How drab the palettes of today have become. We knew the moment grey was being advertised to children—who have yet to fully develop their rods and cones—that we were on a distinctly more boring path. Color reflects the brilliance of our natural world, and has even been shown to make us happier overall, certain hues lifting our mood simply by entering our field of vision. Memphis Milano, established in the eighties in Italy, signaled a release from Modernist conventions and was both revered and reviled by critics and the public. Memphis Style has been described as “a shotgun wedding between Bauhaus and Fisher-Price.”

Prism Stack Glasses

Prism Stack Glasses

Forever fans of nonconformity, the Cedric Mitchell x JOOPITER collaboration embodies the spirit of these trailblazers, yet filters it through a distinctly contemporary lens. Released as part of JOOPITER Marketplace—an always-on, buy-it-now platform offering direct access to the personal collections and archives of influential cultural figures—the collection situates Mitchell’s work within a broader ecosystem of cultural artifacts, where provenance and narrative carry equal weight to form. Texture, color, and transparency all play major roles here, with high-gloss and satin finishes lending a frozen, almost suspended quality to frosted surfaces. Ideals of contrast and constraint emerge to define a new Memphis, where color is not merely decorative, but declarative.

Modern Funk Jacket II

Each piece brings its own unique flavor. Mitchell’s practice—operating at the intersection of craft, utility, and visual culture—draws from a wide spectrum of references including ‘90s hip-hop and retro streetwear to graffiti and childhood iconography. Color, in this context, becomes emotional currency, triggering responses that feel at once nostalgic and immediate. Thick, hand-blown glass cylinders transition gracefully into seating and sculptural forms, emphasizing tactility and the push-pull of saturated tones. Totemic silhouettes emerge throughout, their stacked geometries lending the objects an almost anthropomorphic presence—creatures of color that mirror our enduring fascination with the natural and the constructed alike.

Modern Funk Jacket I

Continue reading to get a glimpse of Mitchell’s world as saccharine hues stack, bend, and spill into various forms. What you’ll see is a cast of colorful characters–playful, a little off-balance, and entirely alive—each one speaking fluently in the language of Modern Funk…

Primary Portal I

Primary Portal I
Primary Portal I opens a threshold. Bold geometric framing surrounds a mirrored center, pulling the surrounding space into the work itself. It’s furniture, object, and environment all at once—always shifting with light and reflection.

Playhaus Perch Chair

Playhaus Perch Chair
The Playhaus Perch Chair brings Mitchell’s language into the realm of sitting. Lacquered geometry meets soft lambskin upholstery, turning a chair into a sculptural experience. It invites use, but never loses its presence.

Art Deco Diaspora

Diaspora Deco Chair
Diaspora Deco Chair bridges eras. Glossy, architectural forms meet plush lambskin, reinterpreting Art Deco through a Modern Funk lens. It’s grounded yet expressive, where history and experimentation sit side by side.

Plonko

Plonko
A quiet detour, Plonko trades gloss for a fully sandblasted finish, letting form do the talking. Soft volumes intersect at subtle angles, holding motion in suspension like a paused gesture. It’s restrained, tactile, and just a little mysterious—a study in what happens when Mitchell turns the volume down.

Petal Stack

Petal Stack
Petal Stack rises like a bloom mid-thought, each hand-blown element stacking into a rhythmic ascent. A chartreuse base anchors the piece before lavender and deep pink nodes lead to a soft, petal-like bowl. Equal parts vessel and sculpture, it softens geometry with a floral exhale.

Play Loud

Play Loud
As the name suggests, Play Loud doesn’t whisper. A lapis dome, electric rings, and a saucer crown collide in a glossy, saturated stack that feels both retro and futuristic. It’s a totem of joy—bold, buoyant, and impossible to ignore.

Verdant Oracle

Verdant Oracle
Verdant Oracle reads like a prophecy in color. A striped green base grounds the piece while a violet sphere and magenta ring give way to an asymmetrical teal rise. Pattern, gloss, and proportion work together to create something that feels both ancient and electric.

Zestrel

Zestrel
Zestrel is a balancing act in full color. Teal, chartreuse, orange, and turquoise stack into a tower that feels both precise and playful. Its glossy surface sharpens every hue, turning structure into spectacle.

Groovy Sprout

Groovy Sprout
With its matte finish and pastel palette, Groovy Sprout softens the tempo. A chartreuse dome anchors frosted violet and translucent blue forms, punctuated by a ring with a circular void. It’s light, architectural, and just a little dreamy.

Bubble Funk

Bubble Funk
Bubble Funk leans into contrast—rigid meets fluid, polished meets playful. A lapis cylinder grounds a pink ring dotted with blue nubs, while a red twisting form rises like a gesture mid-dance. It’s kinetic, cheeky, and full of attitude.

Primary Assembly I

Primary Assembly I
A study in structure, Primary Assembly I builds from intersecting planes and rounded forms. Its lacquered yellow finish amplifies the clarity of composition, turning geometry into a bold spatial statement. It’s furniture, yes—but it behaves like sculpture.

Moonstruck

Moonstruck
Moonstruck tilts toward the unexpected. A lapis base and chartreuse sphere give way to a turquoise spiral and an off-axis blue vessel with a glowing amber interior. The imbalance is deliberate, lending the piece a quiet, cosmic energy.

Triovo

Triovo
Triovo plays with expectation. A flared teal base supports magenta forms and a vivid orange sphere before an angular wedge breaks symmetry at the top. It’s precise, but never rigid—always just slightly off.

