Category: Design

“I often approach my work as a form of quiet world-building, and in many ways, I think of it as a visual journal,” says Lawrence Meju, whose distinctive and vibrant collages draw on surrealism, everyday experiences, and memories. The Lagos-based artist remembers working with paper collage during some of his earliest introductions to art-making in…

From the now-defunct Longaberger basket company’s iconic Ohio headquarters to the distinctive Casa de Penedo — Portuguese for “boulder house” — the world has no shortage of quirky, fanciful, and just plain strange structures. Forthcoming from Hoxton Mini Press with text by Imogen Fortes, Weird Buildings celebrates more than 100 norm-busting buildings ranging from the…

Using the wood of silk trees, ebony, and embedded copper details, Donald Wasswa conjures bold forms evocative of imagined living beings. Based in Kampala, Uganda, Wasswa explores the relationships between—and evolution of—science, technology, society, and environmental transformation. Loosely resembling tentacled jellyfish yet somewhat unsettlingly dark and sharp, his sculptures evoke a distinctive tension between familiarity…

As the World’s Fair loomed on Chicago’s horizon, architects Willoughby J. Edbrooke and Franklin Pierce Burnham built a 98-unit hotel to house visitors. After the exposition was finished, the Romanesque Revival building with a large central courtyard was converted into apartments and became known as Mecca Flats. Chicago adhered to strict segregation codes in the…

From a musical bird to a wandering Scottish flower, a troupe of imaginative beings spring forth in a new short film created for Ffern, a fragrance maker based in Somerset. The company tapped London-based creative content studio Pal to create “A Ffern Fairtyale” celebrating storytelling, imagination, and the seasons. Pal organized several workshops around the…

Several years ago, Danielle Clough ran across a vintage copy of Playboy at an antique shop. Unbeknownst to her at the time, the 1970s-era film photography, feathered hairstyles, and iconic—if stereotypical—advertising would influence a wide array of large-scale embroidery portraits. The Cape Town-based artist (previously) scoured the popular magazine’s pages in search of faces and…

For Danym Kwon, the concept of home is mutable. The artist (previously) recently relocated to San Jose from her native Seoul, having spent just a few years back in South Korea before realizing that she longed to return to the Bay Area where she lived while her children were young. “I may never have had…

Joy Machine is thrilled to present Speak of the Devil, a joint exhibition of ceramic and mixed-media works by Chicago artists Haylie and Sydnie Jimenez. The exhibition runs from August 9 to September 20, 2025. An expression of endearment and surprise, “speak of the devil” is about manifesting what one desires. The idiom connotes a strange, even magical ability to…

In 1933, Alfonso Bialetti and his son Renato began to market an aluminum contraption for brewing coffee that would make an indelible mark on Italian culinary culture and beyond. Called a moka pot after the Yemeni city of Mokha, the appliance is still manufactured today by the coffee equipment company Bialetti under the name Moka…

From fried cod to red saveloy sausage to the carb-lover’s chip butty—a simple sandwich made with chunky fries on a buttered roll—the menu at Bourdon Street Chippy resembles what you’d expect to see at a traditional British fish and chips shop. The only real difference, despite the delectable-looking cones of deep-fried treats and perfectly formed…