From significant business changes to noteworthy product launches, there’s always something new happening in the world of design. In this biweekly roundup, AD PRO has everything you need to know.

Exhibitions

At Cristina Grajales, Spiritual Landscapes is a collaborative experiment with materiality

Nature enthralls artists Philip and Kelvin LaVerne, Hugo Rodríguez, and Jaime Franco; it’s a passion that pervades their works illuminated in “Spiritual Landscapes.” Presented in collaboration with Antonio Haslauer Da Costa and Yoshii Gallery, the show at New York’s Cristina Grajales Gallery (on view through May 9) is a meditation on time and memory. Crafted from bronze and glass, the LaVernes’ patinated furniture evokes ancient cultures, just as Rodriguez’s wood and stone sculptures are redolent of pre-Columbian artifacts. These pieces are juxtaposed with Franco’s abstract paintings. Integrating encaustic and volcanic clay, their layered geometries exhibit a sense of erosion.

AD PRO Hears…

…Scandi brand Toteme has collaborated with AD100 firm Herzog & De Meuron to unveil that label’s first flagship in China. The sleek storefront in Beijing is a whiteout set of Penrose stairs inside.

Design Happenings

In LA, Design.Space outlines a new kind of collectible fair

Last weekend, the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood transformed into Design.Space, a buzzy indoor-outdoor retail experience. Presented by digital marketplace Basic.Space—which recently acquired the Design Miami/fairs—the two-day event brought together works from over 80 artists, designers, and galleries, including Max Lamb’s sculptural poly-material armchairs, Clara Jorisch’s ethereal glass tables, and Willo Perron’s glossy porthole mirrors for Nordiska Galleriet. Showcased alongside contemporary collectibles were standouts like Jean Prouvé’s 1969 polygonal model gas station. A display of 500 never-before-used Enorme telephone sets—the rare, postmodern landline designed in 1985 by Ettore Sottsass, David Kelley, and Jean Pigozzi—flaunting their original retro packaging hints at nostalgia coming full-force for the collectible design market.

Little Wing Lee honored with a Cooper Hewitt National Design Award

Little Wing Lee has been named the winner of this year’s Cooper Hewitt National Design Award in interior design. Launched in 2000 as an official project of the White House Millennium Council, the National Design Awards amplify the role of design in everyday life. Lee, founder of the Brooklyn practice Studio & Projects and Black Folks in Design, has been honored for bringing cultural, commercial, and residential spaces to life. Notable projects include local bistro Bar Bête and a forthcoming exhibition in Washington, DC’s Folger Shakespeare Library, as well as product lines for RBW and Odabashian.

AD PRO Hears…

…north of Hong Kong’s Basel-bound, in Beijing’s UCCA Center for Contemporary Art, Korean artist Anicka Yi’s solo exhibition investigates the connections between the sensory and the emotional. Co-organized and coproduced with Leeum Museum of Art, “There Exists Another Evolution, But In This One” is on view through June 15.

What you may have missed at Art Basel Hong Kong

Held this past weekend, the Art Basel Hong Kong edition was a smash, with 240 galleries from around the world popping up in the city’s Convention and Exhibition Center. Standout booths included Louis Vuitton’s acid-green-drenched exhibit, packed with whimsical sculptures, prints, videos, and objects by Japanese artist and longtime collaborator Takashi Murakami.

Such visits were bolstered with urban excursions. A few nights before the fair kicked off, for example, French designer Alexandre de Betak and Mexican chef Elena Reygadas unveiled their one-night-only We Are Ona pop-up held at the Landmark, for which de Betak melded a monumental light sculpture reminiscent of flames with 1,500 ceramic pieces wood-fired in Japan. Just north, in Kowloon, the Peninsula Hong Kong launched the third iteration of its “Art in Resonance” program (on view through May) in partnership with London’s V&A Museum. A lunar installation by local multimedia artist Phoebe Hui greets guests as a projection on the hotel’s façade, while the lobby displays Shanghai artist Lin Fanglu’s bold red textile fragments. Meanwhile, local artist Chris Cheung (widely known as h0nh1m) reimagined the veranda as a zen garden teahouse.

In New York, DIFFA hosts a Gothic masquerade ball

Last night, masked revelers streamed into New York’s Cathedral of St. John the Divine for DIFFA’s (Design Industries Foundation) annual fundraising gala. Candlelight sparkled against the Gothic arches as guests sipped cocktails and listened to Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter Rhonda Ross, before dancing into the wee hours with DJ Johnsville. Heightening the festive mood were stilt performers and a gospel choir. The event raised funds for treatment, care, and education for those affected by HIV/AIDS, homelessness, and mental health challenges. It also honored the Angelo Donghia Foundation for its long-standing commitment to the DIFFA Student Design Initiative.

AD PRO Hears…

…Burberry is making its mark on the Victoria and Albert Museum. The two iconically British forces are partnering to redesign the museum’s fashion wing, which will be christened the Burberry Gallery by Spring 2027.

…in New York tonight, guests at the 50th Kips Bay President’s Dinner Gala will raise a glass to Edmund Hollander. The AD PRO Directory talent is set to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award for his commitment to innovative and sustainable design—and innumerable beautiful landscapes.

Product

Doorman’s new eco-friendly furniture range has a French connection

In his New Orleans workshop, Doorman founder Alex Geriner makes heirloom-worthy furniture fashioned out of responsibly sourced wood. His newest assemblage, an ode to French postmodernism dreamed up while he was traveling in Paris, is especially chic and sustainable. Consider the Marengo bed: Its lozenge-shaped headboard tiles are spawned from upcycled walnut scraps, as are the bases of the swiveling Basin bar stools and the Teche dining tables’ pedestals. The Marais daybed’s Louisiana cypress frame is softened with outdoor fabric spun from recycled ocean plastic, while a coconut-fiber cushion tops the octagonal Clouet ottoman.

Alison Berger’s latest collection has a spiritual bent

For Alison Berger, founder of the eponymous LA art and design studio, light is a material, glass is a medium, and her handblown objects (designed for the likes of Hermès, Comme des Garçons, RH, and Holly Hunt) explore the deep relationship between those two realms. Her newest lighting ensemble, titled Offering, is no exception: An homage to altar rituals, it comprises pendants, sconces, vases, and crystals that can be arranged into countless permutations as personalized symbols of gratitude and reflection. These functional art pieces, including solid crystals buoyed by amber bronze, celebrate the notions of generosity, purity, and healing.

AD PRO Hears…

…inspired by the natural tranquility of the midwest, Hennepin Made’s new Nested lighting collection hatches glowing, ovoid bulbs set against wooden bases.

…on view at Inner Gardens’ LA showroom: Taliny Chhung’s hand-built ceramics, some reminiscent of bark, others similar to fungal wonders.