Orbolo

Orbolo
Texture takes center stage in Orbolo. A cratered violet base, dotted sphere, and ribbed stem build into a tactile, matte composition that invites touch. Its totemic form feels grounded, even as it lifts visually.

Halo Study

Halo Study
Halo Study is a vertical meditation on form. A lapis cone rises into a spiral, sphere, and disc, each element articulating a clear progression. Balanced yet animated, it’s as crisp as it is playful.

Badu Bloom

Bada Bloom
Bada Bloom grows upward in a rhythmic burst of color. From a grounded teal base, dotted and ringed forms lead into a swelling pink column crowned with a dome. It’s symmetrical, but never static—always in bloom.

Counterweight

Counterweight
Counterweight finds equilibrium in contrast. A warm orange base meets a violet hinge and teal lift, culminating in a tilted chartreuse bowl. The off-axis top keeps the piece alive, always in gentle tension.

Bendrix

Bendrix
Bendrix curves with intention. An amber column arcs upward from a green base, punctuated by red rings and a translucent collar before opening into a flared cup. It’s fluid, off-center, and quietly dynamic.

Ettore’s Echo

Ettore’s Echo
A nod with a twist, Ettore’s Echo channels postmodern lineage through a slender, stacked form. A lapis shaft rises through a spiral and sphere before ending in a tilted violet vessel. It honors the past, but refuses to sit still.

Primary Pivot

Primary Pivot
Primary Pivot turns balance into a question. A chartreuse base, red joint, and blue cylinder stack into a composition that feels both stable and on the verge of motion. Functional as a vessel, it reads as something more sculptural—almost architectural.

To learn more about the Cedric Mitchell x JOOPITER collaboration or shop the drop, visit joopiter.com.

Photography by Julie Dickinson.

On Woodbine Beach it’s a bright, blisteringly windy day. Toronto is a maze of slushy pathways and salted sidewalks, but from this sandy boardwalk, Winter Stations emerges as a bright beacon of color, community and design talent.

Photo by Joel Gale

Celebrating its 12th anniversary this year, the Winter Stations international design competition invites artists, architects and designers to re-imagine an unusual typology, lifeguard stations, and transform them into dynamic works of public art. Set against the backdrop of Lake Ontario, the five winning proposals are then built, and remain on display for a 6-week exhibition that is free and open to all, attracting curious Torontonians from around the city. Today is no different: a constant stream of dog-walkers, young families, bundled toddlers, assistant editors (me) and beach-goers marvel at the eye-grabbing installations.

This year’s theme, Mirage, challenges entrants to explore the edges of reality, asking: what do we long to see? In the age of AI and digital echo chambers, where is the line between what is seen and what is real? Selected by a blind jury of leading art, design, architecture, and urbanism experts, the winning projects tap into this theme from a range of thoughtful angles and engaging materialities.

Photo by Joel Gale

Embrace

Two giant hands of thin, blackened wood emerging from the sand are already an unusual sight, but moving in closer reveals their rainbow-striped palms. Designed by Saskatoon-based art director and 3D artist Will Cuthbert, Embrace is an invitation to discover a new reality, to change your perspective and to be cocooned by the hands. And the people love it: hands reach out to touch, mirroring their giant neighbors.

Photo by Joel Gale

Photo by Joel Gale

Crest

Like the choppy water of Lake Ontario only a few steps away, Crest evokes a sweeping wave before it breaks offering onlookers a moment of pause within its enveloping form. Inside, the waffled plywood pattern—meant to look like driftwood from afar—dissapears and reappears based on the angle. And in the afternoon sun, Crest’s curving form produces a matching shadow of geometric lines on the sand. Designed by a band of talented students from the University of Waterloo School of Architecture and the Department of Architectural Engineering, the team includes Clay te Bokkel, Isabella Ieraci, Matthew Lam, Sasha Rao, Simon Huang, Oskar Peng, David Shen and Professor Fiona Lim Tung.

Photo by Joel Gale

Photo by Joel Gale

Specularia 

Designed by Maine-based interdisciplinary designer Andrew Clark of TORNADO SOUP, this interactive installation invites visitors to walk through a gauzy-curtained corridor and look through five framed openings to the lake. Each window offers a different perspective: one frames the lifeguard tower, one reveals the sky above, another reflects your own face back at you. Dubbed Specularia, the installation—built with MicroPro Sienna treated lumber—blends reality with dreamy portals untethered from context.

Photo by Joel Gale

Photo by Joel Gale

Glaciate

A small maze of vertical polycarbonate panels filled with water from the nearby lake, Glaciate’s frosted walls offer an ever-changing optical illusion as the water freezes and warms. These shifting forms—opaque, translucent,  or transparent—blur the outsider’s view of a central lifeguard tower in vibrant red while also clouding the insider’s view to the beach. Designed by a group from Toronto Metropolitan University Department of Architectural Science in collaboration with Ming Chuan University School of Design comprising Finn Ferrall, Nicholas Kisil, Marko Sikic, with faculty supervisor Yew-Thong Leong and Vincent Hui, Glaciate makes being on the beach feel a little like being inside a rain-filled cloud.

