Peggy Guggenheim's Great-Grandson Opens a Gallery in Tulum

The great-grandson of legendary art collector Peggy Guggenheim has opened a gallery at Azulik, a luxury eco-resort in Tulum, Mexico. Built out of cement and locally sourced wood, the gallery—called IK Lab—is elevated in the surrounding tree canopy, which provides an unconventional backdrop for the artwork. Santiago Rumney Guggenheim, a Tulum local, proposed the idea to Jorge Eduardo Neira Sterkel, the resort's founder and designer, and together they launched Alignments, the inaugural exhibition.

Cranbrook Adds a Frank Lloyd Wright House to its Complex

Renowned design school in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Cranbrook is getting a new Frank Lloyd Wright house through a donation from the Towbes Foundation. The Usonian-style home was built in 1950 for Sara and Melvyn Maxwell Smith. “The Smith family always said they didn’t want this to just pass to another set of homeowners,” said Gregory Wittkopp, director of the Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research. “The phrase they used was they wanted it to be ‘an educational resource.’” Cranbrook will open the Smith House several times a month for tours from May to November. Both Detroit public schoolteachers, the Smiths asked Wright in 1941 if he could design a home for just $5,000—which would be about $88,000 today. Wright said he might be able to do it for $8,000, but when the house was finished nine years later, the price tag hit $20,000.

via The Detroit News

Fondazione Prada Opens an Art Tower in Milan

Torre, the building which completes Fondazione Prada, recently opened to the public during Milan's epic 2018 design week. The white concrete structure towers over the converted industrial site—a former gin distillery—on the southern edge of the city, and was designed by architecture firm OMA and overseen by Muccia Prada herself. Uniquely illuminated stairwells, a polished mirror cloakroom, chartreuse-colored bathrooms, and trapezoidal gallery spaces are just some of the character-filled touches. The debut exhibition includes work from Jeff Koons, Walter De Maria, Damien Hirst, and John Baldessari. A restaurant, also called Torre, is furnished with pieces obtained at last year's auction of items from Philip Johnson's Four Seasons restaurant in New York.

via Dezeen

East Fork's New Line of Ceramics Features Irresistible Earthy Shades

Asheville, North Carolina-based East Fork ceramics just launched their new spring glazes: Utah, a peachy terracotta; and Taro, an earthy lilac. Handcrafted in their mountain workshop, the new glazes complement the line's neutral palette: Eggshell, Soapstone, and Morel. Designed to be mixed and matched or act as stand-alone pieces, the seasonally inspired ceramics line features glazes rarely found in traditional stoneware. The collection is designed collaboratively by cofounders Connie and Alex Matisse (the great-grandson of Henri Matisse) and John Vigeland. The full collection is available for purchase in their Asheville store and online.

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A Finnish Nonprofit Wants to Carve Trump's Face in Ice

Project Trumpmore aims to demonstrate climate change in a monumental way. A Finnish NGO wants to commission a 115-foot-tall ice sculpture of Donald Trump’s face in the Arctic region to demonstrate the effects of global warming. Like the former U.S. presidents on Mount Rushmore, Donald Trump will have his face carved onto an arctic glacier, only to gradually melt. Estimating that Project Trumpmore might cost over $478,000 if done responsibly, the organization plans to crowdsource funds.

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Design Digest: A Guggenheim Gallery in Tulum, a Donated Frank Lloyd Wright House, and More