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Last year was the warmest in recorded history. The graphic artists of the environmental movement tried to warn us. Their posters aimed to scare people straight with pictures of ecological ruin, or glorified nature, clean air and water, sunshine and verdure. Some offered earworm-y slogans and haunting visuals. Whatever their approach — bright, witty, somber, blunt, even sexy — they sought an image, a phrase, that could change enough minds to literally save the world.
Through Feb. 25, an exhibition at Poster House in Manhattan demonstrates these visual and rhetorical styles, and how they reflect the evolving movement’s shifting strategies. There are 33 posters on view, along with dozens of postage stamps and a pair of socks by Vivienne Westwood.
Environmentalism began honing its voice in the 1970s, with roots in the counterculture and protests against the Vietnam War. Robert Rauschenberg designed the official poster for the first Earth Day, in 1970. In a deadpan appeal to patriotism, grim scenes of spoiled ecologies frame a bald eagle. The earliest work in the show, a call for clean water from 1961 by Hans Erni, features a ghastly skull in a drinking glass. The choice, the artists argued, was between peace and poison.
This is the environmental movement as a marketing problem. First, people must know about your product; then you must persuade them that they need it. Maybe a healthy planet seems like a self-evident good. “Give Earth a Chance,” reads a 1970 poster by Milton Glaser; the big blue marble we all inhabit is drawn floating in a living room. As the Earth Days and global conclaves tick by on the posters, it starts to feel like consciousness-raising isn’t enough. The posters’ tones acidify. An austere illustration by Yen-chang Cheng & Hung-yu Chen from 2008 features a baby polar bear floating on its mother’s corpse.
Flashes of optimism and calls to rally around children and animals characterize several examples from the 1980s, including a pro-tree poster by Eric Carle of “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” fame. In Rauschenberg’s 1992 print for the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, an infant naps in a stroller. “I pledge to make the Earth a secure and hospitable home for present and future generations,” it reads.
You also start to suspect counterforces at work — what Vance Packard, a journalist critical of consumerism, called “hidden persuaders” in his 1957 book — who could sell an anvil to someone drowning.
All the materials on view stem from sincere convictions — or do they? On the back wall is a poster version of the famous “Crying Indian” TV spot, with a solitary tear spilling down the weathered cheek of Iron Eyes Cody. A wall label tells you something you may know — that this “Native American” is actually an Italian American actor — and something you may not: the Keep America Beautiful group behind the ad is a consortium of beverage companies.
This context puts the text in a different light. “People start pollution,” the poster reads. “People can stop it.” The campaign tried to shift the onus to litterbugs, and away from brands’ disposable packaging. Likewise, the idea of a “carbon footprint,” which makes individual consumers the problem rather than the fossil fuels they’re sold, was pushed by spin doctors (the megafirm Ogilvy & Mather), hired by BP in 2004.
Gradually, environmentalist artists got wise. The show features examples of the so-called culture jamming mode developed by activists in the ’90s. (Think Adbusters magazine or the Yes Men.)
A pitch-perfect parody of a Volkswagen ad by the British designer Barnbrook is one of several that were sneaked into Paris bus stops ahead of the COP21 climate conference. There is the usual car, and above it, Volkswagen’s familiar font. But the text reads, “We’re sorry that we got caught,” a reference to the carmaker’s emissions cheating scandal and a rebuke of its own sans-serif apology placed in newspapers just days earlier. The idea is less to draw hearts to green causes than to gird minds against greenwashing.
But ad firms are creative too. The most morally ambiguous poster is a 2017 spread showing a well-heeled woman posing with a megaphone on a luxury speedboat while, just behind her, a fishing vessel drags in a whale and bloodies the sea. “For those with environmental awareness,” goes the copy. “And 72,000 dollars.” A vicious sendup of greenwashed luxury? No, it’s an ad, created by Ogilvy & Mather, for a hybrid electric Lexus.
Perhaps realizing they can’t outspend corporate P.R., some contemporary poster makers forgo blue-skies thinking and bitter wit in order to tout specific policy. Gavin Snider’s 2019 earth-toned design depicts a lively scene centered on the giant globe fountain built in Flushing Meadows Corona Park for the 1964 World’s Fair. It states, simply: “The Green New Deal.” In 2023, Jan Martijn Burger’s poster urging divestment in fossil fuels took up the nostalgic style of W.P.A. printmakers. In the arc this show sketches, the mood of the environmental movement gradually drains of joy.