Photo by Joel Gale

Photo by Joel Gale

Chimera

Completely enveloping the lifeguard tower with circular mirrors, Chimera confronts viewers with echoing versions of themselves. Designed by Denys Horodnyak and Enzo Zak Lux of shared Berlin-based creative practice, the installation speaks to the fragmentation of physical and digital realities—and the lack of control individuals may have over the self. Created in partnership with the Mechanical Contractors Association of Ontario, the duo tapped pipe welder and metal artist Courtney Chard to fabricate the design from her Georgetown studio.

Don’t miss your chance to see these stunning installations in person! For more details, visit their website here.

With immersive, often transportative, displays standing out at major events like Design Miami, architecture studio and design producer ATRA has long championed that all-so-Mexican of propositions: harnessing a long-established, rich and diverse culture of craft—as well as an expansive suite of rare, natural materials—and translating it into precision-engineered spaces and furnishings. The results tend to be a cohesive meddling of ancient and otherworldly; concepts that seem to have been extracted from a different, more fantastical yet still somewhat familiar timeline.

When it came to opening its new gallery in New York City’s Hudson Square neighborhood, ATRA’s approach was the same. The subduedly cast, yet richly textured space unfolds as a series of open plan vignettes, unified by a single dark soil-toned toned carpet. There’s a mystical, certainly monastic, vibe here, far cry from the crowded, noise ridden street outside. The essentialized forms of the displayed designs tie everything together.

On view are distinctive ATRA FORM furnishings such as the fiber glass-cast Pyramid Chair designed in partnership with art world heavyweight Pedro Reyes, the celestially inspired Chronos Hanging Vertical Light Sculpture, and monumental Margot sofa (rendered in an especially tactile long-haired Mongolian sheep fur). The pared back concepts—a distillation of both intuition and structure, chaos and control—are meant to be spatial interventions; part of larger architectural systems. Brought together here in complementary stagings, the boutique producer is able to show its full range, and more intimately engage with collectors.

“This gallery allows us to explore where design, architecture, and holistic practice intersect,” says Alexander Díaz Andersson, founder and creative director of ATRA. “It provides a space to test ideas, observe how visitors engage with objects and space, and gather insights that will inform our future projects.”

As revealed during last December’s Design Miami fair, many of the sofas, armchairs, and lounge chairs can now be equipped with VLS technology tool Morphus. The embedded biohacking system monitors its user’s vitals, as well as their stress levels, and responds in kind with a carefully calibrated sequence of vibration, sound and light—filtering in through adjoining goggles—to bring them into and out of states of relaxation and meditation. The rear of the gallery has been set up to facilitate these sessions, allowing especially busy New Yorkers—visiting ATRA for a potential purchase—to also engage in a much needed therapy session. The wellness trend—mostly centered on an ever saturated landscape of urban sauna concepts—has expanded.

AEGIS MIRROR

HORIZONTAL CHANDELIER

BELUGA LOUNG CHAIR RUBELLI

CINTA CONSOLE

DUOMO FLOOR LAMP

FLOW CHAIR

GEOMETRIK CANTELIVER SET TRAVERTINE NAVONA

OBELISK FLOOR LAMP

To learn more about the studio, visit atraform.com.

Photography courtesy of Waylon Bone.

Transparency, in all of its vertices, is a beautiful thing. All of our favorite earthly delights––a babbling brook, a bubble in air, terms and conditions that actually make sense––give us a sense of clarity and honesty, nothing to hide. The Inchiostri exhibition by Ronan Bouroullec and Giorgio Mastinu, produced in collaboration with master glassblower Simone Cenedese, lingered in this elusive yet tender territory. In it, handcrafted glass blocks gave way to layered color, and light became as much material as the glass itself.

Each vase was composed of four elements: two cast glass blocks––produced in four sizes and two thicknesses, roughly 6 or 7 centimeters––a blown glass tube available in two heights, and a shallow blown glass dish that may be stacked on top. Every component carried its own hue, selected from an eleven-color palette, so that when assembled, colors overlaped and refracted, to produce subtle chromatic vibrations.

Plane surfaces were intentionally left unpolished to intensify this vibration, while edges were polished to allow light to pass cleanly through. The effect recalled Venetian glazing techniques: depth conjured through transparency, luminosity born from darkness—the exhibition’s title, Inchiostri (“inks”), nodded to this paradox.

Combination, of course, is a longstanding principle in Bouroullec’s practice. His 1997 Vases combinatoires—eight polyurethane elements, functionless alone yet abundant in possibility when interlocked—introduced a non-authoritarian relationship between object and user. That early investigation into combinatorics, influenced by figures from Giorgio Morandi to Sol LeWitt, resonated here.

From the near-infinite permutations these glass elements allowed, Bouroullec selected twenty compositions, each exploring assemblage without fasteners, balance between cast solidity and blown fragility, and elevation achieved through weight.

The project’s resonance extended beyond its formal elegance. During its run, the showcase received the fifth edition of the Premio Fondazione di Venezia for The Venice Glass Week. The jury cited the exhibition’s “reduced formal vocabulary” of light, color, and treated surfaces—“but, above all, poetry, enchantment, and magic”—recognizing the series as a compelling bridge between the global language of cast glass and Murano’s storied blown-glass tradition.

Positioned delicately between sculpture and vessel, Inchiostri occupied a conceptual threshold. A single stem—often gypsophila—was enough to tip the work from contemplative object to functional vase. Crafted from cotissi, irregular fragments reclaimed from the glassblowing process, the blocks anchored the pieces in centuries-old material culture even as they invited endless reassembly. Transparency here was not emptiness; it was collaboration—between color and light, artist and artisan, object and viewer.

