Matte Nyberg | Founder, Grin & Berit

Bombshell | noun : one that is stunning, amazing, or devastating. 

Brooklyn Bombshells is a blog series from the desk of Rue Saint Paul featuring women movers & shakers, influencers, and makers & doers in Brooklyn. The blog is an inside look at the everyday woman in our own neighborhood, her passion projects, and her inspirations on life, fashion, and travel.

Read on about our feature Bombshell: Matte Nyberg, Founder of Grin & Berit

Grin & Berit | @grinandberitdesign

What is your passion project? And why did you start it?

My passion project is an extension of my Master’s Thesis work which was titled Accumulated Heritage. It has developed into a few distinct parts one of which is my ceramics business called Grin & Berit, which debuted summer of 2018, and another portion, which I have just added, is an instagram account called @allthetinythings. The overarching theme between all of my work is this idea of cultural and social traditions and that can be physically represented through designed objects.

What has been the most challenging and most rewarding part of building your project?

The most challenging part of it has been figuring out how to make an academic thesis project into something that can be profitable and sustainable. I am constantly questioning how it all comes together as well as debating where I need to invest my time and energy while also trying to give myself space to explore.

Seeing people have emotional connections with something that I have created is extremely gratifying and having a profession that doesn’t feel like work is the cherry on top.

What brought you to Brooklyn? How long have you lived here? What Brooklyn neighborhood do you live in?

Grad School at Pratt. I never imagined living in New York, but alas I moved from Minnesota to Brooklyn over 8 years ago. I lived within a 6 block radius of Pratt in Clinton Hill for my first 6 years, but I have currently taken up residence in Park Slope and I love it. I live 7 blocks from my community clay studio and a short G trip away from my day job. So, Brooklyn is my entire existence.

Describe your style in 3 words? 

Scandinavian, functional and meaningful

What is the one fashion accessory you cannot live without? 

I pretty much live in black jeans and black shirts. But I dress it up with jewelry occasionally. My go to piece is a long amber pendant that was given to me by my German host-mom. It was her favorite piece to wear when she was young and she has now passed it on to me. After a few years, the setting broke and as a birthday gift my own mother redesigned the setting and chain for me. It reminds me of two of the most important women in my life.

We love to travel and hope you do too. Where was your last trip and where is your next one? 

The last real trip was to Iceland to sit in natural hot springs and watch the northern lights. The driving was rough even for a Minnesotan but the views were well worth it. The dream is that the next vacation would be to New Zealand but more realistically it’ll be a domestic trip to visit old friends.

If you didn’t live in Brooklyn, where would you want to live? 

Definitely Copenhagen. I lived there for a year in college and for a couple of months in grad school. I have since referred to it as my utopia. It’s just the right size, everybody's polite, you can ride your bike everywhere, it's safe and everything is beautiful.

Learn more Grin & Berit | @grinandberitdesign