A Sneak Peek of Nike’s Hotly Anticipated Tiffany Sneaker, and Other News

The Design Dispatch offers expertly written and essential news from the design world crafted by our dedicated team. Think of it as your cheat sheet for the day in design delivered to your inbox before you’ve had your coffee. Subscribe now. 

Have a news story our readers need to see? Submit it here

A Sneak Peek of Nike’s Hotly Anticipated Tiffany Sneaker

More details have emerged about Nike and Tiffany’s hotly anticipated collaboration, which was teased by Tiffany executives Alexandre Arnault and Ruba Abu-Nimah on Instagram earlier this week. The two brands are teaming up to celebrate the Air Force 1’s 40th anniversary with a limited-edition sneaker—officially called the Nike x Tiffany & Co. Air Force 1 1837—and shoe-themed sterling silver accessories like a whistle chain and dubrae for the laces. Packaged in a pristine Tiffany Blue box is a black suede sneaker emblazoned with the same turquoise swoosh. The sneaker will be available for purchase March 7 at two Tiffany locations in New York City, the Nike Snkrs app, and select Nike stores across the country. 

Though the collaboration marks Tiffany’s first official foray into footwear, sneaker enthusiasts may recall the brand’s signature turquoise adorning one of Nike’s most hyped drops ever. The sports giant enlisted Nicholas Tershay, founder of skater label Diamond Supply Co., to design a pair of low-top dunks in 2005. He layered black crocodile leather and a silver swoosh against a backdrop of turquoise mesh and leather, calling it the “Tiffany.” Now considered a classic, the rare sneaker is currently going for $3,850 on Sotheby’s. Perhaps that price tag caught the attention of LVMH, which has launched a spate of Tiffany collaborations (Supreme, Fendi, Patek Philippe, and Daniel Arsham) since acquiring the brand in 2021. —Ryan Waddoups

Hank Willis Thomas unveils a sports-themed sculpture for the upcoming Super Bowl.

​​Shortly after unveiling a monument to Martin Luther King Jr and Coretta Scott King that divided critics, Hank Willis Thomas has announced his latest work. The artist was tapped by the NFL to create a stainless steel sculpture outside the State Farm Stadium in Arizona during the Super Bowl on Feb. 12. Willis Thomas drew from a 2015 artwork to create the ten-foot-tall sculpture, Opportunity (reflection), which depicts the arm of an unidentified player catching a football. “The ball is a metaphor for the present moment and what we do with it,” he told the New York Times. “In team sports, it’s all about what the collective does with the present moment toward achieving a goal against sometimes unlikely and unseemly odds.” After the Super Bowl, the work will travel to the Arizona State University Art Museum.  

Tate Modern loses its privacy case with a nearby high-rise over a viewing platform.

The UK Supreme Court has ruled in favor of residents of the Neo Bankside flats, who claimed that the Tate Modern’s Herzog & de Meuron–designed Switch House extension invaded their privacy and prevented them from enjoying their homes. The ruling stated the Switch House’s viewing gallery caused “substantial interference” with the residents’ properties and was a “straightforward case of nuisance” due to constant observation and photography. The case will now be returned to the high court to determine a remedy, which could include payment of damages or an injunction. The dispute began in 2016, when residents accused museum-goers of spying and applied for an injunction. The high court at first ruled against them, stating that the residents should take their own measures to protect their privacy.

A judge convicts climate protesters who smeared cake onto a King Charles wax figure. 

Two climate protesters were convicted of criminal damage and ordered to pay £3,500 ($4,307) to Madame Tussauds in London after they smashed a vegan chocolate cake topped with shaving foam into a waxwork of King Charles on Oct. 24, 2020. District Judge Neeta Minhas declared the damage caused was “significant” and “not minor or temporary” and convicted both defendants of causing £3,500 ($4,307) worth of criminal damage. Self-employed artist Tom Johnson received a 12-month conditional discharge, £1,750 ($2,153) compensation, and £250 ($307) in costs. Eilidh McFadden, who has three prior convictions for aggravated trespass, received a 12-month community order with 80 hours of unpaid work and must pay the same compensation and costs.

Loewe wraps up its Studio Ghibli capsule collections with an installation at Selfridges.

Two years after dropping a successful Studio Ghibli capsule that quickly sold out, Loewe is wrapping up its years-long celebration of the Japanese animation studio’s wondrous worlds with a month-long installation at Selfridges London. Creative director Jonathan Anderson, a longtime Studio Ghibli fan, designed another capsule collection of clothing and accessories inspired by the film’s walking castle and lead characters Sophie, Howl, and fire demon Calcifer. The collection will be accompanied by original Studio Ghibli sketches, a culinary experience called Calcifer’s Kitchen, and screenings of the film at The Selfridges Cinema. 

Carin Goldberg, graphic designer who transformed book and album covers, dies at 69.

Celebrated graphic designer Carin Goldberg, who transformed album and book design with postmodern flair in the ‘80s, died on Jan. 19. After training as a painter and cutting her teeth as a designer for CBS Records under Paula Scher, she designed covers for such bestsellers as Oliver Sacks’ The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat, Madonna’s self-titled first album, and Vintage’s 1986 reissue of James Joyce’s Ulysses. She became recognized for her “airy, open style that balanced ornament and white space” and her ability to reimagine vintage typography. She was a scholar of designs and typefaces, once telling Print magazine that “without a sense of design history, graphic designers are lost in space.” 

Ai Weiwei is preparing an exhibition at London’s Design Museum about design history.

Ai Weiwei is taking over London’s Design Museum with an installation that uses design and history to meditate on value, humanity, art, and activism. The exhibition, called “Ai Weiwei: Making Sense,” features hundreds of thousands of objects collected by the Chinese dissident artist since the 1990s, organized into five “fields,” including Still Life, which features 1,600 Stone Age tools highlighting the origins of design rooted in survival. Another features 200,000 porcelain spouts hand-crafted during the Song Dynasty. “I had to think about how we use the space in the Design Museum as a whole,” Weiwei says. “The exhibition offers a rich experience of what design is, and how design relates to our past and to our current situation.” The exhibition, Weiwei’s biggest UK show in eight years, opens April 7.

Today’s attractive distractions:

Meet the daredevils who became the first family of human cannonballing. 

We’re not the only ones annoyed about Amazon’s rampant junkification.

A new documentary illuminates how Japan’s vibrant manholes are made.

Here’s why Atomic Age design continues to look futuristic 75 years later.