To learn more about the Inchiostri Exhibition by Ronan Bouroullec and Giorgio Mastinu, visit bouroullec.com.

Photography by Enrico Fiorese and Giorgio Mastinu.

Giorgio Cecatto, an Italian architect turned Toronto-based artist, situates his practice within the legacy of Russian Constructivism by borrowing its principles for practice in this digital age. Initially known for sculptural concrete works, Cecatto now employs a pen plotter to create intricate geometric line drawings—an evolution that echoes an exploration of structure, logic, and precision.

His current pen-plotter works extend that lineage conceptually. The machine itself—historically tied to drafting and early computational design—aligns with Constructivist ideals of precision and mechanization. In removing the hand’s gestural dominance, Cecatto’s work favors dynamic geometric bursts that recall the spatial investigations of early computational design as they hover between engineering and illusion—structured, yet visually kinetic.

In bridging early 20th-century revolutionary abstraction with present-day digital tools, Cecatto reactivates Constructivism’s foundational premise: art as the disciplined organization of materials. Today, however, the materials are not only concrete and steel, but code, line, and machine precision.

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Learn more about Giorgio Cecatto and view his other words by visiting ilcekplots.com.

View and download past Designer Desktops here.

Since Saudi Arabia’s comprehensive Vision 2030 development project launched in 2017, the quaint yet historically significant desert town of AlUla has emerged as an important cultural hub for the rapidly “opening-up” kingdom. Nestled amid soaring wind-formed limestone cliffs, the verdant date-palm oasis was once a stop-over for muslim pilgrims heading south toward the holy cities and before that, incense traders from southern Arabia traveling north to the Fertile Crescent. The well-preserved adobe-style settlement here dates back 900 years. The iconic Hegra tombs nearby—erected by the same civilizations as Petra—are at least 2100 years old.

While it might not be as glittering as other Vision 2030 projects—The Line, for one—the multifaceted AlUla project is significant in its own achievement, but perhaps also as a model for other similar civic initiatives in the kingdom, region, and beyond. The Royal Commission for AlUla (RCU)—branded as Arts AlUla for several incorporated projects—focuses its efforts in three areas: cultural preservation, ecological restoration, and new artistic endeavor.

The latter, in particular, centers on bringing international actors into the fold. “It’s very much about transferring knowledge but also showcasing what we have here and the unique ways we’re accomplishing our goals,” says Hamad Alhomiedan, RCU’s arts and creative industries director, “Everything we do should be accessible, not just across the kingdom or the region, but globally. We’re here to regenerate the area and that requires a lot of work. It’s essential to have help from a diverse group of cultural platforms and independent talents, even scientists. We’re developing a new playbook so to speak.”

And while the recent establishment of “artisanal” workshops/boutiques in the old city might seem slightly contrived, other projects like the AlUla Artist Residency program are impressive in both their international scope and experimental foundation; deeply rooted in the cultural and ecological heritage of place but universal in the proposed application of outcomes.

The 2025 edition focused on design and brought five up-and-coming to mid-career practices to AlUla for a three month intensive. Hailing from Saudi Arabia, Côte d’Ivoire, Tunisia, Belgium, and the Netherlands, these contemporary studios—all speculative and craft-led in ethos—conducted thorough ethnographic and material research. The resulting designs distill from investigations of local daily life, emergent industrial developments, and the clever harnessing of natural resources abundant here.

Curator Dominique Petite-Frère—founder of multivalent exhibition platform and creative incubator Limbo Accra—ensured that these concepts did not remain nebulous. Each proposal comprises actual furnishings, some that could easily be introduced into the immediate context with a bit more tooling.

Analysing the idiosyncratic intricacies of the limestone rock faces found here but also how local children interact with public infrastructure, Riyadh-based designer Aseel Alamoudi created 3D-printed, extruded sand benches. These non-prescriptive public structures are meant to be climbed on; hinting at Alamoudi’s larger ambition of constructing a massive playscape on the desert floor.

Brussels-based Ori Orisun Merhav redirected the local, age-old tradition of harvest palm leaves and, combined with hardening properties of shellac, developed a new formal vocabulary of naturalistic lamps, carpets, and stools. Palm as a material was also central to Abidjan-based talent Paul Moustapha Ledron’s collection of an almost ancient architectonic daybed, incense altar, and palm tree-like floor Tamaro Jar lamp. The designs take on ceremonial, even spiritual qualities; objects that facilitate a “slowing down” of sorts, allowing oneself to be fully immersed in the environment.

Unveiled as part of the Alula Arts Festival, which ran until February 14, the five collections join new design concepts presented at the French Ministry of Culture’s Villa Hegra complimentary residency program. The downtown AlUla institute is managed by AFALULA (French agency for development in AlUla).

For the repurposed estate’s five allocated studio spaces, French designer Paul Emilieu Marchesseau imagined a series of modular furniture pieces with materials sourced neraby—both natural and industrial. As evidenced in the curtain-enclosed lamp, these propositions are equal parts function and poetry; carrying the trace of local traditional ornamentation as a grounding element. The collection is site-responsive on both an aesthetic and practical level; the latter also becoming more universal in potential application.

Also on view, is the fourth biennial instalment of Desert X AlUla, the offshoot event of the California outdoor installation art exhibit. Like the two other showcases, the significantly larger works presented also respond to context.