We Tried to Warn You! Environmental Crisis Posters, 1970-2020 Through Feb. 25 at Poster House, 119 West 23rd Street, Manhattan; 917-722-2439; posterhouse.org.
numen/for use and ivana jonke’s dynamic rigoletto set design
Spanish theater director Miguel Del Arco joined forces with art collective Numen/For Use and architect Ivana Jonke to orchestrate a dynamic and immersive set for the new production of Rigoletto at Teatro Real in Madrid. The story of Rigoletto is drenched in darkness, depravity, and ultimately tragedy. It traces the life of a lowly court jester who works at the court of Mantua, run by a cocky Duke who boasts of his long list of lovers and humiliates his subordinates. While typically playing cruel jokes on the duke’s ‘victims’, Rigoletto’s world comes crashing down when Gilda, his daughter, attracts his master’s attention. The story’s tragic storyline is ultimately reflected in the creation of sinister, lynchian spaces, imbued with a strange and relentless dynamism. The ‘red set’ (ducal palace) plays with unexpected manipulations of the theater curtain while the ‘black set’ (exterior) conjures up a dark and inhospitable landscape with a hidden hortus clausus. All scenes retain a dose of visual abstraction paired up with emphatic organicism and vitality of inflatable forms.
Numen/ For Use and Ivana Jonke’s scenography for Rigoletto | all images courtesy the art collective
how red & black curtains collapse & inflate across acts
The first Act of Rigoletto at Teatro Real begins with an extended staging of the collapse of the main theater curtain by Numen/For Use (see more here) and Ivana Jonke. What initially appears as a common red velvet curtain suddenly drops before the audience, revealing the front side of a huge inflated cube lined sidewise with black fabric. As the Preludio music intensifies, the cube collapses and deflates dramatically, while the curtain plunges backward to form an open red landscape covering a large portion of the stage. Chandeliers descend and the scene is set for the ball sequence. The scene concludes with the red fabric sucked out of the stage, revealing only the black, hilly terrain that slowly moves towards the proscenium. The chandeliers retreat and the landscape fills with haze to create a somber, predatory exterior.
Act 1 – the red curtain turns into a huge inflated cube
At some point in the scene, a slit in the terrain opens and a transparent foil cupola appears containing a hortus clausus, wildly planted with forest fern and meadow grasses. This is Gilda’s locked garden which she shares with several forest nymphs, acting as her untamed, elusive doubles. The lush garden is green and well-lit, in sharp contrast with the dystopian, dead environment around it. The whole scene has a sense of terraforming a distant, inhospitable planet. The cupola is air supported and quickly collapses for Gilda’s scene, leaving the garden unprotected and open to invasion. During the last part of Act 1, six large black boulders inflate laterally and in the back of the terrain, creating an even wider and more threatening landscape.
Act 2 – unveiling pillar-like cutouts
For the start of Rigoletto’s Act 2, instead of going up, the curtain disintegrates into pillar-like cutouts that slide backward into the depth of the stage and assume the spatial composition of a great hypostyle hall. This is the classical ducal palace scene, Numen/For Use points out. The chandeliers return, and a white sofa emerges with a trick of the moving curtain. Despite this scene being structurally different from the opening palace scene, the art collective set up a clear visual connection between the two. At the end of Act 2, the pillars become warped, and the palace assumes a chaotic, jungle-like character. The scene closes with the curtain pillars slowly straightening up and moving in the opposite direction until they form an even surface and completely close the portal.
Act 2 – assuming the spatial composition of a great hypostyle hall
creating surreal, dark, and sinister landscapes at teatro real
Act 3 starts again with the closed red curtain, which opens through segments falling down to reveal a cave-like environment formed by suspended, organic masses of dark fabric. In one of the cave openings, the audience glimpses a dimly lit tavern. This is a warm subterranean space, a loud den of the social underworld, with shadows moving on the walls. The tavern is alive and intense yet surrounded by the river mists and murky landscape. The spatial elements for the interior are realistic, while the rest of the scenery remains shrouded in abstract organicism. ‘With Gilda’s murder, the fly system will release and lower all of the suspended fabric, the cave will fold down and disappear in the slow avalanche of black cloth. In the ‘maledizione’ scene, Rigoletto and dead Gilda are left among the ruins of the set and the exposed structures of theatre technology,’ concludes the art collective. Numen/For Use custom designed most of the furniture and all contracting chandeliers. The performance premiered on December 2, 2023, and ran for 30 consecutive nights until January 2, 2024.
