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Dreamscapes
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....
Apr 27, 2023


To Shed New Light
Cecília André compares roaming the aisles of the Material for the Arts’ warehouse to diving into the unconscious mind. Everything...
Jan 18, 2023


Everyone's talking about Mobilinea
It's hard to believe that I first started researching the history of Brazilian modern design company Mobilinea ten years ago! But it was...
Aug 12, 2020


Brendel's Castor Bean Model
In the rapidly changing world of the nineteenth century, the expansion of industrialization was accompanied by an increased interest in...
Dec 13, 2019


Natural History for Dinner
The creation of what has come to be known as Hans Sloane plates derived from an increased interest in natural history in the eighteenth...
Dec 12, 2019


The Geometry of Nature
Christopher Dresser (1834-1904) is often described as the first independent industrial designer because of his belief in machine...
Dec 11, 2019


Beyond the Crystal Palace
Sir Joseph Paxton’s name may sound familiar to architecture enthusiasts, as he was responsible for designing the famous Crystal Palace of...
Dec 10, 2019


Vitrified Nature
Growing up in Nancy, France, in the 1850s, Emile Gallé liked going to the city’s botanical gardens and walking the surrounding...
Dec 9, 2019


The Girard Wing
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...
Oct 3, 2019


Tinkertown Museum
On a side road of the Turquoise Trail (a scenic byway from Albuquerque to Santa Fe), just inside Sandia Park, one finds Tinkertown. The...
Sep 26, 2019


The Color Factory
I went to the Color Factory worried that its reputation as the most instagrammable show ever would turn it into a narcissistic nightmare,...
Aug 19, 2019


Camp
"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...
Jul 16, 2019


Botanical Lessons
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...
Jul 8, 2019


Transparencies & Threads
For those in New York, I recommend the exhibition "Transparencies & Threads" by Cecília André, opening today at Friday Studio Gallery. I...
Jun 7, 2019


The Czech Dream: Hey Ho! Nobody Home
Socialist Czechoslovakia, 1972: crowds gather in lines to acquire goods during a period of shortage. Insurgence, 1989: riots break out in...
Nov 6, 2018


The Wooden Clothespin: Hung Out to Dry, for Now
In my first week of college, a drawing professor asked the class to sketch a clothespin, leaving students skeptical of his methods. Isn’t...
Sep 25, 2018


High Rise: painting, book, and film
I saw this painting in September of last year at Tate Modern, and I felt immediately attracted to it without knowing exactly why; the...
Sep 15, 2017


On T2 (based on the books Trainspotting and Porno)
I was sixteen-years-old when Porno came out, and I immediately got this copy. I was already addicted to Trainspotting - and by addicted,...
Apr 19, 2017


Shall we talk about design too?
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...
Nov 2, 2016


Shall we talk about sex?
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...
Oct 12, 2016
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