The Artful Life: 7 Things Galerie Editors Love This Week
From a dreamy wellness space and tableware collection by La Double J at Villa San Michele in Florence to an archival presentation that revisits Isamu Noguchi’s pivotal 1986 Venice Biennale exhibition
1. Villa San Michele, a Belmond Hotel, Hosts Dreamy Wellness Space by La Double J
Spas and other wellness programming are a leading draw for affluent travelers looking for a physical and mental refresh while immersed in beautiful surroundings. At the new Belmond hotel in Florence, Villa San Michele, fashion and lifestyle brand La Double J delivers an enchanting dose of la dolce vita with a first-of-its-kind collaboration that encompasses both aesthetics and amenities. As part of the hotel’s Energy Raising Program, La Double J outfitted three united spaces in the colors and patterns that punctuate the beloved fashion brand. Guests will discover a custom gong, bespoke zafu meditation pillows, and a new light and sound installation in the Energy Chapel, pieces from La Double J’s new outdoor collection on the Stargazing Lounge, and other sartorial touches throughout the Yoga and Meditation Platform.
Additionally, La Double J founder J. J. Martin has curated weekly classes, monthly residencies, and twice-annual multi-day retreats (the latter cohosted by Martin with the first taking place September 3 through 6) that focus on various types of healing, from breathwork to guided meditation and yoga. As the final tier of the partnership, La Double J crafted a new collection of tableware, aptly named Firesole, exclusively for the hotel. The collective effort makes it easy to live artfully and spiritually both at the romantic new hotel and long after visitors have returned home.—Jill Sieracki
2. Ralph Lauren Introduces the Preppy Bear Timepiece
Ralph Lauren has added a playful model to its iconic RL Bear Watches collection with the introduction of the Preppy Bear watch. This edition, which follows the Tuxedo Bear, the Bedford Bear, the Denim Flag Bear, and the Cowboy and Cowgirl Bears, features the Polo Bear styled in a smart navy blazer, repp tie, and khakis, and is a celebration of the fashion house’s collegiate style. The strap is being offered in several variations, allowing for an easy transition between a casual and formal look.—Alexandria Sillo
3. Ligne Roset and Boss Reimagine the Togo Chair Through Tailoring
It has been an exciting moment for admirers of Michel Ducaroy’s iconic Togo, the radical all-foam seating system that still reads as daring more than five decades after its debut. First, during Milan Design Week, Ligne Roset unveiled a reissue of the sofa’s spiritual sibling, the Marsala, which resembles a Togo but with an enveloping beech plywood shell. The French furniture brand recently teamed with Boss to introduce a tailored edition of the fireside Togo chair and footstool that channels the language of suiting into upholstery. This marks the first Togo to combine robust leather with a refined textile seat, finished with contrast stitching drawn from Boss tailoring. Hand-pleated folds, achieved by a small group of specialist upholsterers, lend each piece a distinct character, amplified by a low, cocooning profile that retains its signature ease. A series of coordinated accessories that includes duotone jacquard cushion covers and a saddle-stitched throw, meanwhile, echo the reimagined chair’s material contrasts. —Ryan Waddoups
4. Anna Park’s Bombshells Cross the Atlantic for Her Debut U.K. Solo Show at Lehmann Maupin
“Hot Honey,” Anna Park’s first U.K. solo, is on view at Lehmann Maupin’s Mayfair location. Five years into a practice built on the cinematic possibilities of large-scale charcoal drawing and a sustained focus on gender theory, her hand is by now recognizable. Cubist fragmentation moves at graphic-novel speed, recalling the crispness of an Alex Katz. Her recurring cast is lifted from 20th-century advertising, comics, magazines, and television screens: vixens, bombshells, magicians’s assistants. In Park’s latest act, women wear these stereotypes while simultaneously taking them apart. Accordingly, the pieces show bunny ears drifting loose, top hats detaching to float empty, and women finally filling full frames alone. Shaped supports elevate some drawings into low-relief sculptures, and color creeps in too, restrained to intensify gesture—both newer turns in Park’s practice. See “Hot Honey” through May 30 at No. 9 Cork Street, Mayfair, London W1S 3LL. —Gogo Taubman
5. Kohler’s American Club Debuts Renovated Carriage House
Kohler, Wisconsin, is a picturesque draw for both athletes and aesthetes with its world-renowned golf courses, cultural centers, and surprising hospitality spaces. Now, those making the journey will have a chic new environment in which to stay when the Carriage House reopens to guests this month. Located adjacent to the century-old American Club, the adults-only space encompasses 55 rooms and suites, which have been remastered in a more residential-like aesthetic with artisan furnishings, warm woods, rich leathers, and sumptuous fabrics, as well as beautiful photographs of the Kohler Stables horses by Drew Doggett. Naturally, the baths take on a spa-like setting with pieces from Kohler’s extensive array of goods, including deep soaking tubs, Anthem digital shower controls, Ann Sacks tile, and fixtures from the Castia collection by Studio McGee. The reimagining is just the first of many updates to come at the expansive resort, which will unveil a renovated Inn on Woodlake and new golf course, Purebred, over the next 18 months.—J.S.
6. Isamu Noguchi’s 1986 Venice Biennale Exhibition Is Revisited
At “Light and Stone: Revisiting Noguchi’s 1986 Venice Biennale,” the Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum is inviting visitors to reexamine one of the renowned sculptor’s most provocative exhibitions 40 years later. Using materials from the museum’s archive and collections, the current showcase, organized to coincide with the 2026 Venice Biennale, features photographs, sketches, a project model for Slide Mantra, and two Akari light sculptures that were first presented at the Biennale, offering visitors the chance to view Noguchi’s “What Is Sculpture?” exhibition with a new focus. “Light and Stone” opens May 6 and is on view through September 13.—A.S.
7. Donald Judd’s Restored Ranch Office Officially Reopens in Marfa
More than three decades after Donald Judd acquired the former grocery store on Highland Avenue in downtown Marfa, the Judd Foundation has reopened the Ranch Office following an extensive restoration of the historic structure. The building now joins the foundation’s guided visit program, granting the public first-time access to a deeply personal environment that connected Judd’s artistic practice to the vast terrain of Ayala de Chinati, his 33,000-acre ranch in the nearby Chinati Mountains. Inside, ten works fashioned from painted and unpainted Douglas fir plywood occupy the restored interiors alongside maps and ranching equipment. Eight wall reliefs and two floor boxes reveal Judd’s longstanding fascination with proportion, voids, and embedded objects. Recent conservation efforts addressed the building envelope and environmental systems while preserving the rugged character of the turn-of-the-century structure. The reopening marks another significant milestone in the foundation’s ongoing stewardship of Judd’s Marfa campus following the restoration of the Architecture Office this past fall. —R.W.