“AlUla’s landscape is a living archive of stories, traditions and encounters that span centuries,” said Desert X co-curator Wejdan Reda. “For this edition, artists have engaged with its valleys and historic routes to create works that honor its landscape while opening new spaces for imagination.”

Of note was Mohammed AlSaleem’s series of metal totems, extracting the formal symbols—the geometry of the crescent shape—found in sacred spaces—mosques—across Saudi Arabia. Placed in the natural context of Desert X AlUla’s chosen Wadi valley, the works are de-contextualized from their primarily urban settings but suggestive of what lies beyond the horizon.

Comprising larger-than-life, cast foam Desert Hyacinths and their secondary leaves, Maria Magdalena Campos-Pon’s Imole Red installation comes together as a forum; another type of sacred space, and like Paul Ledron’s furnishings, inspiring visitors to take stock of its surroundings and engage their mystical qualities.

Many as international interlocutors, of sorts, the talents exhibiting across these showcases were able to introduce elements of their own cultural backgrounds as corresponding cues to those they uncovered here.

For the past few years, Simon Johns has been experimenting with a concept called Future Fossils. His pieces appear at once as relics ravaged by time and as sculptures made for this moment. The works, which the Quebec-based artist-designer says “loosely reference the sedimentary striations in million-year-old stone,” have included bookshelves, tables and seating crafted in gypsum cement and slip-cast stoneware.

This past January, Johns unveiled the latest additions to the line as part of “Pot-au-feu,” a DesignTO exhibition by Ensemble, a loose collection of vibrantly creative Quebec designers, artisans and artists. The show took place off the beaten path of the mostly-downtown Toronto design circuit, in a basement gallery called The Plumb. To stand out amongst such a talented bunch, which also includes well-known brands like Lambert & Fils and Darmes, is no small feat.

But one piece in particular – the FF Magma Lamp – had astonishing presence. With its stacked boulders of ceramic and glass wrapped in a slim walnut frame, the light fixture plays with the sense of the primordial and organic. It also feels like a spontaneous creation – an object iterated in the making of it, rather than as a drawing in a CAD program. And for Johns, that is, at least, partly true. “I work more as an artist than as an industrial designer,” he tells me. “I’m not drawing a complete coherent collection from A to Z and then that’s it. It all evolves.”

For the FF Magma Lamp, he hand-carved three similar moulds out of styrofoam, one for blowing glass into and the other two for pressing clay into. It took a few tries to get right. “In the first version, the clay shrunk and, because glass doesn’t shrink, the proportions were off. I also wanted to go warmer with the tones, so I ended up choosing the dark walnut and amber glass.” (The original version, which Johns still makes, has a frame in polished aluminum.) Weighing in at about 45 pounds, the lights stand 55 inches high and are 8.5 inches deep.

While the glass adds something altogether different – with its thick undulations, it seems molten, alive – Johns is primarily interested in sedimentary stone and linear diagonal textures. This comes through in another piece debuted at Pot-au-feu: the FF End Table. What at first glance appears as a voluptuously carved wood trunk topped in a thin glass top reveals itself to be, upon caressing its grooves, a base of cream clay with a reflective aluminum cap. The trompe l’oeil effect is part of the magic.

“From the beginning, I’ve always explored materials mimicking other materials – wood mimicking stone, for instance – and how to be less and less literal, more surrealist. I like that you can’t tell what it is. It’s about real materials, but mixing them.”

While he continues to coax new guises out of familiar, often organic looking materials, Johns is also experimenting with glazes. In this vein, he also debuted two vases at Pot-au-feu. “I’m testing glazes and languages: things that look like fungus, lichen, things that grow on rocks.” Every piece is different, with its own imperfections, which positions them well in the collectable design realm. They also continue a theme that has endless possibilities, especially in Johns’ capable hands.

To see more from the artist, visit Simon Johns’ website.

Photography courtesy of Simon Johns.

If you’re reading this, congratulations on making it through the first and arguably hardest month of the year – welcome to February! Well done surviving holiday whiplash, and kudos to incorporating new routines while patiently waiting for spring to arrive. To help our readers pass the time, we’ve tapped the ever-merry artist Eloisa Henderson-Figueroa, whose buoyant illustrations and colorful compositions will undoubtedly brighten your day, month, and perhaps even year ahead.

Vibe check: this month’s design demands you slough off any negativity that may come your way from bad weather, shorter days, and cranky curmudgeons. Let cascading geometric shapes – squares, ovals, rectangles, cylinders – and bright colors conspire to bring joy to your screens.

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Kameh was naturally drawn to design, but it wasn’t until they were setting up a new apartment that they knew this interest was a true calling. “Very quickly I realized I wanted to create pieces that told a story, rather than simply serve as functional furniture,” the artist says. “I wanted each object to carry a soul, to hold a memory – something that could live and breathe in the space with me.”

The designer’s eponymous studio was founded in Dubai in 2022, but the general public knows little else. As the creative director of the operation, Kameh’s identity remains a mystery. By concealing their face with a mask, the maker maintains privacy and ensures that people focus solely on the items and not the personality behind them.

Kameh is always capturing concepts, usually by recording voice notes on an iPhone. If there is paper nearby though, the maker starts sketching right away. Sometimes all it takes is a single image to spark an idea that sets the whole unique vision in motion.

When the days are full and they need to recharge, Kameh heads outdoors. The preferred locale is one that’s far away, with few people or distractions around. Whether it’s the forest or a desert, solitude in nature is restorative for this creative.

