at all?

Lisa Przystup: We first found our way up here in 2015 when my husband came up this way to shoot a music video at our friend Taylor’s cabin—he and the crew stayed above Brushland Eating House, which is when he met Sara and Sohail Zandi and that was sort of our introduction and entry point to the area. We loved the smallness and intimacy of the tight-knit community. The far-awayness of it from the city also appealed—we’re really off the beaten track. The closest train line is close to two hours away and it takes three hours to get to the city on a good day, so the people who end up choosing this area as a home do so with commitment and intention.

Rip & Tan: Is there any overlap in how you approach writing vs. your style choices? Do the two forms of expression ever feel similar?

Lisa Przystup: Hmmmm…that’s a good question. I was going to try to find a commonality but I think ultimately the answer is, not really. I think it would be stretching a little to connect the two as they come from such different places. Writing is so much more personal—it feels like it comes from turning myself inside out, it feels very vulnerable—whereas fashion/style can sometimes almost feel like a protective measure, like adding another layer between myself and the world. Fashion/style also offers more of an opportunity for play—there’s a sort of levity to it as a form of expression. I do think that I am ultimately a creature of comfort so clothing, more often than not, provides me with a sense of comfortability while writing is almost the opposite of being comfortable. It often makes me feel uncomfortable with what I’m bumping up against, such as perceived inadequacies, etc. I think at the end of the day, I really care about being a good writer in a way that I don’t care about being a well-styled person.

Rip & Tan: You styled three looks from the Jenni Kayne fall collection—what drew you to those particular pieces?

Lisa Przystup: The opportunity for layering, the fact that the pieces work well as they iterate in individual looks but could also be mixed and matched with ease—a sort of capsule wardrobe of timeless, classic numbers.

Rip & Tan: Your home feels so warm and inviting. How do you approach curating a space that feels lived-in yet elevated?

Lisa Przystup: Oh, that makes me so happy—this is exactly how I want our home to feel, so I’m glad that translates/comes across. It’s funny because I really don’t think I can articulate how I go about creating or designing our space—all I know is how I want it to feel and then I make decisions based on that. Most of our pieces are vintage and many of the vintage pieces we love the most are the ones that have stories or have been handed down by family over generations. For example, the bedframe in our guest bedroom belonged to my husband’s father when he was a kid, then my husband when he was a kid, and now it’s a soft landing for friends and family when they come stay with us. I do think there’s the assumption that in order to have a beautiful home you have to throw money at it, but I tend to find those interiors, for all their aesthetic value, often lack warmth and approachability, meaning and texture—all things that are important to me.

Part of curating a space means surrounding myself with things that are imbued with meaning. A rock we found on a beach somewhere, a wasp nest found by my husband’s uncle, a snakeskin found in our front flowerbed, a bird’s nest made from horsehair—things like that make me happy. We, of course, have some nicer hero pieces that were investments, and I think that combination is what creates the “lived-in and elevated” feeling you’re describing.

Rip & Tan: Can you share some of your favorite seasonal rituals or traditions that make fall feel meaningful to you?

Lisa Przystup: The mornings tend to be mistier and moodier at the start of fall—I love going out first thing and walking our property to look for spiderwebs holding the dew—there’s such a beautiful magic to finding them and they’re always so stunning. Picking apples and making apple dumplings/apple cake/apple pie is another tentpole. Then of course there’s prepping the garden for the winter, loading the wood into the basement for winter fires and making the first fire of the season. Halloween rituals also figure heavily into the season for us.

Rip & Tan: Heritage often shows up in the way we present ourselves. Are there aspects of your upbringing or background that continue to influence your personal style?

Lisa Przystup: My mother had (still has) incredible style—it’s classic and simple and not overwrought or contrived—it’s just an extension of who she is and the way she carries herself, her personality. There is zero posturing. I think a big part of it is that whatever she chooses to wear is enlivened and elevated just by the simple fact that she is the person wearing it. I think that’s the wonderful intangible thing about fashion and something I learned as I got older—you can try to recreate a look you saw someone else wearing, but sometimes it doesn’t translate. Mainly because you cannot recreate the energy or magic of the person you saw wearing it. You have to find your own magic.