Act 2 – the pillars warp and the palace assumes a jungle-like character
Upon entering, guests are greeted by the bakery's striking counter, a sculptural masterpiece crafted from green fiberglass in a honeycomb design. This vibrant element contrasts sharply with the light grey backdrop of walls and flooring, creating an eye-catching focal point. The green hue of the counter subtly reappears in the bathroom's antechamber, visible behind Japanese-style, wood-framed, translucent sliding doors, and is echoed in a textile installation that sweeps across the ceiling. This installation, inspired by 'noren' – traditional Japanese fabric dividers – imparts a gentle sense of movement and cohesively links the bakery and bar areas, just like the wooden bench that lines the street-facing wall.
In stark contrast to the bakery's airy, green-hued counter, the bar area features a counter crafted from black-stained chestnut. This choice of material pays homage to Shou Sugi Ban, a traditional Japanese method of charring wood to enhance its durability. Complementing this dark, substantial counter are a cupboard unit of black-stained chestnut and stainless steel, and a stone console. The console's rugged, unrefined appearance stands out in the minimalist setting, serving as a nod to wabi-sabi, the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and transience.
Daria Vasilkova, of the Art Group, alongside Oksana Zavarzina and Evgeny Schevchenko, of LakeandWalls, has given life to a quirky, colorful apartment that stands as the epitome of her distinctive style. Located on Kutuzovsky Avenue in the heart of Moscow, the apartment boasts a bold color palette, a mix of design aesthetics, a combination of materials, and a playful array of ceramic tiles, which Vasilkova designed herself.
Each room makes a design statement, especially with the extensive use of ceramic tiles, most from her own tile company called Reda. Russia, in general, hasn’t grown to appreciate the use of tiles, resulting in Vasilkova to launch her own company that produces tiles with exclusive designs. She likes to use them in unexpected ways, like decorating walls in lieu of wallpaper, on window slopes, and furniture facades.
The centerpiece of the kitchen is the upper bank of warm wood cabinets with wavy fronts. Flanking the center cabinets are two built-in wall cabinets in white with red accents. A shiny kitchen faucet adds another red element. The dining area, which shares the same gradient blue tile floor, pops with Mullit and Magnum chairs by Sancal in different variations of green, red, and blue around a simple table. Looking like two eyes hanging above, two Miami pendants by Il Fanale hang as a final unexpected touch.
A custom metal bookcase in the living room, which holds a mix of books, objects, and plants, is mounted onto black and white patterned Reda tiles.
The red continues throughout the living room covering the baseboard molding and a custom mirror.
A cobalt blue cabinet clad in Reda’s Sport 60’s tiles lives under a sculptural mirror by Elisaveta Solonitsyna, also made of ceramics by Reda.
Even the bedrooms have unexpected yet clever details, like this custom, perfortated wall that doubles as a headboard in one of the child’s rooms.
Some of the tiles were inspired by Russian fairytales, like the blue and white ones framing the window in the above bedroom on the left. Aptly named “Dreams,” this tile collection gives nod to the heroes found in those stories.
Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.
“When I was last here, there was nothing much to cheer you up,” says 10-year-old Joseph Hay, perusing the intricate mural that now dominates one wall of the operating theatres unit at the Royal Hospital for Children in Glasgow. Joseph, who has undergone numerous procedures here after being diagnosed with bone marrow failure, remembers most of all the apprehension of the general anaesthetic. “You’re just waiting for the moment. This wasn’t a place you’d really want to be at all.”
But now, the largest paediatric theatre unit in Scotland “doesn’t even feel like a hospital”, as Joseph joins other former patients and their families to inspect the million-pound transformation they have helped to bring about in a unique collaboration between children and creatives, the first of its kind in the country.
Alyson Walker, a paediatric cardiac anaesthetist who spearheaded the comprehensive and carefully plotted redesign, says of the old look: “It felt like the environment was letting down the staff.”
Children inspect the large mural. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
Some of the changes required were immediately obvious, to correct egregious design failures. For example, the blood fridge, previously accessed by staff in full view of waiting families, has been replaced with a mini toy museum, including building blocks dating from 1882 when the children’s hospital was first built in Garnethill, across the River Clyde.
Others are subtler reflections of Walker’s desire to create “a space that has a soul”, such as the “Wee Room”, a private area with soft lighting, in contrast to the standard clinical glare, where parents can compose themselves after leaving their child in surgery.
Most of all, the rigorous design process has been guided by the patients themselves, consulting children from all over Scotland, with a range of conditions and backgrounds, about the things that make them feel happiest and safest.
