Pangaia Drops a Climate-Focused Capsule with Es Devlin, and Other News

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Pangaia Drops a Climate-Focused Capsule with Es Devlin

Es Devlin has emerged as one of today’s most visible artists, celebrated for her large-scale performative sculptures and environments that fuse music, language, and light underscored by the urgent need for climate action. While one may reasonably conclude that her color of choice might be green, her signature shade is actually orange. The color has appeared continuously throughout her award-winning stage designs over the years and serves as a sensory reminder to take action now while sparking emotion that invigorates and energizes. So when Pangaia approached Devlin to create a four-piece capsule collection, she immediately knew it would need to be in her signature color.

The Pangaia x Es Devlin capsule, which drops today, references her most recent work at Superblue Miami, a mirrored labyrinth called Forest of Us that draws parallels between human breathing structures and the trees surrounding us. Each item in the collection—a hoodie, track pant, T-shirt, and shorts—features a quote from the exhibition that replaces Pangaia’s signature material text block: “A forest of us, a symbiotic symmetry, a branching geometry that flows within us and around us but do you see it, can you feel it, do breath it, can you find it—go and find it.” True to Devlin’s climate mission, Pangaia will donate 100 percent of proceeds to Instituto Terra, a nonprofit dedicated to environmental restoration and sustainable rural development in the Rio Doce Valley of Brazil.

New York City approves a massive redevelopment at Midtown’s Grand Hyatt Hotel.

The New York City Council has voted to approve a redevelopment of the Grand Hyatt Hotel at 175 Park Avenue in Midtown. The building’s replacement, a 1,575-foot-tall tower designed by SOM, will feature a 500-room hotel, sky lobby, lounge, and restaurant, as well as 25,000 square feet of elevated terraces that will host art and cultural events. The site will also bring hundreds of millions of dollars in transit improvements to the nearby Grand Central Terminal, including a new transit hall and subway entrance. “Between the sprawling pubic terraces, innovative arts and culture programming, enormous transit improvements, and once-in-a-lifetime investments into upgraded public space, 175 Park Avenue will revitalize and transform East Midtown into a central hub of arts, culture, and economic development throughout New York City,” City Council member Keith Powers said in a statement. 

The European Central Bank will seek public opinion in redesigning the Euro by 2024.

The European Central Bank is planning to work with European citizens to redesign the Euro banknotes in a process expected to wrap up by 2024. The redesign will commence by forming focus groups to select possible themes for the future banknotes, succeeding the current theme of “ages and styles” represented by windows, doorways, and bridges. The ECB will then launch a design competition for the new banknotes with the governing council making the final decision. “Euro banknotes are here to stay,” said ECB president Christine Lagarde. “They’re a tangible and visible symbol that we stand together in Europe, particularly in times of crisis, and there’s still a strong demand for them. After 20 years, it’s time to review the look of our banknotes to make them more relatable to Europeans of all ages and backgrounds.” 

Camille Walala’s first monograph honors her spirited and colorful design approach.

From her London Design Festival zebra crossing to a Memphis makeover of a London street to the spate of vibrant facades in places around the globe, Taking Joy Seriously tracks the artist and designer’s colorful career through her multifarious projects. Taken together, the monograph illustrates the evolution of Walala’s ten-year practice, including commissions such as the interiors and stripy swimming pool for the Salt of Palmar hotel in Mauritius.

Can giant kites that drag cargo ships across oceans help with decarbonization? 

Beginning next year, a massive cargo ship named Ville de Bordeaux will launch a soaring kite more than 5,000 square feet in size, an effort to decarbonize during transatlantic voyages. The kite’s developer, Airseas, estimates that deploying Seawing, the kite’s name, will cut fuel consumption and emissions from vessels by 20 percent. The trial period will last six months.

A 500-year-old church destroyed in Mexico’s 2017 earthquake gets a new lease on life.

In Jojutla, a 500 year-old church that was destroyed in Mexico’s 2017 Puebla earthquake has been rebuilt with a brick-vaulted roof that rests on arched concrete walls on all four sides. Designed by Colombian studio AGENdA Agencia de Arquitectura and Mexican firm Dellekamp/Schleich, the layout nods to historical Christian designs. “Four years after the earthquake, the Jojutla master plan is continuing with its strategy of reconstructing the public space to empower citizens through their collective identity and make public space the home for everyone,” the team says.

Adidas’s first NFT drop, a collaboration with Bored Ape Yacht Club, earns $23 million.

Though Adidas is new to NFTs, the athletic brand’s initial foray into the medium was a success. The brand’s collaboration with Bored Ape Yacht Club, Gmoney, and Punks has earned more than $23 million in Ethereum and saw nearly 30,000 individual NFTs minted. While that number may not sound huge for such a popular brand, Adidas earned $538.4 million in profit during its latest quarter, making $23 million from a limited-run digital release a significant figure. More NFT drops are likely to follow, especially now that Nike has acquired virtual shoe marketplace RTFKT.

Today’s attractive distractions:

Unbeknownst to many, the late Anthony Bourdain was a martial arts enthusiast.

For the first time in history, humans have touched the sun using a spacecraft.

From psychedelia to minimalism, here are this year’s new beer label trends. 

Algorithms are feeding content that points to a new kind of internet religion.