I’ve been meaning to post this for the longest time and keep forgetting… Here’s the celebratory post for the reprint of Brazil Modern . Many moons ago, when I worked at Marcenaria Barauna, I learned that an “American” was coming to see some of the early prototypes made with Lina. I was told he was working on a publication about Brazilian design, and I helped supply our images. Even though my role there was furniture designer, I coincidentally took care of the company’s archi

Ephemera is a funny word. For most people, it means that which will only exist or be relevant for a short time. For archivists and historians, ephemera often means the type of document that best describes a person, a period, or a place. A key to understanding a moment in time. Such is the case of Joyce Lin’s Process Journal , a brochure I had the honor to work on for her current show at R & Company, Material Autopsy . Joyce brings an entire new dimension to her pieces by shar

To create art is to share a piece of oneself. When Melissa Kraft paints, dyes, and glues, she is sharing, and she is making an offering....

Cecília André compares roaming the aisles of the Material for the Arts’ warehouse to diving into the unconscious mind. Everything...

If you’re in NY, go check out the exhibition Craft Front and Center at MAD before it closes on Sunday! Then watch the documentary With These Hands and, finally, read my article about the history of the film and come nerd out with me about these somewhat obscure but exciting stories. Craft Front and Center “brings together more than 70 iconic and lesser-known works to highlight key thematic touchpoints in craft’s history that have brought us to this moment.” Many of these p

It's hard to believe that I first started researching the history of Brazilian modern design company Mobilinea ten years ago! But it was...

In the rapidly changing world of the nineteenth century, the expansion of industrialization was accompanied by an increased interest in...

The creation of what has come to be known as Hans Sloane plates derived from an increased interest in natural history in the eighteenth...

Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) is often described as the first independent industrial designer because of his belief in machine...

Sir Joseph Paxton’s name may sound familiar to architecture enthusiasts, as he was responsible for designing the famous Crystal Palace of...

Growing up in Nancy, France, in the 1850s, Emile Gallé liked going to the city’s botanical gardens and walking the surrounding...

The Girard Wing is part of the Museum of International Folk Art in Santa Fe and was inaugurated in 1982 with the long term exhibition...

On a side road of the Turquoise Trail (a scenic byway from Albuquerque to Santa Fe), just inside Sandia Park, one finds Tinkertown. The...

I went to the Color Factory worried that its reputation as the most instagrammable show ever would turn it into a narcissistic nightmare,...

"Camp: Notes on Fashion" is the Met's fashion show of the year, with its title derived from Susan Sontag's 1964 essay "Notes on Camp." A...

This is a long overdue post to celebrate Botanical Lessons, which opened at Cooper Hewitt on June 8 and will be on view until December...

For those in New York, I recommend the exhibition "Transparencies & Threads" by Cecília André, opening today at Friday Studio Gallery. I...

Socialist Czechoslovakia, 1972: crowds gather in lines to acquire goods during a period of shortage. Insurgence, 1989: riots break out in...

In my first week of college, a drawing professor asked the class to sketch a clothespin, leaving students skeptical of his methods. Isn’t...

I saw this painting in September of last year at Tate Modern, and I felt immediately attracted to it without knowing exactly why; the...

I was sixteen-years-old when Porno came out, and I immediately got this copy. I was already addicted to Trainspotting - and by addicted,...

I recorded this video in the German room of the I London Design Biennale. Sitting in that dark and warm space with a virtual fire made by...

A few weeks ago, I went to an event called FutureFest, where ideas and experiences around the themes of love, work, play and thrive were...