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
Rentable Shigeru Ban Houses Pop Up Outside Hiroshima
Overlooking the Seto Inland Sea in Hiroshima is the newly opened Simose Art Garden Villa, a quaint museum complex peppered in rentable structures designed by Shigeru Ban. The buildings might appear new, but the designs aren’t: the Japanese architect conceived the villas in the 1990s as private vacation homes, but were since demolished. They’re now getting a new lease on life thanks to Simose, which only slightly modified Ban’s original schemes.“I wanted to make a museum that could change shape,” Ban says, “and to create a new experience for visitors upon revisit.” The exquisite landscape makes that a near guarantee, as does his signature flourishes—the Paper House comprises 110 paper tubes, while the glass-clad Wall-Less House bears a floating slab roof—that lend the complex its grandeur. —Ryan Waddoups
Still from “Grenfell” (2019). Image courtesy of Steve McQueen…
Steve McQueen will screen his film about the Grenfell Tower tragedy at Serpentine.
In 2017, Steve McQueen filmed Grenfell Tower from a helicopter after a fire engulfed the high-rise block of flats in London’s North Kensington neighborhood. The Oscar-winning film director’s latest film, titled Grenfell, features no words, music, or dramatization, and captures the tragedy’s raw aftermath, repeatedly circling the charred council block. The 24-minute film, a record of the scene before it was concealed from view, will be screened at London’s Serpentine South gallery from April 7–May 10, following a phase of private community viewings that prioritized survivors and the bereaved.
A new UBS Art Basel Report indicates the art market has shown surprising resilience.
According to the UBS Art Basel Report, the U.S. and U.K. art markets have demonstrated cautious growth, with collectors remaining committed to buying art and re-engaging with live events, and exhibitions, auctions, and fairs returning to fuller schedules, indicating the post-pandemic art market’s strength and resilience. Both markets performed well despite pandemic-related challenges, but the Chinese market experienced setbacks due to lockdowns and canceled sales and events. The report also provides data on auction sales, dealer sales, and leaders by region, and a second consecutive look at NFTs.
Design dealer Jermaine Gallacher launches a biannual interiors magazine called Ton.
Jermaine Gallacher, a design dealer, furniture and interior designer, and Vogue columnist, has launched an interiors magazine Ton. The biannual publication intends to offer an idiosyncratic reading experience and represent individualistic, instinctual, and non-prescriptive interiors. The first issue, out this month in a limited edition of 1,000, features stories about youthful artisans and director Luchino Visconti’s decaying holiday villa, which was hidden for years.
Aesop in Yorkville, Toronto, designed by Odami. Photography by John Alunan…
In its largest acquisition yet, L’Oréal plans to acquire Aesop for $2.5 billion in the fall.
French beauty giant L’Oréal is slated to acquire Australian brand Aesop for $2.5 billion, its largest brand acquisition yet. The deal was announced by Aesop’s parent company, Natura & Co, which also owns The Body Shop and Avon. Known for its luxury skin and body care products, Aesop’s sales have grown almost 20-fold since 2012, with the brand hoping to expand further into mainland China. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
Kwame Brathwaite, a photographer and pioneer of “Black is Beautiful,” dies at 85.
Kwame Brathwaite, a pioneer of the Black is Beautiful movement and a prominent photographer and activist, has died at 85. During the 1960s, Brathwaite’s portraits of Black women helped shift the dominant image of beauty and popularized the phrase “Black is beautiful.” His work has since been credited with ushering in new forms of representation, particularly for Black women, and has continued to inspire artists decades later. Brathwaite launched his photographic career by capturing images of musicians and worked as an unofficial photographer at the Apollo Theater.
Frieze New York will showcase artwork by Artadia Prize winner Jessica Vaughn.
The upcoming Frieze New York will showcase a commissioned work by conceptual artist Jessica Vaughn, the recipient of this year’s Frieze Artadia Prize. The artwork will feature images from Vaughn’s three-year mail art project, called The Internet of Things, where she mailed letters to various sites affiliated with commerce, violence, or leisure, and deliberately mislabeled them to display the various marks, stamps, and notes of the United States Postal Service. Vaughn’s artwork will be printed on canvas and linen and displayed as a “revisioning of the traditions of landscape painting” at the fair.
Block toilet by Pentagon Design. Image courtesy of Woodio…
Today’s attractive distractions:
The world’s first bio-material toilet swaps out porcelain for composite wood.
Enter the House of Cannabis, New York City’s smoky new stoner sanctuary.
