A weekly recap to share with you our favorite links, discoveries, exhibitions, and more from the past seven days. This week: a book that dives into the modernist architecture of Fire Island, wooden vases embroidered with delicate blooms, and a Wong Kar-Wai–inspired interior in LA’s Silver Lake neighborhood.

What We’re Reading

With summer upon us, a portion of New York’s LGBTQ+ community makes its annual migration to Fire Island Pines — a car-free barrier island that’s served as a gay haven since the mid-20th century. During the early days, this place of freedom and debauchery also provided an experimental playground for architects like Horace Gifford, whose prolific work on the island is documented in a newly expanded book by Pines historian Christopher Rawlins. Fire Island Modernist: Horace Gifford and the Architecture of Seduction explores the specific style of beachside modernism that the architect and his peers developed for private homes nestled amongst the dunes, typically comprising boxy, angular volumes and clad in locally sourced cedar. Illustrated with historical photographs and original architectural drawings, the tome also reveals the life of Gifford as a pioneering, openly gay architect, and examines his impact on queer spaces — and how they’re used — today.

Another new volume celebrates the legacy of Swedish design company Svenskt Tenn, which celebrates its centenary this year. First founded in the 1920s by Estrid Ericsson as a small shop selling pewter pieces in Stockholm, the company evolved into a pioneer of pattern and became one of the most beloved heritage design brands today. The new book from Phaidon is filled with images of interiors that showcase Svenskt Tenn products and patterns, from historic exhibitions to recent collaborations with the likes of India Mahdavi and Michael Anastassiades. A series of illustrated essays details the company’s 100-year history, and special attention is paid to architect Josef Frank’s maximalist textiles – its most successful products.

Exhibitions

For his inaugural NYC show, designer and sculptor B G Robinson is presenting a collection of furniture titled Palace Intrigue at the Upper East Side salon of curator Ashlee Harrison. Robinson has taken the work of designers like Marie Pergay and Eileen Gray, who used industrial processes such as those for aerospace construction to mass-produce furniture, and flipped their ideas on the head to apply the same techniques to collectible design. His futuristic metallic elements appear as feet for an armchair and sofa, which also feature lustrous silk-upholstered cushions and thin lacquered-aluminium sides that resemble magazine pages. Then there’s dining chairs with fluid-form mirrored legs, and a coffee table with legs that could easily be mistaken for Georg Jensen vessels. By appointment only.

If there’s one thing to know about us, it’s that we love a good coat hook. So obviously the Hook Me Up exhibition — curated and produced by Swedish designers Ebba Lindgren and Pia Högman at their studio, Streck Office — had us immediately, well, hooked. Featuring artful interpretations of this humble home accessory by 29 designers and studios, the exhibition coincided with Southern Sweden Design Days in Mälmo last month. Too many favorites to choose from, but a few to note include Lindgren’s designs that look like pulled taffy, Eva Ericsson’s yellow-outlined fabric flower, Evelina Björnqvist’s dual-ended piece that appears to have been pulled apart, and Gustav Carlberg’s design that’s both a hook and a tiny vase.

Florals on florals! The intricacy and detail of these vases embroidered with colorful blooms by artist Sally J. Han is rather impressive. Stitched into wood using 80 different thread colors and a specially adapted sewing machine, the “acu pingere” – or “painting with the needle” – designs decorate simple vessels for displaying real flowers, created by Italian architecture firm Locatelli Partners. Originally unveiled in Milan, the Nullus Locus series has made its way to New York City, and introduces five new shapes for the occasion. They’re on view at Salon 94’s Upper East Side space until August 8.

Interiors

This green-tiled kitchen island, inside a 1920s Craftsman home in LA’s Silver Lake that was recently renovated by Studio Paul Chan, is *chef’s kiss.* The designer used cinematic references such as director Wong Kar Wai’s saturated films to guide his overhaul of the interiors, which embrace the imperfections of the bungalow’s original era and create a “high-low contrast” with new interventions. Cork covers the kitchen cabinets and wraps an adjacent dining nook, while plaster is used to finish the majority of other walls. The green zellige tiles color-match a glossy pendant lamp overhead, pairing the irregular textures with rigid geometry. The designer describes the overall effect as a blend of “Hong Kong tea houses and the quiet ateliers of Europe,” and we can totally see it. Photos by Ye Rin Mok

More high-drama interior photography, this time featuring the Spanish summer home of Stelly Selway cofounder Tanya Selway. Located in the seaside town of Jávea, the house was purchased new by her grandparents in the 1970s and has served the family ever since. Stelly Selway’s renovation embraces the retro charm and infuses hints of England through striped curtains and bedding. The most visually impactful space is a bathroom lined in deep-blue mosaic tiles, while a nine-piece modular sofa and a rattan bar occupy the living room. Works by Selway, her father, grandfather, and other family members are displayed throughout, bringing even more personality into this very personal project. Photos by Jessica Alexander 

Discoveries

These super-fun vases come courtesy of Studio FraJas, the collaborative ceramics practice of artists Francisco Rocha Salazar and Jasper Isaac Johns, who met at RISD. Each has their role to play in the process: Johns throws the clay into geometric shapes and stacks them into vessels, before Salazar adds colorful interlocking motifs with the glazes. Their latest collection includes vessels with bulbous bases and elongated necks, over which rippling patterns flow – with a distinct contrast between the upper and lower portions.