DESIGN DISPATCH

OffLimits Cereal Goes Web3, and Other News

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OffLimits Cereal Goes Web3

The lovable mascots of OffLimits are gearing up for a journey into the metaverse. The artistic plant-based cereal brand has teamed up with Open3—a network of creatives who fashion NFT-driven experiences—to launch a capsule of generative NFTs featuring artist interpretations of OffLimits moody illustrated characters Spark, Flex, Zombie, and Dash.

The 2,500-piece collection will grant holders access to a gated channel in Discord, where the community will collaboratively design an IRL cereal box to be printed on the brand’s packaging and eventually delivered in the physical form. The foray into Web3 is yet another unconventional initiative for OffLimits, whose mission is to inject a little fun into a staid everyday breakfast staple. “The counterculture mentality is what makes us unique,” says founder Emily Miller. “Our customer is creative, rebellious, and too smart to get duped by glossy health claims. This idea was inspired by the success of our artist-collaborated boxes. Much like how Wheaties features athletes, OffLimits features artists.” In order to guarantee an NFT on mint day, happening later this month, sign up for the Cereal List

Blissfeel footwear by Lululemon

Lululemon is venturing into footwear with pastel-hued running shoes for women. 

Known as a go-to purveyor of sportswear for women, Lululemon plans to enter the footwear category this spring with its first-ever running shoe. The sneaker, called Blissfeel, will be available starting March 22 in pastel pink, yellow, and green, with two types of women’s cross-training sneakers to follow in the summer and a men’s collection to launch next year. Lululemon is banking on its foray into footwear as a crucial lever of growth as the athletic clothing retailer strives to catch up to competitors Nike and Adidas. 

Tadao Ando reimagines Nintendo’s former Kyoto HQ into an intimate boutique hotel. 

The former headquarters of Nintendo in Kyoto is the new home of a Tadao Ando–designed hotel. When it occupied the building between 1933 and 1959, Yamauchi Nintendo (the company’s name at the time) was a manufacturer of Japanese playing cards called “hanafuda” and Western-style playing cards called “karuta” and “toranpu.” Ando gave the interiors a tip-to-toe makeover while maintaining original details such as Yamauchi Nintendo entrance plaques, window grilles with playing card motifs, and art-deco lighting fixtures. The 18-room Marufukuro Hotel will officially open on April 1.   

Apple teases a high-tech monitor that will provide the “ultimate studio experience.” 

Earlier this week, Apple announced a multitude of new upgrades, features, and products at the tech giant’s first official event of 2022. Among the highlights is the Mac Studio, a new desktop computer that’s designed to work with the also-new Studio Display monitor to create what the brand calls the “ultimate studio experience.” The 27-inch monitor, which starts at $1,599 and features 5K resolution, comes equipped with an integrated 12-megapixel wide-angle camera that’s compatible with Center Stage, Apple’s novel video-call technology that follows users around the room.

PONT Mullae Cafe in Seoul. Photography by Kim Donggyu

Studio Stof transforms a disused ironwork factory into a coffee shop in Seoul. 

Located in the city’s industrial Mullae-Dong district, where factory infrastructure is being repurposed as artist workshops and galleries, the PONT Mullae Cafe embraces the area’s past while pushing it into the future. The red-brick structure is now home to a local coffee roaster which serves brew and hosts seminars in a light–filled space done up in terracotta tiles and curvilinear furniture. 

The Zaha Hadid Foundation plans to open a gallery and research space in London.

Zaha Hadid first established her eponymous foundation in 2013, but its full development was delayed following the Pritzker Prize–winning architect’s unexpected death three years later and a drawn-out legal battle between the executors of her estate. Now, with the appointment of a senior team led by director Paul Greenhalgh, the Zaha Hadid Foundation is poised to “advance research, learning, and the enjoyment of related areas of modern architecture, art, and design,” according to a statement shared by Building Design. The foundation also plans to open a permanent museum, gallery, and research hub split between two venues in London, where Hadid lived since the early 1970s. “The Zaha Hadid Foundation will actively support young people and students from diverse and complex backgrounds in their quest to become architects, designers, and scholars,” the statement continues.

The Meditteranean Revival–style house from “Scarface.” Photography by Jim Bartsch

Today’s attractive distractions:

Scientists have started using AI to decode pig calls and monitor their wellbeing.

This Twitter bot is exposing gender pay gaps at companies posting platitudes. 

LimeWire returns as an NFT cash-grab marketplace that’s slightly less illegal. 

The “Scarface” house in Montecito, California, hits the market for $39.995 million.

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