DESIGN DISPATCH

Elon Musk Might Build a New City in Texas, and Other News

Our daily look at the world through the lens of design.

SpaceX’s Starship production facility in Boca Chica

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Elon Musk deepens his foray into Texas with plans to build a new city called Starbase. 

Elon Musk’s expansion plans in Texas are beginning to take shape. On Twitter, Musk teased the creation of a city called Starbase to support the production facilities currently building SpaceX’s Mars rocket, Starship, while the company’s website listed a job opening at a “state-of-the-art”  Austin factory where Starlink satellites (his direct-to-consumer internet company) will be mass-produced. We’ll see if it actually materializes, but it’s worth noting that incorporating a new city is no small feat and will require surmounting legal challenges. “If SpaceX and Elon Musk would like to pursue down this path, they must abide by all state incorporation statutes,” Cameron County Judge Eddie Treviño said in a statement. 

Lina Bo Bardi has been awarded the Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.

The Italian architect Lina Bo Bardi, one of the masters of Brazilian architecture, has won the Special Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement in memoriam of the Venice Biennale 2021, scheduled to open to the public on May 22. Bo Bardi’s legacy lives on through her renowned projects such as the rationalist Glass House, the suspended Museum of Art São Paulo (MASP), the restoration of the Solar do Unhão, and the performance art theater Teatro Oficina.

Toogood Homeware

Faye Toogood launches her first home goods collection of minimalist tableware and textiles.

When Faye Toogood began experimenting with clay after assembling a collection of found rocks, pebbles, and bones, she decided to branch into home goods. Toogood Homeware, the British designer’s first dedicated series of homeware, officially launches with two capsule collections: Dough, a series of minimalist tableware with plates, mugs, bowls, and vases; and Plough, a range of two geometric decorative throws. The collection translates the soft, sculptural shapes that define her furniture into products more intimate in scale yet still packed with personal touches such as chunky handles and matte finishes.

The opening of Orlando’s Super Nintendo World theme park has been delayed until 2025.

Much like other openings, Orlando’s highly anticipated Super Nintendo World has been beset by delays due to the coronavirus pandemic. Modeled after an open-world Mario game, the theme park was originally planned to open in 2023, but construction of the 750-acre campus was paused in July 2020 due to pandemic-induced economic uncertainty. Universal Studios has now reported that construction will resume immediately, but is expected to take several months before it can reach full speed as Universal restaffs and reassembles its vendor and contractor teams. The earliest completion date is now 2025. Aside from Orlando and Osaka, a third Super Nintendo World is currently under construction at Universal Studios Hollywood.

Mariane Ibrahim. Photography by Philip Newton

Mariane Ibrahim will expand her fast-ascending namesake gallery from Chicago to Paris.

Two years after relocating her gallery from Seattle to Chicago, Mariane Ibrahim has her sights set on Paris. The ascending art dealer will expand her namesake gallery to the city’s 8th Arrondissement, where she’ll kick off the new venture with a group show inside a renovated three-story space on Avenue Matignon. The move marks a homecoming for Ibrahim, who grew up in Somalia and France before relocating to the United States in 2010. She never anticipated returning to Paris, but hearing about French museums repatriating African artworks caught her attention and put the city back on her radar. Details for the opening show remain to be seen, but it will draw from her impressive roster that includes Amoako Boafo, Clotilde Jimenez, Lina Iris Victor, and Ayana V. Jackson, among others. 

Two years after his death, Sotheby’s is auctioning off Karl Lagerfeld’s Monaco estate.

Two years after his death, Karl Lagerfeld’s estate in Monaco will be auctioned off by Sotheby’s. The famed fashion designer was a widely known aficionado of art and furniture from a range of periods and styles, and the items in the auction will reflect his strong connections to Monaco and the principality’s sovereign family. The valuation is expected to take around two months, with a sale anticipated during the second half of 2021.

An immersive Vincent Van Gogh experience

Today’s attractive distractions:

Pharrell Williams’s streetwear brand is making a foray into homewares.

Wild Raspberries (1959), a rare Andy Warhol cookbook, goes to auction.

What’s going on with all these immersive Vincent Van Gogh experiences?

NASA’s first all-electric airplane is moving closer to becoming a reality.

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