DESIGN DISPATCH

Lincoln Center’s Latest Headliner Is Tatiana, and Other News

Our daily look at the world through the lens of design.

Tatiana at Lincoln Center

The Design Dispatch offers expertly written and essential news from the design world crafted by our dedicated team. Think of it as your cheat sheet for the day in design delivered to your inbox before you’ve had your coffee. Subscribe now

Have a news story our readers need to see? Submit it here

Lincoln Center’s Latest Attraction Is Tatiana, and Other News

Lincoln Center continues to evolve. In addition to adapting its programming, the performing arts center is now the site of rising star and James Beard Award winner Kwame Onwuachi’s latest restaurant, Tatiana. The chef worked closely with architecture and design firm Modellus Novus to realize the interior, whose onyx iridescent tile and blackened steel finishes sing against the warmth of polished brass and oxblood leather dining chairs from Carl Hansen & Søn. Together, they call to mind the grandeur of the nearby concert halls and theaters.

In many ways, Tatiana is a love letter to New York City. The velvet upholstered banquettes recall the iconic park benches dotting the urban landscape, the tiles are an homage to sunshine on the oil-stained streets, and the steel nods to the industrial pockets still prevalent in certain parts of town. The menu, which is influenced by Onwuachi’s roots in Nigeria, Louisiana, and the South Bronx, is a delight for those looking for a change of pace from the neighborhood’s steakhouse fare. Highlights include braised oxtails, head-on shrimp cooked in Creole butter, and Egusi dumplings filled with crab and Nigerian stew. —Jenna Adrian-Diaz

Dick Polich with Roy Lichtenstein (left) in 1977. Photography by Ken Tyler

Dick Polich, metallurgist who helped hundreds of artists realize sculptures, dies at 90.

Dick Polich, a visionary artist and founder of the specialized foundry in Hudson Valley, New York, died on Nov. 13. His foundry, which opened in 1970 and employed more than 100 artisans, helped hundreds of renowned sculptors, including Louise Bourgeois, Tom Otterness, Nancy Graves, Jeff Koons, Roy Lichtenstein, and Frank Stella, realize their ideas in bronze, steel, and other exotic alloys he patented. He was known for constantly innovating and being intensely involved in the creative process. “[Working with Polich] was like being with a collaborator,” Otterness told the New York Times. “He was so excited about the work and really understood it.” Besides collaborating with sculptors, Polich’s foundry also produced the Oscar statuettes awarded by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences every year. 

Los Angeles names six finalists to design a memorial of the 1871 Chinese massacre.

The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument have announced six finalists in a competition to design a memorial honoring the 1871 Chinese massacre. The memorial intends to raise public awareness about the tragedy—the largest mass killing in L.A. history—and address contemporary concerns about race, intolerance, and violence. The panel, which includes Mark Lee of Johnston Marklee Architects, Suellen Cheng, the former executive director of the Chinese American Museum, and Annie Chu of Chu-Gooding Architects, among others, chose six submissions out of 176 for a $15,000 stipend to further develop their ideas and present them to the public. 

Harrods London covered in Yayoi Kusama artwork

Louis Vuitton blankets the facade of Harrods in Yayoi Kusama’s signature polka dots.

Louis Vuitton’s new Kusama collection of bags, shoes, accessories, and fragrances is on full display at Harrods, with giant flowers and pumpkins covering the London department store’s façade in the polka dots that have become the Japanese artist’s trademark. The occasion marks the first time the 200-year-old department store has lent out its frontage, allowing the French fashion house to project imagery across the length of its building and take over all 27 street-level windows. The Kusama takeover will remain in place until Feb. 13.

Jammie Holmes and José Parlá have both received the 2023 Gordon Parks Fellowship.

The Gordon Parks Foundation has named painters Jammie Holmes and José Parlá as the 2023 Gordon Parks Fellowship recipients in art. Art historian Melanee C. Harvey was chosen as the Genevieve Young Fellow in Writing. The $25,000 award is granted to artists addressing representation and social justice in line with Parks’s work, which explored injustice and Black American life. Holmes, a self-taught artist from Thibodaux, LA, and based in Dallas, uses portraiture to tell stories of contemporary Black life in the American South. Parlá, born in Miami and based in Brooklyn, explores his interests in city life through large-scale paintings. Harvey, an associate professor of art history at Howard University, will use the fellowship to further research the religious practices and social structures explored in Parks’s photography.

Communications executive Youssef Marquis is launching a new LVMH-backed agency.

Youssef Marquis, a former communications executive for LVMH’s Givenchy and Louis Vuitton labels, is launching a Paris-based agency, Marquis, with the support of LVMH. The agency will consult for brands across the group, as well as take on external clients and work on celebrity marketing. Marquis has played a key role in connecting LVMH with singers, influencers, and Hollywood stars as celebrity marketing gained importance in the fashion industry. Instrumental in securing partnerships with high-profile celebrities such as Madonna, Kim Kardashian, and Meghan Markle, Marquis helped Givenchy renew its cultural relevance during his tenure alongside creative directors Riccardo Tisci and Claire Waight Keller.

Still from “Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV.” Image courtesy of Sundance Institute

Amanda Kim’s documentary about video artist Nam June Paik premieres at Sundance. 

Amanda Kim’s new documentary Nam June Paik: Moon Is the Oldest TV follows the life of the father of video art, whose films, sculptures, and performances were both prescient and prophetic. Kim takes a unique approach by weaving Paik’s upbringing in Korea through his travels and charts his ascent as the world’s most famous video artist alongside early success in New York. The film, which recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, explores how Paik’s experiences as a diasporic artist allowed him to remake himself—and to make art that was unsellable at the time but is now considered avant-garde.

The Paris Opera is hosting a digital fundraising auction in partnership with Sotheby’s. 

The Paris Opera is hosting a digital fundraising auction, “Auction For Action, Bid For Creation,” in partnership with Sotheby’s, that will feature 75 lots of exclusive items. Up for grabs are a painting by German artist Anselm Kiefer, a couture experience from Chanel, and a Cosmograph Daytona watch from Rolex. The auction takes place Jan. 23–31, with the most exclusive items to be auctioned live at a gala on the 30th in the opulent Grand Foyer of the Palais Garnier. Proceeds will go towards the opera’s educational outreach programs and the formation of a youth orchestra in collaboration with conservatories in Paris.

The galactic panorama captured by the U.S. National Science Foundation&rquo;s Dark Energy Camera. Image courtesy DECAPS2/DOE/FNAL/DECAM/CTIO/NOIRLAB/NSF/AURA/NOIRLAB

Today’s attractive distractions:

Meet the team who designed a system for judging Olympic breakdancing.

This artist unwraps animated characters to reveal their realistic forms.

A telescope captures a “galactic panorama” of 3.3 million celestial objects.

Pax Jolie-Pitt is no nepo baby—he’s making digital art under a pseudonym.

All Stories