Legendary Restaurant Noma Is Closing Its Doors, and Other News

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René Redzepi will close Noma, citing fine dining’s “unsustainable” working conditions.

René Redzepi, the creator of Noma, a world-renowned restaurant in Copenhagen known for its innovative and expensive dishes, has announced that the restaurant will close for regular service at the end of 2024. Noma will instead become a “full-time food laboratory,” developing new dishes and products for its e-commerce operation, Noma Projects, while the dining rooms will be open only for periodic pop-ups. Redzepi said that the math of compensating nearly 100 employees fairly, while maintaining high standards, at prices that the market will bear, is not workable. The decision to close Noma comes as the restaurant, along with many other of its elite counterparts, faces scrutiny over its treatment of workers, many of whom are paid poorly or not at all. The Finnish chef Kim Mikkola, who worked at Noma for four years, said that fine dining often has abuse built into it. In the past two years, Noma received a third Michelin star and topped the influential World’s 50 Best Restaurants list for a record fifth time. 

The man suspected of stabbing two MoMA workers is charged with attempted murder. 

Gary Cabana has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and two counts of assault after being accused of stabbing two female workers at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). He was extradited from Philadelphia, where he had been held for psychiatric evaluation, and is suspected of having committed the stabbings in March 2022. Cabana has claimed that he never received notification that his MoMA membership had been terminated. After the incident, the museum closed for a day and increased security measures, renewing its contract with the New York Police Department despite protests from some workers.

Sony announces a customizable PlayStation controller for physically disabled players.

Sony has announced Project Leonardo, a new game controller for its PlayStation platform that is designed to be highly customizable for physically disabled players. The controller, which has a split design, allows users to adjust the shapes and sizes of stick caps and buttons, as well as the positioning of the sticks on the controller. The split design also means players will use much less energy to move between inputs. According to Sony Interactive Entertainment designer So Morimoto, the split shape was key in creating the controller, as it allows for “near freeform left/right thumbstick repositioning” and can be used without being held. Sony collaborated with organizations including SpecialEffect, Stack Up, AbleGamers, and other play testers to ensure that Project Leonardo would be accessible to its intended audience.

Morphe makeup, which harnessed internet stars for rapid growth, is closing its stores.

Morphe, a makeup company that achieved rapid growth and a $2 billion valuation through partnerships with internet celebrities, has announced it is planning to close all its U.S. stores. The brand has suffered since it ended relationships with influencers Jeffree Star and James Charles, who were accused of racism and sexual misconduct respectively. Revenue missed internal planning by approximately 20 percent in 2021 and revenue tied to Star, Charles, and Jaclyn Hill fell by 66 percent to $32 million in the first 10 months of the year. Morphe, which is based in Los Angeles and was founded in 2008, has also faced legal issues with mall owners and is reportedly considering bankruptcy.

Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro reportedly wrecked the presidential palace.

The official presidential residence in Brazil, the Palácio da Alvorada (Palace of Dawn), has reportedly been left in a state of disrepair by former President Jair Bolsonaro. A report by Brazilian broadcaster GloboNews described torn carpets and sofas, leaky ceilings, broken windows, and sun-damaged artworks, including a tapestry by Emiliano Di Cavalcanti. Several artworks have also disappeared from the palace, which was completed in 1958 by celebrated modernist architect Oscar Niemeyer. The new first lady of Brazil, Rosângela Lula da Silva, said she was “rather disappointed” and “shaken” by the state of the building, which will require “many repairs.” Bolsonaro has left the country and is reportedly in Florida.

David Romero is computer-generating some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s unbuilt structures.

Spanish architect David Romero and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation have collaborated to produce 3D renderings of the prolific architect’s unbuilt or demolished projects. The first phase saw six of Wright’s unbuilt works brought to life, while three more renderings were produced for the most recent issue of The Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly. The latest renderings focused specifically on Wright’s unbuilt skyscrapers. From the glassy National Life Insurance Building intended for downtown Chicago and the elegant Butterfly Wing Bridge that would’ve served as a southern crossing of the San Francisco Bay, they offer a glimpse into a world of architecture that unfortunately never came to be.

An artist was banned from a Subreddit because his work resembled AI art too closely.

An artist was banned from a popular Reddit art community, r/Art, after moderators accused his work of being an AI-generated image or resembling one too closely. The artist, Ben Moran, posted an image of his work, A Muse in Warzone, which he says was created using Photoshop, and was subsequently flagged by r/Art’s moderators. Moran offered to provide the original .psd file of the artwork for review, but was told by the moderators that “no one is going to believe when you say it’s not AI.” The subreddit was briefly closed to the public due to the controversy but has since been reopened. Some Reddit users have expressed concern over the difficulty of holding Reddit moderators accountable, as their identities are often unknown.

Today’s attractive distractions:

A whimsical animated film celebrates Diptyque’s breezy Do Son perfume. 

We certainly weren’t expecting this Saint Laurent x McDonald’s crossover.

A swarm of more than 300 Star Wars action figures hits the auction block.  

Today’s cult of consumerism is giving rise to piles of poorly made products.