Kameh collaborates with skilled artisans to produce collectibles that resonate, and envisions doing the same for interiors. “I often design sets for photoshoots and events, crafting atmospheres that feel alive,” they note. “One day, I hope to take this passion further, to shape spaces where people can truly live, not just visit.”

Today, Kameh joins us for Friday Five!

Photo: Courtesy of Kameh

1. Art piece by Reza Aramesh, Leila Heller Gallery

I’m fascinated by Reza’s work, and the way he works with marble. It feels like stepping back into old-world Florence.

Photo: Courtesy of Kameh

2. Façade of the Messner Mountain Museum Corones built by Zaha Hadid in South Tyrol

It’s my favorite building in the world not only because it’s unique, but also because it sits atop the mountains, perfectly complementing the landscape.

Photo: Courtesy of Kameh

3. Vinyl of the original motion picture soundtrack from A Single Man

Music that transports me to another world.

Photo: Courtesy of Kameh

4. Book by John Pawson “Making Life Simple”

A gift from a friend that changed my life forever. I became addicted to this book, as it was refreshing to discover similarities of how much my own way of living and thinking aligns with John’s.

Photo: Courtesy of Kameh

5. My dog GiGi

She is always next to me in everything I do , and she is the most important pick of my life .

Works by Kameh:

KAMEH 0.5 Editions

KAMEH 0.5 Editions

KAMEH 0.4

KAMEH 0.4

KAMEH 0.4

KAMEH 0.3

KAMEH 0.3

Artist Vivian Chiu was always interested in making objects, but when she attended the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to study furniture design, she experimented with one of her favorite materials. “I love working with wood because it is additive, subtractive, and precise,” she says. “You can carve it away, build it back up, and cut it at a perfect 90-degree angle to a 32nd of an inch.”

Chiu later earned a graduate degree in sculpture from Columbia University, where she honed her skills, blending a mix of fine art and artisanal techniques. With a natural sensitivity, she utilizes continuous deconstruction and reconstruction to create her signature optical forms.

Vivian Chiu \\\ Photo: Juli Leonard

A community of fellow artists was just as vital as the work itself for Chiu. The most formative period for her was her time as a studio assistant for sculptor Ursula von Rydingsvard. There she bonded with colleagues who eventually became her closest friends. They are the support system Chiu turns to whenever she wants to talk about art or life.

Never content with the status quo, the Richmond, Virginia-based Chiu continues to evolve her practice. She has begun to delve into archival research of Chinese histories and myths, which serves as inspiration for the abstract images she plans to combine with marquetry.

Chiu has a full schedule of events and exhibits on tap, yet she still finds time for a favorite pastime, Texas Hold’em Poker. “I joined a free weekly league, and have met a whole new group of friends I might never have crossed paths with otherwise,” she notes. “The game satisfies the part of me that loves math, strategy, and algorithmic problem-solving.”

Today, Vivian Chiu joins us for Friday Five!

“Believing” by Yuri Kobayashi \\\ Photo: Craig Smith

1. Yuri Kobayashi

Yuri was my teacher during my undergraduate years at RISD, and she was the representation I needed to pursue sculptural woodworking. Her work ethic and craftsmanship are unparalleled, and she is the most generous and knowledgeable mentor a young woodworker could hope for.

“Wood Chair (Yellow Pine on Grass)” by Joyce Lin \\\ Photo: Courtesy of Joyce Lin

2. Joyce Lin

Joyce is an absolute superstar. The level of detail and intricacy in her work is jaw dropping. I envy the way she weaves material research into her sculptural furniture pieces. Her exhibition at R & Company right now is truly not one to miss!

Photo: Courtesy of Sylvie Rosenthal

3. Sylvie Rosenthal

Sadly, the world lost Sylvie Rosenthal recently, and I wanted to take a moment to share her genius. Her sense of humor and her joyous way of working with wood are qualities I will carry with me for a long time.

“Flawless” by Jennifer Ling Datchuk \\\ Photo: Courtesy of Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts

4. Jennifer Ling Datchuk

I have always been inspired by Jennifer’s dark humor and the way she seamlessly blends traditional and contemporary influences, as well as East and West, in both material and concept. Her work is richly layered and deeply nuanced, and I am continually moved by what she creates.

“Juno Quilt” by Meg Callahan \\\ Photo: Angel Tucker

5. Meg Callahan

Meg and I were in the same program at RISD, and I’ve been both a friend and a fan of hers since we met. Her use of the grid in her quilt patterns, paired with her precise color waves, creates an effect that feels almost like op art. I’ve always been drawn to her use of pattern and algorithmic structure, and seeing those systems expressed through functional quilts has always been incredibly impressive.

Works by Vivian Chiu:

Blanket
96” x 96”x 0.75”, poplar, braided string
2019
“Blanket” is an 8 foot by 8 foot wooden blanket made of individual 3/4″ poplar cubes. In reference to my personal anxieties regarding queerness I wanted to make a weighted blanket that would reveal just as much information in the process of concealing.

Self V
66” x 17” x 17”
Poplar, Oak, Vinyl Adhesive, Acrylic
2022
‘Self V’ is a Burr puzzle made of 129 interlocking notched pieces that investigate visual coherence in relation to ideas of visibility/invisibility. Self portraits in projection view are printed on adhesive vinyl and applied onto each surface of the puzzle. The effect is so that as the viewer walks around the piece they encounter the optical illusion of compounded and clear photographs.

