DESIGN DISPATCH

A Dreamy Artist-Designer Loungewear Collab, and Other News

Our daily look at the world through the lens of design.

The Kristen Giorgi x Lunya capsule collection

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A Dreamy Artist-Designer Loungewear Collab

Kristen Giorgi, known for paintings of peaceful abstract landscapes and surreal nude studies, has launched a capsule with women’s loungewear brand Lunya. According to Giorgi, the capsule centers around “the immense beauty of being in repose,” and consists of a slip dress, tee set, and pants set in a washable silk satin, and a pima cotton sleep tee. Each silk piece features a print created from Giorgi’s ethereal Bonds I painting, while the pima tee’s print draws from a similar work called Bonds II. “We’re celebrating fashion as a wearable art form and inviting the world to put rest on a pedestal, to treat their bodies with love and care,” Lunya founder Ashley Merrill says, “and to find inspiration when not performing for the outside world.” That ethos clearly resonates: several sizes of each item have already sold out. —Jenna Adrian-Diaz

Desert Galaxy Camp by Jin Weiqi

3andwich Design completes Desert Galaxy Camp in northern China’s sweeping dunes.

Far in the remote reaches of north-central China, where the country’s mega-cities give way to sweeping sand dunes and 1,000-year-old imperial mausoleums, a new hub for adventure travel has risen. Composed of a multifunctional hall and an outdoor stage close by, Desert Galaxy Camp is a jumping-off point to explore the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

Lishui-based 3andwich Design conceived the plan for the unique project, whose weathered steel shell appears to be surfacing from the golden landscape like one of the colossal sandworms from the recent adaptation film Dune. Inside the stack of white cubic forms is a reception area, restaurant, and events hall. Nearby is a concrete outdoor stage connected to the main building by a meandering wooden path that also leads to visitor’s campsites. Described by 3andwich as a buried jewelry box, the structure is gateway to an untouched primordial destination that brings a whole new meaning to “off the grid.”  —Nate Storey

Maquette for Hélio Oiticica’s “Subterranean Tropicália Projects: PN15 Penetrable” (1971). Photography by Miguel Rio Branco

A seminal installation by late Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica will be realized in Queens.

“When he arrived in New York in the early 1970s, the late Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica dreamed of creating a large-scale outdoor public installation for the city. Oiticica, who died at 42 in 1980, was never able to realize this work, titled Subterranean Tropicália Projects (1971), the red-tape of New York City’s bureaucracy proving insurmountable for the acclaimed artist. Now 51 years after its original conception the scaled-down circular iteration, PN15, will be at last realized at another New York City park, the Socrates Sculpture Park in Queens.” —[H/T ARTnews]

Subterranean mazes have become a secret weapon helping Ukrainians during the war.

“Tunnels can be an effective tool in resisting an oppressor. Indeed since the war began in February, reports have emerged of Ukrainian defenders using underground tunnel networks in efforts to deny Russian invaders control of major cities, as well as to provide sanctuary for civilians. Such networks allow small units to move undetected by aerial sensors and emerge in unexpected locations to launch surprise attacks and then essentially disappear.” —[H/T Fast Company]

Fort Worth will become the first city government in the United States to mine Bitcoin.

“Fort Worth, Texas, is now the first city government in the United States to mine bitcoin—and in an almost poetic devotion to the initiative, Mayor Mattie Parker oversaw the construction of a small mining farm in City Hall. Three Bitmain Antminer S9 mining rigs will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, in the climate-controlled information technology wing of Fort Worth City Hall. The city says the miners will be hosted on a private network to minimize the security risk.” —[H/T CNBC]

The Boeing 747 lounge by Ken Feldman and Imagination Studio at Burning Man. Photography by Melanie McClenahan

Ken Feldman’s divisive Boeing 747 lounge at Burning Man will reappear in Las Vegas.

“The artist Ken Feldman and his studio Big Imagination were brutalized online in 2018 when their contribution to the Burning Man festival, a Boeing 747 airplane that was converted into a lounge and nightclub, was said to have remained stuck on the Black Rock Desert playa for weeks after the event, seemingly violating the festival’s cardinal “leave no trace” rule. But less turbulent times are on the horizon: the $1m artwork has found a permanent home on the less ecologically vulnerable outskirts of the Las Vegas strip, where it will be installed at Area15, an immersive arts and electronic music complex proffering elevated experiences.” —[H/T The Art Newspaper]

TeamLab is suing an L.A. museum for copying its Instagram-friendly light installations.

“When teamLab—the Japanese art collective known for creating 360-degree interactive software environments—opened a museum in Tokyo in 2018, it drew more visitors during its first year than the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. But popularity can be a double-edged sword. The success of teamLab’s installations and other Instagram-friendly offerings like Yayoi Kusama’s “Infinity Mirrored Rooms” and the Color Factory have inspired droves of imitators. Now, teamLab claims one museum in Los Angeles, the Museum of Dream Space (MODS), has gone too far, violating its copyright and fooling consumers into thinking it is associated with the Japanese collective.” —[H/T Artnet News]

Wakanda in Black Panther. Image courtesy Marvel

Today’s attractive distractions:

A judge orders the man who defaced an LGBT pride mural to write a 25-page essay.

To the surprise of virtually no one, most buyers of NFT art are only in it for the cash.

Step inside the scenic architecture and sets of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. 

Actors, singers, and even cartoon characters have launched beauty lines recently.

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