Hem Gets Experimental With a New Collaborative Platform, and Other News

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Hem Gets Experimental With a New Collaborative Platform

Eclectic design objects may not immediately come to mind when one thinks of Hem, the direct-to-consumer furniture purveyor known for pared-down pieces whose staying power arises from familiar silhouettes and top-notch craft. But collaboration has long been in the Swedish brand’s DNA, with some of its most recognizable releases being brought to life by vanguard designers like Faye Toogood and Max Lamb. Acting on his itch to experiment and broaden the brand’s horizons, founder Petrus Palmer teamed with London magazine Modern Design Review to launch a series of limited-run decorative accessories in 2019. One memorable example came from Supergroup, which debuted a fantastical landscape of ceramic rainbows, flowers, and clouds.

The idea’s success led the brand to launch Hem X, a collaborative platform for artisanal design objects limited to editions of 100 or less. Hem plans to develop an eclectic range of collectible decorative objects in partnership with expert curators, such as Swedish interior decorative collective Arranging Things, which tapped artist Lisa Reiser for cloud-like glass sculptures, designer Jonatan Nilsson for mirrored acrylic plinths, and glassmaker Rasmus Nossbring for polished sculptures in the shape of mini-monuments. “There’s a strong yearning for the authentic and tactile, perhaps as a contrast to the screens we have in front of us every day,” Palmer says of Hem X. “We like to think of the mass-produced and the artisanal as complementary, and we love the idea of having both avenues under the Hem umbrella.”

Johan Lindsten and Markus Johansson debut a pendant that pays tribute to the arch.

Architectural arches are often a source of inspiration for designers, from Stine Aas’s curved Cleo Chair for Dims to a series of flower vases by LATOxLATO. The latest comes from Johan Lindsten and Markus Johansson, who teamed up to create a slick pendant for Swedish brand Oblure. The steel fixture’s seven pillars are each equipped with a light source, making it an ideal choice for illuminating kitchen tables, islands, conference rooms, and offices. 

Shigeru Ban has been on the ground helping Ukrainian refugees recover in Poland. 

“Shigeru Ban had been working with students from the Wrocław University of Science and Technology on the influx of Ukrainian refugees sheltering in a converted former supermarket in Chelm, Poland, where they were able to construct and install 319 privacy partitions over a four-day span. He now plans to send an additional 800 screens to refugees sheltering within their now war-torn country. The gesture has reportedly had a tremendous emotional impact on the wary travelers, whose plight in turn has captivated the 2014 Pritzker winner well known for working with displaced populations.” —[H/T Archinect]

SCAD Museum of Art appoints Public Art Fund’s Daniel S. Palmer as chief curator. 

“Moving from a string of high-profile curatorial positions in New York to a significant teaching museum down South, Daniel S. Palmer has been appointed as the next chief curator of the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah, Georgia. Most recently, Palmer was a curator at New York’s Public Art Fund, which he joined in 2016. While there, he oversaw exhibitions and major commissions for artists such as Melvin Edwards, Awol Erizku, Carmen Herrera, Harold Ancart, Tony Oursler, and Liz Glynn.” —[H/T ARTnews]

The VR platform Decentraland will host the “first-ever” fashion week in the metaverse. 

Virtual reality platform Decentraland has launched Metaverse Fashion Week, a digital fashion week where brands including The Fabricant will showcase new clothing collections in the metaverse between 24 to 27 March. Over the four-day period, Decentraland will host a series of runway shows, afterparties and pop-up shops with brands exhibiting digital garments on avatars walking on virtual catwalks. —[H/T Dezeen]

A Tehran museum director was fired after a performer plunged into an oil pool. 

“The director of Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (TMoca) was fired earlier this month after an artist performing in the institution’s rotunda almost fell into a metal container beneath filled with oil. Yaser Khaseb was swinging above Japanese artist Noriyuki Haraguchi’s Matter and Mind (1977) installation in a harness when his body hit the surface, causing a spillage. According to the Tehran Times, the deputy culture minister for artistic affairs, Mahmud Salari, announced that Ebadorreza Eslami-Kulai would subsequently replace Ehsan Aqai as museum director.” —[H/T The Art Newspaper]

The National Gallery of Victoria will receive a new museum by Angelo Candalepas.

“The final design of the National Gallery of Victoria’s contemporary arts space has been unveiled, with the state’s creative industries minister, Danny Pearson, describing it as Melbourne’s equivalent to the Eiffel Tower. Pearson on Tuesday announced the winning design, by Angelo Candalepas and Associates, which includes 13,000 square meters [140,000 square feet] of exhibition space, a rooftop terrace, and restaurant with CBD views, a 40-meter-high [130-foot-high] spherical entrance hall, and scientific laboratories for the conservation of art.” —[H/T The Guardian]

Christie’s will auction a Marilyn Monroe by Warhol for an estimated $200 million.

“Upping the ante for the spring auctions and attesting to the enduring strength of blue-chip trophies, Christie’s announced that it would sell a 1964 Andy Warhol silkscreen of Marilyn Monroe in May for an estimated $200 million, which would make it the most expensive 20th-century artwork ever to sell at auction. The announcement about the work, Shot Sage Blue Marilyn, represents a significant burst of excitement for a high-end art market that has come through the coronavirus pandemic largely unscathed.” —[H/T The New York Times]

Today’s attractive distractions:

Rick Owens unveils a $4,000 cocktail table that also doubles as a fog machine.

Excavationists uncover ancient tombs and sarcophagi underneath Notre-Dame.

Would you take the kids to this construction-themed amusement park in Texas?

Russian oligarchs are desperately hiding their superyachts in the Mediterranean.