Animals accompany children down the corridors and reappear one in each of the 11 operating theatres. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
Emily Keith, nine, who required plastic surgery on a finger injury, told the designers how nerve-racking it was to encounter “the big red hand that said stop” on the door of the anaesthetic room.
Older children said they wanted to see artwork that reached beyond “babyish” stencils, while younger children needed illustrations that engaged and distracted them at their lower eye level. Others wanted seating that could be turned into a rocking horse or rowing boat with the right imagination.
As a result of this depth of insight, the hard edges and functional paintwork have been blurred and blended in a new reception area with curved archways and desks, blinking fairy lights, lemony sofa benches and colourful, bounceable chairs that render the mood more soft play than pre-theatre.
Detail of the mural, including a splashing dolphin and a roller-blading stag. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
The vibrant artwork includes 11 animals chosen by former patients, including a paragliding panda, a roller-blading stag and a dolphin splashing out of a flume, who accompany children down the corridors and reappear one in each of the 11 operating theatres.
Starting with a budget of zero, and involving interior designers, architects, environmental psychologists and two key illustrators, Laura Darling and Mark Faulkner, the project demanded a strenuous fundraising effort, including £500,000 committed by the Glasgow Children’s Hospital Charity.
Walker’s passion for the project has been infectious, says the charity’s head, Kirsten Sinclair. “It’s brought individuals and communities together to fundraise, driven by the idea that collectively we can make things better for the tens of thousands of families who use this space.”
Alyson Walker: ‘I wanted to create a space that reflected the incredible children we see every day.’ Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
The impact on staff has been just as significant, says Tim Bradnock, a consultant paediatric surgeon. “I see really tangible changes when I come into work.” Mano Pagavathiappan, a staff nurse, says following the animal artwork from reception through to theatre feels “like I’m inside the story”.
Walker says: “As a medic, it’s an honour to become part of other people’s stories in those most vulnerable moments. So I wanted to create a space that reflected the incredible children we see every day, and their families and communities, so they could see something beautiful and something of themselves.”
The average person today has access to seemingly unlimited fonts ― and with such great power comes great responsibility. One can use Curlz MT on a resume or Brush Script for a party invitation, but should one? Though trained designers might have a clear idea of the best fonts for each task, most of us laymen are reduced to guesswork, instinct and the guidance of edicts like “never use Comic Sans.”
But this prohibitive attitude toward font freedom doesn’t necessarily serve us well. At least that’s the argument of Douglas Thomas, the author of Never Use Futura ― a celebratory new history of the iconic font, which does not actually condemn all uses of Futura.
“I decided to use the title in part as a provocation, and as an ironic commentary on how most of the conversation around fonts people have is housed in a negative,” Thomas told HuffPost in a phone interview. “People know not to use Comic Sans and maybe Papyrus ― those are things you just shouldn’t do. But very rarely do people understand why they should use a typeface.”
The full title of his book, Thomas pointed out, is actually Never Use Futura Unless You Are ... followed by a long list of famous people, brands and organizations that do use the typeface. (A few of the notable Futura users, listed on the front and back of his book, include: Nike, Fox News, Ikea, Vanity Fair, Politico, Forever 21 and In-N-Out.)
“I’m hoping to poke a little fun at that sort of conversation ― designers can say, ‘oh, the masses shouldn’t use Futura, but we can, in these ways,’” he added.
“People know not to use Comic Sans and maybe Papyrus ― those are things you just shouldn’t do. But very rarely do people understand why they should use a typeface.”
- Douglas Thomas
This hypocritical anti-Futura rhetoric suggests that maybe the problem isn’t bad font choice ― it’s that designers just want to keep the good fonts to themselves. Does this sound paranoid? OK, maybe so. But there’s a grain of truth there, too. And understandably so: Overuse of a font isn’t just annoying, it can make the font less useful to designers.
We naturally associate fonts with the ideas and brands we’ve seen them presenting or adjacent to in the past. “Futura started out as this avant-garde idea,” Thomas pointed out. “It was linked with some of the newest, most cutting-edge ideas in Europe.”
Created in the 1920s by German Bauhaus designer Paul Renner, Futura was meant to capture the modernism of the time. It was closely linked with progressive political and cultural ideals ― equality, democratization, globalism and even socialism. “When Vanity Fair first used it in 1929, people were appalled,” Thomas told HuffPost. “There were editorials written calling this a Bolshevik revolution.” Not only did the magazine use all lower-case for article heads at first ― a clear attack on hierarchies and an endorsement of anarchy, in the eyes of more conservative onlookers ― the font itself was freighted with political meaning.
