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.
Boston commissions Hank Willis Thomas to bring his gun violence memorial there.
A $3 million Mellon Foundation grant is funding 30 new public art initiatives in the city of Boston. Hank Willis Thomas headlines the lineup of seven participating artists, who were selected to capture “underrepresented” moments of the city’s history. Thomas will present The Gun Violence Memorial Project, marking his second major public art commission in the city following his viral monument, The Embrace.
A city councilman is pushing New York City landlords to provide air conditioning.
Brooklyn city councilmember Lincoln Restler plans to introduce a bill requiring landlords to provide air conditioning units to tenants during summer season, when temperatures hit 82 degrees or higher. The bill, inspired by existing New York City laws mandating heat during winter, aims to mitigate the health risks of extreme heat, which disproportionately affect Black New Yorkers. If passed, landlords will have four years to comply, and must submit a compliance plan within two years, or face fines.
After five years, Marc Jacobs and Nirvana have settled their smiley face logo lawsuit.
Nirvana and Marc Jacobs have settled a lawsuit over the designer’s use of a smiley face similar to Nirvana’s in his 2018 Bootleg Redux Grunge collection. The settlement marks an end to more than five years of litigation that began when Nirvana claimed Jacobs’s design, featuring slight modifications, infringed on its copyrighted intellectual property. The terms of the settlement remain undisclosed, and both parties declined to comment.
Tom Ford creative director Peter Hawkings exits the label after just one year.
Peter Hawkings, former creative director of Tom Ford, has resigned just a year after he was appointed to the job following its takeover by Zegna and Estée Lauder. Hawkings, a longtime deputy of Tom Ford, assumed the role in 2023 following Estée Lauder’s $2.8 billion acquisition of the brand. His exit introduces uncertainty for Zegna Group’s growth plans, which include doubling the brand’s store count and relaunching womenswear with a focus on handbags.
Ole Scheeren reveals plans for giant Shenzhen skyscrapers with waterfall facades.
Ole Scheeren has unveiled designs for Scenic City, a pair of Shenzhen skyscrapers that will be the new headquarters for Chinese mega e-tailer JD.com. The project’s most notable aspect is its facades, which resemble waterfalls. The two towers will host office, hotel, retail, and cultural spaces, with landscaped terraces designed to blend with the surrounding nature.
Today’s attractive distractions:
You can’t finish this freewheeling Brian Eno documentary, and that’s the point.
Of course it’s a Pentagram partner that’s making data visualization kid-friendly.
This new Assouline tome chronicles 100 unforgettable Olympic moments.
“Bikini Bottomcore”: Are Spongebob-inspired interiors really a thing now?
