The Artful Life: 8 Things Galerie Editors Love This Week

1. Tania Bulhões Celebrates Brazil with Newest Tableware Collection

Brazil has some of the richest flora on the planet, with tropical blooms in electric colors and fanciful shapes, set off by lush green leaves. The newest pieces of tableware by Tania Bulhões capture that intoxicating beauty with designs celebrating the bromeliad and the protea. Rendered in various compositions on Limoges porcelain with gold accents, the Botânica Collection is the first assortment made at the company’s newest facility in Uberaba, Minas Gerais, where the company was founded before Bulhões relocated to São Paulo in 1991.

Here, the dinner, dessert, and bread plates; espresso and tea cups with saucers; and bowl add energy to any meal with the plants’ vivid shades and unique shapes presented in gloriously painted detail.—Jill Sieracki

2. This London Boutique Evokes a Glamorous Collector’s Apartment

London’s fashion influencers can’t get enough of Réalisation Par—and the cult label’s new boutique at 95 Mount Street offers plenty beyond its slinky silk dresses and vintage-inflected prints. Sophie Baker conceived the flagship as a collector’s apartment steeped in French and Italian modernism, pairing Deco-inspired silhouettes with silk, vellum, parchment, antique mirror, and oak. “We wanted it to feel like you’ve stepped into a scene from a film you can’t quite name, but desperately want to live in,” Baker says. A gallery-like entrance pairs with a hand-painted Fortune lantern with a parchment-covered Osvaldo Borsani desk and custom Josef Hoffmann wall lights. Beyond the arches, a concealed content room glows in baby blue silk as cameras cast shoppers onto vintage television screens in real time. Downstairs, oak treads descend to a glamorous salon with mirrored walls and a custom leopard-print tête-à-tête beside a Gergei Erdei screen inspired by Eileen Gray’s Le Destin famously owned by Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé. —Ryan Waddoups

3. La Beauté Louis Vuitton Introduces Its First-Ever Beauty Collaboration

For La Beauté Louis Vuitton’s first-ever beauty collaboration, the house turned to two figures familiar with the iconic Monogram canvas and its storied history. The new limited-edition collaboration of eyes and lips, created with Louis Vuitton Artistic Director Nicolas Ghesquière and Creative Director, Cosmetics, Dame Pat McGrath, also coincides with the 130th anniversary of the Monogram. The Monogram Dune calls upon the beauty of the desert landscape, with soft beiges and sun-warmed nudes, while Monogram Infrarouge wades into the world of fearless intensity and self-defined femininity with bold contrasts. “Nicolas and I have been building looks together backstage at Louis Vuitton for so many years now; there is a shorthand between us: a trust and a creative cohesion,” McGrath says. “What we have created with this collection for La Beauté is the natural next step of that conversation. The products did not begin with a brief—they began with a feeling, the same feeling we always create together backstage before a show. That is what makes it so extraordinary. It is not a collaboration in the traditional sense. It is an evolution of our partnership.”—Alexandria Sillo

4. Willem de Kooning’s Masterful Process Is Reimagined Through Dance

Coinciding with the Art Institute of Chicago’s “Willem de Kooning Drawing” exhibition, the first major exhibition dedicated to the artist’s expansive drawing practice and the museum’s first solo presentation of his work since 1969, a collaboration between The Canopy at 900 North Michigan Shops and The Joffrey Ballet provides a new way to appreciate the expressionist artist’s great talent and process. Running through September 20, the Excavation of Movement translates de Kooning’s expressive lines and famed brushwork into choreography performed by Joffrey Ballet dancers. These performances are then displayed along the Canopy’s 190 feet of LED screens, marking a one-of-its-kind intersection between two art forms.— Shelby Black