Self VI
66″ x 76″ x 76″
Red Oak, Vinyl Adhesive, Plywood, Packing Blanket
2022
The largest of the Burr puzzle pieces, this piece is made up of around 400 interlocking wood pieces to make a pixelated octahedron. Walking around the piece, the viewer encounters a triptych of a nude in recline starting at her feet. Drawing upon histories of both Eastern and Western Art, the fractured nude on this pieces puts a contemporary, queer and feminist spin on the traditional lying figure.

Inclination
48” x 48” x 16”
Maple, Paint
2018
‘Inclination’ is an exploration into opticality and perception. Tapered pieces of wood are painted then formed into an undulating Mobius strip. As the viewer walks around the piece, the black color fades in and out of view. This piece is part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Art in Wood.

Family Dinner 2025
Installation at John & Robyn Horn Gallery, Penland School of Crafts, North Carolina

Family Dinner
86” x 86” x 5”
Pine Crate Wood from Wing On Wo & Co., Jasmine Rice, Plywood
2025
‘Family Dinner’ is a monumental ring of twenty-four conjoined bowls with rice flowing continuously between each vessel. This project is made with heirloom crates from Wing On Wo & Co, the oldest storefront in Chinatown, NY, known for its porcelain-ware imported from Hong Kong. The crude crate panels are carefully deconstructed, cut into faceted pieces, and reassembled to echo the ceramic vessels they once held. This meticulous process preserves the crates’ stampings and markings, tangible traces of their journey from Asia to the U.S, symbolically reflecting the migration stories of the Lum Family at W.O.W. and my own. Through labor and material, the piece honors heritage, resilience, and the shared act of gathering.

Revolving Vase (9 Peaches)
17”x 10” x10”
Pine Crate Wood from Wing On Wo & Co., Natural and Dyed Wood Veneers, Plywood, Hardware, Rosewood Stand (Not Pictured)
2025
“Revolving Vase (Nine Peaches)” reimagines an 18th-century Qianlong revolving vase, drawing inspiration from the traditional “Nine-Peaches Vase,” a symbol of longevity and immortality in Chinese culture. The outer vessel is constructed with the historic crates, while the interior features nine white peaches rendered in natural and dyed wood veneers using the double-bevel marquetry technique. Activated by turning the vase’s neck, the inner structure rotates to reveal the fruit scene within. This piece invites viewers to consider themes of cultural preservation, craftsmanship, and memory through the language of metaphor and movement.

Here and There
22” x 21” x 13”
Pine Crate Wood from Wing On Wo & Co.
2025
Conjoined Vase (Shuanglianping) is a group of vessels with separate mouths joined at the body, historically believed to safeguard a family’s well-being. In my series, the conjoined form represents my relationship to family, distinct yet bound together through shared memories and enduring familial ties.

Random Orbit
42” x 105” x 3.5”
Cherry, Lacquer
2024
Random Orbit is a large-scale composition of quarter dome forms created using a wood lathe. I used the technique of split-turning, which involves splitting the forms along the vertical axis, allowing them to be recombined and reconfigured as they come together, separate, and intersect.

Photography courtesy of Vivian Chiu, unless otherwise noted.

Art Basel Miami isn’t for the faint of heart. Between fairs, exhibitions, dinners, and after-hours events, the city becomes a whirlwind of creativity and constant motion. It’s thrilling – but also a sensory overload, leaving little room to breathe if you don’t pace yourself.

In the middle of it all, Casa AnKan offered what many visitors were quietly craving: a pause. Unveiled at Alcova, OASIS emerged as a welcome sanctuary inspired by desert modernism, offering both breathing room and a space to experience the grounding power of materiality in art and design.

Photo: Adrian Colina

“With OASIS, we wanted to offer a moment of stillness – a place that feels both physical and emotional,” share Casa AnKan founders Angelo Garrido and Ana Curiel. Founded in 2023, the emerging collectible design gallery approaches exhibition-making as an immersive, sensory experience, where atmosphere is as essential as the objects themselves. For OASIS, the gallery curated works by seven designers and artists whose pieces collectively shaped the tone, rhythm, and emotional resonance of the space.

Photo: Venjhamin Reyes

Los Angeles–based studio Amorph’s Saba Mirror gently departs from symmetry before returning to balance, using hand-shaped walnut to explore reflection as both form and feeling. The Nuvia Cabinet conveys a sense of movement through layered wood and embedded sheets of colored paper, reaffirming wood as a living, expressive material.

Photo: Adrian Colina

Created exclusively for OASIS, Sanaa Design’s No Stranger II uses gypsum, acrylic, and wool to explore tactility and perception. Through layered textures and subtle gestures, the sculpture unfolds slowly, rewarding close attention.

Photo: Adrian Colina

Esther Knopfler’s Strata Stool, created in collaboration with Marbrerie Provençale, transforms marble offcuts into a one-of-a-kind sculptural seat. Layered from discarded stone, the piece highlights how sustainability can be both purposeful and deeply poetic.

Photo: Adrian Colina

Alia Vitæ reinterprets the sculptural spirit of 1970s lighting through a contemporary lens with the Dora Lamps. Handcrafted from fiberglass and coated in marble and quartz powder, each piece feels otherworldly – a glowing, stone-like form that emits a magical, atmospheric light.

Photo: Venjhamin Reyes

Crafted in the Czech Republic, Constellation by ELOA Unique Lights floats like luminous soap bubbles in space. The mouth-blown glass pendants reveal vibrant color by day and a warm, calming glow by night.

