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.
French Elegance Defines Celine’s New London Flagship
Taking root inside a Grade II-listed Edwardian building on New Bond Street, Celine’s new flagship marries historic elements with contemporary gallery-style touches: folding mirrored screens, glass display cases, and vintage furniture. Outfitted with artworks by Leilah Babirye and Nika Neelova hanging from the ceiling, the ground floor stocks women’s ready-to-wear, accessories, and homewares. A salon-like octagonal space lined in golden Baroque-inspired panels houses Celine’s fragrance collection and embodies the neo-bourgeois aesthetic that creative director Hedi Slimane has implemented since taking the reins in 2018. “It’s an intimate space, somewhere between a ‘cabinet de curiosités’ and a jewelry box,” he says.
Photography by Juergen Teller, courtesy of Loewe…
Loewe and Studio Ghibli drop (and sell out of) a vivid Spirited Away capsule collection.
Earlier this year, Loewe dropped a capsule with Studio Ghibli. Adorned with the vivid landscapes and beloved characters from the 1988 classic My Neighbor Totoro, the limited-run collection of bags, t-shirts, and jackets quickly sold out and proves that Hayao Miyazaki’s ability to evoke emotion hadn’t lost any of its power. As a follow up, Loewe teased another capsule collection for fellow Studio Ghibli film Spirited Away a couple weeks ago through a series of social media posts. The collection, which features imagery from the Academy Award–winning film and enjoyed a campaign shot by Juergen Teller, also promptly sold out.
Sotheby’s is facing a class-action lawsuit that alleges the mistreatment of employees.
Though Sotheby’s enjoyed major success last year, it endured a fair share of controversy. The auction house is currently facing the threat of a class-action lawsuit filed by accountant Francis Fenwick alleging Sotheby’s misclassified workers as independent contractors as opposed to full-time employees, thus violating New York’s Freelance Isn’t Free Act.
Chicago’s historic Pioneer Bank & Trust will be transformed into a cultural hub.
Designed by Munich-born Chicagoan bank specialist Karl M. Vitzthum, the landmark neoclassical bank in Humboldt Park has fallen into disrepair since Puerto Rico-based Banco Popular vacated in 2008. Now the structure is preparing for its next act thanks to Team Pioneros, an all-Latino group that includes design practice JGMA, Park Row Development, and All Construction Group. When complete, Pioneer Bank & Trust will reopen as a community hub with entrepreneurial incubator space, a Latino cultural center, and offices.
Marble Arch Mound in London by MVRDV. Photography by Matt Dunham/Associated Press…
The MVRDV-designed Marble Arch Mound closes in London after a mere six months.
The much-derided monument, which reportedly cost $8.15 million,closed in London over the weekend after a six-month run largely defined by disappointment and social media mockery. When it first opened, the tourist attraction promised lush flora, sweeping city views, and its very own light exhibition inside the mound. It fell far short of expectations, with visible scaffolding and sparse greenery making for a lackluster experience that was well-documented on Twitter. A review likened the attraction to “that famous Cristiano Ronaldo statue” and described descending into the structure’s interior as “a little soulless rather than a beating heart, an empty space used to store hand sanitizer and temporary signs.”
Sarah Roseman invents soft silica, a novel material made using knitted glass.
Blurring the line between textile and glasswork, soft silica is the culmination of a year’s worth of research and experimentation by Canadian designer Sarah Roseman, who melts fiberglass in a kiln until it reaches a soft state, then knits it into complex shapes. “Glass is a dynamic material, and the technique of slumping allows delicate control over the movement of its molten state,” she says. “The beauty of working with glass is the ability to see the melting material caught in midair, creating a material that can look like it is suspended in time.”
New York weighs legislation to create sustainability regulations in the fashion industry.
Last week, New York lawmakers unveiled the Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act. If passed, it would make New York the first state to approve legislation that would hold the fashion industry’s biggest players accountable for their role in perpetuating climate change. The law will apply to clothing and footwear companies with more than $100 million in revenue doing business in New York. So far, a multitude of powerful stakeholders have backed the bill, including the New Standard Institute, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, and designer Stella McCartney.
Today’s attractive distractions:
Medical DMT is now being tested on people with treatment-resistant depression.