Then, well, everyone started to use it, and that changed the font’s impact. When we see Futura now, we probably think about Wes Anderson films or Kate Spade or Vogue ― the fact is, as Thomas recently wrote for Fast.Co, it’s a font that’s been linked to a lot of concepts, political movements, media outlets and corporations. Merely by the fact of the font’s widespread use, it’s necessarily been sapped of its power to convey strong ideas.
“In graduate schools and high-end design firms, there’s this constant search for new typefaces that aren’t being used that can be filled with new ideas and aren’t linked to past moments and movements,” Thomas said. Sometimes brands or publications achieve that by designing their own exclusive typeface, like the New Yorker’s Irvin.
That doesn’t mean Futura is no longer a good font, or that it’s never appropriate to use. Most of us don’t go to design school, but that doesn’t mean we can’t learn more about how to use fonts. We just have to pay attention to what different typefaces convey and what effect they’ll have. For example, said Thomas, when people use Comic Sans in a professional setting, they usually convey the wrong tone.
“It just seems both completely inappropriate and maybe showing a lack of judgment, the same way we’d judge someone if they stepped out of their house naked. Maybe we’re all fine with people choosing how we want to dress, but there are,” he added, “times and places for things.” Comic Sans isn’t inherently bad, though. “If it’s being used in a communication to a preschool group or in a comic book, for crying out loud,” he said, “it would be perfectly appropriate.”
See, every font has its purpose. Probably. (We still haven’t decided about Papyrus.) “Every typeface has its own voice, speaks in its own language,” Thomas concluded. “Once you understand what that language is, you can use it in exceptionally insightful and beautiful ways.”
We just have to take the judgment away from the process, stop talking about what fonts can’t do, and start embracing what they can do.
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Early in 1969, the Metropolitan Museum sparked an uproar with an exhibition called “Harlem on My Mind: Cultural Capital of Black America, 1900-1968.” Although conceived as the museum’s first big-ticket acknowledgment of African American creativity, it included no visual art beyond documentary photomurals. Black artists, many working in Harlem just blocks north of the museum, angrily picketed the show, denouncing it as evidence of art world racism writ large.
As a student visiting New York in 1969 I saw, and was baffled by, that show, so I’m eager to see a new one that can only be viewed as a corrective to it, the marquee-scale survey of paintings, sculptures, photographs and films titled “The Harlem Renaissance and Transatlantic Modernism” scheduled to open at the Met in February. The announced inclusion of a wealth of African American art considered inadmissible to the Met half a century ago — some represented by rarely seen loans from the collections of some of the country’s historically Black colleges and universities — is, on its own, an exciting prospect. And so is the exhibition’s larger promise to fully position modern African American art not just as a local phenomenon, but as a generator of international modernism itself.
Alissa Wilkinson
Furiosa Gets an Origin Story
Next year brings a lot of sequels: “Inside Out 2,” “Beetlejuice 2,” “Joker: Folie à Deux,” “Gladiator 2,” “Dune: Part Two,” plus new films in the “Quiet Place” and “Venom” and “Paddington” and “Godzilla” and even “Despicable Me” cinematic universes. I rarely get excited for non-original films, since most of them come off as naked cash grabs capitalizing on existing I.P. and risk-averse audiences. But I’m always curious if a sequel (or prequel or side-quel or whatever) will manage to be good, and the one I’m excited for is “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga.” George Miller returns to direct an origin story for the character that Charlize Theron played in 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road,” with Anya Taylor-Joy in the Furiosa role. I love a dystopia, and few have exceeded the sheer adrenaline and dread of “Fury Road.” I’m revisiting all the “Mad Max” movies in preparation.
Mike Hale
Tom Hollander Tackles Truman Capote
Clive Owen as an aging Sam Spade on AMC’s “Monsieur Spade” (Jan. 14), Helena Bonham Carter as the 1970s soap opera star Noele Gordon (“Nolly,” PBS), Ben Mendelsohn and Juliette Binoche as Christian Dior and Coco Chanel (“The New Look,” Apple TV+, Feb. 14) — there may have never been a new TV year with so many intriguing bits of casting. But the one that has me the most curious is the wonderfully acidic British actor Tom Hollander playing Truman Capote in FX’s “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans” (Jan. 31). Naomi Watts, Diane Lane, Chloë Sevigny and Calista Flockhart play some of the society women Capote befriended and then used as material for his highly unflattering roman à clef “Answered Prayers”; if the thought of Hollander channeling Capote as he calls Happy Rockefeller “that fat-ankled harridan” turns you on, then you must tune in.