Photo: Venjhamin Reyes

Jt. Pfeiffer’s Torino Rug gets lifted to new heights, offering a closer look at Indian craftsmanship. Hand-tufted from New Zealand wool, the rug transforms color and texture into a soft, sculptural surface.

Photo: Piergiorgio Sorgetti

Carved from a single block of San Luis Onyx, the M_001 Chair by Monolith is a study in minimal geometry, where material and form reinforce one another. Also by Monolith, the M_014 Lamp applies the same restraint in cast aluminum. The diffused light emerges from two circular caps, asserting its function as a lamp without overshadowing its presence as a collectible object.

Photo: Piergiorgio Sorgetti

Photo: Venjhamin Reyes

Photo: Adrian Colina

Photo: Venjhamin Reyes

OASIS underscored Casa AnKan’s belief that collectible design is most powerful when it is experienced rather than merely seen. By shaping the exhibition through atmosphere and materiality, Casa AnKan created a space where objects resonated emotionally, not just visually.

Photo: Venjhamin Reyes

Photo: Adrian Colina

To learn more about Casa AnKan or any of the pieces exhibited at OASIS, visit casaankan.com.

When Nimrod Weis was 11 years old he would go to the Tandy store in Australia and buy electrical components that he could tinker with and assemble into his own objects. His grandfather, a sculptor who lived and worked in the Negev region of Israel, made a lasting impression on him. “He was instrumental to my artistic development, because out in the desert he gave me the sense that people can do extraordinary things,” Weis says.

His father purchased a home computer, and the excitement was palpable because they were the first family on the block to own one. While everyone else couldn’t wait to play the latest games on the PC, Weis wanted to create them instead, and that’s when he realized he was a maker.

Nimrod Weis \\\ Photo: David Zanardi

In 1997, Weis founded technology and art studio ENESS, based in Australia. His multidisciplinary team, known as happiness architects, produces temporary and permanent interactive art that combines elements like music, software development, and textiles.

He invites viewers to experience what he calls unexpected curiosities, taking digital installations out of galleries and museums and into the public sphere. At the intersection of the virtual and physical, his work challenges how people view cities and their spaces, always sparking the imagination.

Weis doesn’t limit himself to a particular style or form. He continually explores outside of his comfort zone. “As a departure from large-scale art, sometimes I will create a piece of furniture or design some socks,” he notes. “I have been playing around with giant Chinese calligraphy brushes and inks. For me, it really helps to change mediums.”

Today, Nimrod Weis joins us for Friday Five!

Photo: Nimrod Weis

1. Seki Zen Gardens in Kyoto

I’ve just returned from Japan; I find the Seki (Zen) gardens of Kyoto extremely inspirational. It’s an astonishing place, the architecture is old but strangely modern, like 400 years ahead of its time, the stone gardens put the viewer into a trance or meditation. It’s natural but nature didn’t make it as such. I find it fascinating that man can make compositions that stimulate the brain in a certain way and that this composition has come from studying nature.

Photo: Nimrod Weis

2. Safety Signs

Most of my graphics are influenced by signs. A key icon for us is based on a sign I saw on a plane. Another example is that we have an ENESS t-shirt with a truck motif on it and it’s the same truck sign you see on the side of the road. I love old signs because a lot of them were drawn before computers, they’re informative but someone’s near perfect picture for everyone to enjoy. When I’m stuck, I flick through my photos looking for images of signs that I’ve taken for inspiration.

Photo: Nimrod Weis

3. I love gimmicks, trinkets and weird toys

For example, something that has the capacity to turn, or move. My favorite gimmick is a tacky solar panel turntable that spins – it’s a little spinning platform for an ornament or a toy. I love thinking about what else can this be. Repurposing things, transforming it into something else. For example, reworking a clock mechanism, or Chinese practice scrolls that enable ink to fade – or even party balloons for that matter! blowing a balloon through a cylinder makes a tree. A simple party balloon can convey something different from what it is. I love to look at these things and change their function into beautiful object of desire. I’m not looking for diamonds I’m looking for trinkets because I’m inspired to see every day, common things differently.

Photo: Courtesy of En Iwamura

4. New styles for ancient medium – ceramics

Two artists I recently visited in my travels to Japan, En Iwamura and Tomoya Sakai both work in clay, I feel they are taking the medium in new directions, their works are influenced by their pop culture world with the old craftsmanship of Japan. Highly imaginative and extremely beautifully crafted, there forms really resonate with me, they leave the observer with enough room for their own imagination to go for a stroll.

Photo: Nimrod Weis

5. Skateboarding

Yes, every kid had a skateboard in the 90s but for me it was different, I owe a lot to skateboarding, style, grit, attitude and a high threshold for pain. Think about it, there is no other sport more stylish, it shouldn’t even be called a sport – it’s more like a dance. Sports with a number on your back? That’s not cool, maybe Roller-skating in the 70’s was cool, but skateboarding broke all the rules and has influenced fashion, art and media, shoes would not look the same, pants would not be as baggy, and even other sports have all progressed and changed thanks to skateboarding. Try it.

Works by Nimrod Weis and ENESS:

Photo: Sam Roberts

Photo: Ben Weinstein

Photo: Ben Weinstein

Photo: David Zanardi

Photo: June Young-Lim

Photo: Ismail Noor

Photo: Ismail Noor

Photo: Finbarr Fallon