Production Flaws Plague Ikea and Supreme, and Other News

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Ikea products face another recall after 159,000 dishes are reported for scalding users.

After receiving 123 reports that its plastic Heroisk and Talrika bowls, plates, and mugs were breaking and causing hot food or liquid to leak out, the Swedish home retailer is recalling all 159,000 of them in the U.S. and Canada. (Four of the reports were injury-related, two required medical attention.) It’s not the first time Ikea’s products have come under fire for causing injury or even death. Last year, tests revealed its Troligtvis travel mug leached harmful chemicals into the liquid inside of it. In 2018, two dogs suffocated to death after getting their heads trapped in the company’s water-dispensing bowls. Worst of all, toppling furniture has killed at least six children. “All our products are tested and comply with applicable standards and legislation,” the company said in a statement. “Despite this, we have received reports of the products breaking.” Customers can return Heroisk and Talrika products for a full refund even without a receipt.  

Supreme reportedly delays its lounge chair due to an “unsafe manufacturing flaw.”

Already having released a smaller lawn chair, a director’s chair, and a metal folding chair, the hitmaking streetwear brand Supreme might be holding back its lounge chair after a last-minute defect was reportedly discovered. Estimated to retail between $98 to $128, the delay could actually cause the price to spike if a smalled stock is released. The hype-driven label has become synonymous with drop culture, though some are starting to wonder if it’s over-extending its reach with recent product launches such as a $1,300 ‘50s–style fridge, a T-shirt featuring a teddy bear wearing a strap-on dildo, and a head-scratching fishing collaboration.

David Zwirner debuts a click-to-buy website that will sell artworks from smaller galleries.

During the pandemic, David Zwirner experimented with e-commerce by inviting younger galleries to showcase work on its website with a “buy now” option. The venture proved so successful that Zwirner has now launched Platform, an e-commerce website in which buyers can purchase artwork immediately with the click of a button. “We learned there’s a real place in the art world for e-commerce,” Zwirner told the New York Times. “There’s an audience out there we didn’t know existed. They don’t go to galleries necessarily and they don’t really go to art fairs. They look at things online.” Platform, which debuted last week, will offer 100 works each month from 12 smaller galleries (Charles Moffett, Jessica Silverman, and Bortolami have signed up so far) with prices ranging from $2,500 to $50,000. 

After a seven-year tenure, Amale Andraos steps down as the dean of Columbia GSAPP. 

Amale Andraos has announced her resignation as dean of Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP). The WORKac co-founder’s seven-year tenure was marked by strengthening GSAPP’s connectivity to the city and fostering collaborations between the institution and other disciplines. Andraos will continue her role as dean throughout 2021 and step down at the end of December. She’ll continue to be involved in GSAPP by serving as special advisor to the president beginning in July. “Climate change is one of the main reasons I accepted to serve as Dean seven years ago,” Andraos wrote in an open letter to students. “I’ll be able to continue to advocate for our disciplines’ urgent transformations so that they may help address the challenges already here and across our shared planet.” 

Partisans and BDP Quadrangle unveil initial visuals for 55 Yonge, a 66-floor high-rise in the heart of Toronto.

In the heart of Toronto’s financial district near the King Street station along the Yonge subway line will sit 55 Yonge, an upcoming 66-floor mixed-use tower designed by collaborating architects Partisans and BDP Quadrangle. The building will include approximately 500 new residential units, state-of-the-art office space, and street-level retail. A creative response to the rapid growth of Toronto’s vertical communities, the tower is marked by a single singuous gesture that likens the facade to a fabric (or bubble wrap) and culminates in a series of stepped terraces that minimize shadow impacts on the nearby landmark Cathedral Church of St. James. “It’s a lattice that sinuously joins the residential space to the office space,” Alex Josephson of Partisans says of the facade. “And it shifts along the way; it responds to the different needs of people on different levels.” 

The LA Arts Recovery Fund awards $36 million for post-pandemic-relief to arts nonprofits.

The LA Arts Recovery Fund has announced that 90 nonprofit organizations will receive more than $36 million in grants for post-pandemic rebuilding. Grant recipients span the visual arts, theater, music, dance, literary arts, and arts education, and serve communities throughout Los Angeles County. The fund will provide operating support grants ranging from $5,000 to $2 million over a period of two to three years to small and mid-sized arts and culture nonprofits to ensure they can begin the recovery process and re-envision their futures. Initiated by the J. Paul Getty Trust and administered by the California Community Foundation, the fund is a collaboration between local and national funders and is the largest-ever pooled private investment for arts in Los Angeles County. 

Today’s attractive distractions:

Kim Jong-un enacts new laws that include bans on mullet hairdos and ripped jeans.

Spotify debuts a series of playlists to improve the wellbeing of your indoor plants. 

Balenciaga comes full circle with its historic return to haute couture after 53 years. 

Milan’s congested Piazzale Loreto will be reenvisioned as a vibrant green space.