Salamishah Tillet
‘The Wiz’ Returns to Broadway
I tell everyone that my son Sidney is a musical theater kid. So naturally, his favorite movie is “The Wiz.” And, of course, for his eighth birthday, we went to Baltimore, where the musical version first debuted in 1975, and its current tour started this past October. My parents even saw one of its 1,672 performances during its original four-year Broadway run, when it won seven Tonys, including best musical. Because I come from a family of avid “Wiz” fans, I find myself anticipating its return to Broadway this April at the Marquis Theater with more zeal than usual.
Based on L. Frank Baum’s children’s book “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and with an all-black cast, “The Wiz” is a cultural classic, so its revivals have to come with some powerful updates. Directed by Schele Williams with additional writing by Amber Ruffin, it now features Nichelle Lewis, whose TikTok audition landed her the role as Dorothy; a stirring Melody A. Betts as Aunt Em and Evillene; Kyle Ramar Freeman as the Lion, Phillip Johnson Richardson as the Tinman; Avery Wilson as the Scarecrow; and Deborah Cox as Glinda, with Wayne Brady returning to Broadway to play Oz. My sneak peek already has me excited about this dynamic cast, Hannah Beachler’s (“Black Panther”) kaleidoscopic set and the former Beyoncé choreographer JaQuel Knight’s dance moves, especially when Dorothy and her squad of outsiders make their way to Emerald City.
Jesse Green
A Double Dose of Itamar Moses
Talk about range: February brings to New York stages two exceedingly contrasting works by Itamar Moses, who previously wrote the book for “The Band’s Visit.” Feb. 15 through March 10, the Public Theater presents Lila Neugebauer’s staging of “The Ally,” starring Josh Radnor as a Jewish college professor caught in the crossfire between wokeism and free speech when asked to sign a social justice manifesto. The topicality is off the charts.
Then, Feb. 28 through April 7 at the Minetta Lane Theater, Audible reunites Moses with some of his “Band’s Visit” collaborators for “Dead Outlaw.” The musical, directed by David Cromer, with a book by Moses and songs by David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna, is about … a mummy. Specifically, the mummy of a failed Old West gunslinger, used as a sideshow attraction for decades before the truth is discovered in a super-gross way. Spoiler alert — I guess literally.
Maya Phillips
Stylish Spy Moves, Stacked Cast (and One Cat)
The concept at the center of “Argylle” — a best-selling author discovers that what she writes comes true — immediately reminds me of one of my favorite films, “Stranger Than Fiction.” (I’m just a sucker for meta stories about the power of storytelling.) Starring Bryce Dallas Howard as a meek spy novelist whose words draw her into the dangerous world of espionage, “Argylle” (opening Feb. 2) is directed by Matthew Vaughn, whose devilishly stylish “Kingsman” franchise suggests he’ll know just how to play to and satirize the spy movie genre. The cast is filled with actors who have taken on action roles but have also shown impressive comedic chops (Henry Cavill, Sam Rockwell, John Cena and Samuel L. Jackson among them), while the cinematography looks to share the same sleek style Vaughn has made his signature. And an inconvenient, frazzled cat in a backpack? The cherry on top.
Jason Zinoman
Larry David Does Another Finale
How in the world did Larry David do it? It’s a question I’ve been hearing a lot lately. How did he make one of the funniest episodes of television ever out of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict? How did he tackle race, the Holocaust, Trump without getting in trouble? How did he make us care so much about these insufferable rich Hollywood types whining during their golf game? How did he manage the impossible feat of putting on 11 seasons of a show dominated by improvised small talk? The questions are rhetorical, of course, but everyone knows the answer. Larry David is really really (dare I say “pretty preeetty”) good at what he does. So, his last season of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” which premieres Feb. 4, is a sad occasion. But it’s also one of the few things on television that I will not tape but watch exactly when it airs. I don’t know what the storylines of the next season will be, but here’s one idea to consider: David has already written a much-anticipated finale, the one on “Seinfeld.” I thought it was excellent. Many disagreed. Jerry Seinfeld has said onstage that he will be revisiting this finale in some form. Food for thought.
