New & Notable is a cultural catchall that highlights interesting new products and projects from our brilliantly creative members of The List. With new releases, events, and goings-on, the below moments indicate the power they have to move the needle in so many realms, including architecture, design, fashion, and art.
Capsula Mini by LAYER x Mail
Revolutionizing the smart assistant experience by creating a fun and friendly presence at home, the Capsule Mini anthropomorphizes the device with two eyes and a nose that can communicate a range of emotions from joy and surprise to interest and sadness. LAYER designed the physical embodiment of Mail’s voice assistant, Marusya, to create seamless interactions with the company’s diverse e-commerce and communication services.
Montblanc recently partnered with the Pink Dial Project by creating and donating an 1858 Geosphere timepiece bearing a bright fuchsia dial to honor breast cancer fighters and survivors. The auction will take place this October during breast cancer worldwide awareness month on the Loupe online auction platform with all proceeds going toward breast cancer charities.
Original BTC brings Sir Terence Conran’s Hector Bibendum range—the brand’s first light produced using bone china—to the United States with expanded options that include a layered shade and colorful, cotton-braided flex cables.
To mark Pieter Mulier’s debut as the new creative director of Alaïa, the fashion designer and former Raf Simons protégé looked toward César’s famed Sein sculpture—a bronze breast that, in his eyes, captures the perfection of the female body—that has long sat in the Maison’s courtyard in Paris. The house sent numbered and limited-edition invitations that features an engraving of Sein to guests, signifying that the late couturier’s long-standing relationships with artists will continue even as creative control of the Maison changes hands.
Blu Dot brings back its signature Swap Meet, an unconventional event that offers anyone the opportunity to exchange their unique talents, artwork, objects, and ephemera for a piece of Blu Dot furniture. The event, which runs July 19–30, encourages participants to get creative—previous winners run the gamut from daily pen pals to ceramic blowfish bongs. To date, Blu Dot has received more than 1,200 Swap Meet submissions and awarded nearly $100,000 in product, meaning that, as the company so aptly puts it, “it pays to get weird.”
VERDI continues preserving local Colombian heritage through a contemporary lens by launching the third colorway of their statement mochilas, or bucket bags, which are woven with alpaca fibers and silver-plated copper threads.