5. In Tuscany, an Outdoor Show Challenges the “Collectible Design” Label

For its latest exhibition, independent design platform Vestigia takes aim at one of the contemporary art market’s most familiar labels and invokes a classic Carlo Mollino quote: “Everything is permitted, provided it is fantastic!” Curated by Cosimo Bonciani at the resplendent Villa Marie in Vorno, Tuscany, the open-air showcase “Don’t Call Me Collectible!” challenges the tendency to view experimental objects as investment pieces instead of physical embodiments of rigorous research and craftsmanship. Scattered across the villa’s verdant grounds, curious works by vanguard talents Tommaso Spinzi, Laurids Gallée, Jonathan Bocca, Etereo, and others invite viewers to consider contemporary creative practice as a cultural language that transcends commercial categories and renders tangible the relationships between matter, place, body, and thought. —R.W.

6. Cult-Favorite Jewelry Designer Sophie Bille Brahe Unveils a Dreamy New Murano Glass Collection

Danish fine jeweler Sophie Bille Brahe has a devoted following amongst those in the know for her sculptural, minimalist approach to pearls and diamonds. Following the debut of “Tangerine Sky” in July—her ethereal first high jewelry collection, which translated Cy Twombly’s weightless artistic marks into high-carat diamonds—the Copenhagen-based designer now extends her poetic sensibility beyond the jewelry box and into the home with the launch of the exclusive Cellophane Nuage collection.

Handmade in Murano, Italy, this limited-edition release translates the creative’s iconic shapes—such as her signature Escargot and Ocean forms—into six soft, fluid glass vessels that resemble frozen waves. The collection is a deeply personal expression of memory, family, and exceptional craftsmanship. “For me, this collection is a wave of soft, fluid glass, embracing elements of my family—from roses in my mother’s garden to my brother’s new restaurant,” says Bille Brahe. Highlights include the Cellophane Daphne and Petite Cellophane Daphne vases—created specifically for her brother Frederik’s new restaurant—which draw inspiration from the story of Apollo and Daphne in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The release also includes a series of hand-blown Murano glass candles, scented in Grasse, France, which will be available in December, perfect for holiday gifting. —Lucy Rees

7. Rocco Forte Unveils Refurbished Spaces at Hotel Savoy in Florence

It’s hard to find a hotel brand more enmeshed with Italian design than Rocco Forte, and its latest round of interior renovations only deepens that connection. Debuting at the end of July, the revamped spaces at the Florence property, Hotel Savoy capture the city’s visual splendor with elegant parquet flooring, Arabescato marble detailing, and sumptuous textiles enlivening the 46 rooms and suites. “We wanted the interiors to feel more rooted in Florence—more tactile, more characterful, and more reflective of the craftsmanship and culture that make the city so special,” says Olga Polizzi, director of design at Rocco Forte Hotels. Established in 1893 and located in the heart of Florence, near the city’s iconic Duomo, Uffizi Gallery, and Ponte Vecchio, the hotel further immerses guests into their surroundings through its Suite & Beyond program that offers unique, destination-specific experiences, like private visits to Palazzo Strozzi, the Renaissance building displaying exhibitions of contemporary art; calligraphy lessons overlooking Ponte Vecchio in partnership with Florence stationer Pineider; and access to the city’s historic leather workshops.—J.S.

8. La Prairie Swiss Pristine Treats Skin to Glacier-Inspired Serenity

Exclusive biomedical skincare maker La Prairie has created a new line aimed at protecting skin from harsh modern environments regardless of aging. “Swiss Pristine” was created for the purpose of undoing the stresses of modern life on the skin, targeting damage to the skin barrier caused by fatigue and travel. The three-piece product line consists of the Swiss Glacial Minerals-infused Essence, Serum, and Cream. All three are also powered by La Prairie’s signature one-of-a-kind ingredients, in this case the patented HyPower LP52™ and ExclusiveCellular Complex. The textures are by design airy and light. Packaging has innovations too: Swiss Pristine marks the first use of the new Ice Crackled Lacquer finish, which gives each container a unique decorative surface that also sings of glaciers. —Rena Gross