Margaret Lyons
‘Girls5eva’ Hit the Road
When Season 2 of “Girls5eva” ended in 2022, my hopes for a renewal were slim; no Peacock original show has actually made it to a third season. But now it isn’t a Peacock show anymore: There is a third season premiering March 14, but it will be on Netflix. Season 1 found the ’90s girl group reuniting, and in Season 2 they put out their album. This season, they’re heading out on tour, an experience for which they are not prepared. I am of course looking forward to the zingy jokes and warped nostalgia, but the even bigger wish is for another absolute banger that will join “Four Stars,” “B.P.E.” and “I’m Afraid” on my playlists.
Zachary Woolfe
Christmas in Spring at the Met
First things first: “El Niño” isn’t an opera about weather patterns. In fact, while John Adams’s energetic, eclectic two-hour score is opera-length, it’s not exactly an opera at all. It’s an oratorio, in the tradition of Handel’s “Messiah,” that tells the Nativity story without characters or naturalistic scenes. It’s more of a reflection on the tale; the choral numbers and solos have their texts drawn from the Bible as well as from Latin American poetry, all sewn together by Adams and Peter Sellars.
First performed in 2000, the piece isn’t always staged, but for its Metropolitan Opera premiere (April 23-May 17), the company is giving it a grand treatment. The production, directed by Lileana Blain-Cruz, boasts the conductor Marin Alsop, the soprano Julia Bullock, the bass-baritone Davóne Tines and the mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges — inspired musical forces. It’s a few months late for Christmas, but “El Niño” will be welcome nevertheless.
Jon Pareles
Brittany Howard Unveils Startling New Songs
Unbridled emotions, sonic ambitions and audacious singing have been the makings of Brittany Howard’s songs since she arrived with Alabama Shakes in 2012. She’s steeped in Southern soul and rock, and her voice has gospel-rooted power. But with Alabama Shakes and then on her 2019 solo album, “Jaime,” Howard moved far beyond revivalism, pushing toward startling new hybrids; her co-producer, Shawn Everett, has also worked with SZA and Kacey Musgraves. Howard’s second solo album, “What Now,” is due Feb. 2, and its advance singles have plunged into the turbulence of a failing relationship, leaping between the percussive and the ethereal. The full album promises even more innovative ups and downs. Howard begins a North American tour on Feb. 6, with New York City shows Feb. 16 and 17 at Webster Hall.
In Saga, Japan, a renovation project by CASE-REAL has transformed an 80-year-old traditional Japanese house into a craft beer brewery, named Whale Brewing. Yobuko, historically known for whaling during the Edo period and later famed for squid fishing, faces modern challenges like a declining population due to youth migration and numerous vacant houses. Given this context, the project was conceived with the aim of acting as a magnet for young people and rejuvenating the town. The chosen location for the brewery was an old traditional house along Yobuko Asaichi-dori, a street bustling with local seafood and goods stalls each morning. This aging house had been abandoned, suffering from leaks, facade deterioration, and structural issues. However, after the interior was dismantled, it revealed a sturdy structure, around nine meters tall, with hidden potential.
the goal of this project was to breathe new life into the town, all images by CASE-REAL
a New Landmark in Yobuko
After extensive discussions with clients, the architects at CASE-REAL chose to incorporate the existing strengths of the house into the new brewery design. The building’s layout features a storefront area with a ceiling on the facade side, while the brewing space utilizes the generous height of the second floor through an open atrium. A continuous glass facade spans both levels, offering a view of the street that showcases the robust beams and the brewery ambiance, despite the ceiling variation in the store area. To accommodate ground conditions, the floor plan includes a sloped design that connects the elevated rear of the building. Stainless steel was selectively utilized for elements like the counter and handles, maintaining a cohesive material theme in line with the brewing tanks. Certain façade pillars, essential for support, were crafted from solid Japanese cypress, accentuating the space’s height and adding a distinctive touch. The incorporation of rounded shapes in the pillars and counter edges was intentional, aiming to introduce a sense of softness and effectively merge structural elements with the overall design.‘By combining the new functions of the brewery with the original characteristics of the building, we hope that this will become a new landmark in Yobuko, firmly rooted in the local community,’ shared the architects.
the brewing space utilizes the generous height of the second floor through an open atrium
the new structure blends the brewery’s functionalities with the house’s original features
It’s often the case that the most captivating design projects arise from creative collaborations, especially those that transcend the usual boundaries of the collaborators' fields. This holds true for Red Jane, a bakery in Crete that opened its doors last summer under the helm of hotelier Nikos Tsepetis. A self-confessed design enthusiast, Tsepetis made his name with his much-lauded beachside Ammos Hotel outside Chania. So, when he got the idea of turning an abandoned interwar foundry in the town centre into an artisanal bakery, he enlisted acclaimed London-based designer Michael Anastassiades to design everything from the interiors to the logo and packaging, and Eyal Schwartz, the former head baker and co-owner of London’s iconic E5 Bakehouse, to create the bakery’s menu. Cheekily named after Jane Fonda’s controversial 'Hanoi Jane' Vietnam photo, the result of this collaboration is a place where contemporary design coexists with the building’s industrial legacy, celebrating both the artistry and the physical labour of baking.
As a lighting and furniture designer, Anastassiades is celebrated for creatively balancing industrial production with artisan techniques, making him well suited to this project, his first fully realised interior design endeavour. Tasked with breathing new life into a 1930s foundry while preserving its inherent character, he introduced a modernist-inspired design language rich in exquisite craftsmanship as counterpoint to the building's industrial past.
This stunning Paris home belongs to gallerist Amélie du Chalard, whose love of art and design has helped fill her space with treasures, new and old, from Fritz Hansen. After discovering the Danish brand, she fell in love with the designs of Poul Kjærholm, and over time, has collected a number of his pieces that now live in her gallery-like home, amongst other favorites.
Previously dated in appearance, Studio Alexander Fehre came in to transform the main level of an old villa in Stuttgart, Germany. After removing the most amount of walls possible, the results are a clean, minimalist home with mostly white surfaces. To give the space a more cozy feel, a curvy wood clad storage structure was incorporated into the center, along with pops of dark green teal.
Casa Figueira is a family home nestled in the tranquil suburb of Rose Bay in Sydney, Australia. Four design firms were at the helm of this design, which perfectly strikes a balance between a contemporary style and a mid-century Brazilian aesthetic. The desire to create an open-air living space, resulted in an open pavilion flanked by two long sides of sliding glass doors marking the perfect indoor/outdoor connection.
Designer Mateusz Jóźwiak, of Photon Studio, hired himself when it came time to design the Box in the Box Apartment for himself and partner in Poznań, Poland. The finished apartment showcases a perfect blend of spaciousness, functionality, and natural materials, all centered around a clever, light-colored birch plywood structure that houses many functions.
Located in New York City, this East Village apartment underwent a renovation by GRT Architects, which focused on reimagining the apartment’s layout while maintaining its early 20th-century character. The redesigned interior features a new layout, organized by a central corridor and tailored to the clients’ lifestyle.
For this 90-square-meter apartment in Milan, chromastudio dramatically reimagined the interior with a new layout and a dramatic color palette. Setting the tone for the apartment’s aesthetic right off the bat is the vibrant kitchen with a royal blue island, paired with a light blue Smeg fridge, rusty orange colored tiles, and a bright yellow shelf.
Destination Eichler partnered with Eyerly Architecture to reimagine this dated, 1970s split-level ranch in Pleasanton, California, and bring it into today’s times. The young owners appreciated the original 70s character, but they desired a fresh spin with added functionality seen in modern builds. Post renovation, the house now features modern details, mid-century furnishings, and a plethora of beautiful tile from Fireclay Tile.
Outside of Redmond, Washington overlooking Ames Lake, the Scout Lake Residence lives on a site that was once a Boy Scout camp from the 1950s through the 1990s. Stephenson Design Collective designed the lakeside house and gave nod to the client’s job as the CCO of the video game Minecraft by using the game’s use of blocks for inspiration. Once you know that fact, it’s impossible to not see the stacked blocks that make up the tree-surrounded home.
Located in one of Barcelona’s oldest neighborhoods, this 65-square-meter apartment is housed in a building that dates back to the 13th century. A young Italian woman hired Colombo and Serboli Architecture (CaSA) to completely transform it, which resulted in an open layout with vaulted ceilings, a playful color scheme, and original details. With the Barbie movie making a big splash earlier this year, the pink used throughout was on trend.
And the most popular interior design post of 2023 is…
The most beloved interior of the year is this cozy 430-square-foot apartment in a new modern building in Rivne, Ukraine, designed by TAK office. The compact studio consists of a single room that operates as a kitchen, dining space, living room, and bedroom. To maximize space, the designers opted for a Murphy bed that’s hidden when not in use and when it’s time for sleep, the room transitions into a bedroom with a privacy curtain.
Check out the rest of Design Milk’s end of the year coverage here!
Caroline Williamson is Editor-in-Chief of Design Milk. She has a BFA in photography from SCAD and can usually be found searching for vintage wares, doing New York Times crossword puzzles in pen, or reworking playlists on Spotify.
