What’s Happening: In an attempt to demystify the Apple Design Team’s approach post–Jony Ive, the tech giant finally gave the public a glimpse inside its intensely private Silicon Valley campus in a new interview with Wallpaper. The little they reveal, however, leaves most of our burning questions about the brand’s design ingenuity unanswered.

The Download: Apple Park is a highly secretive place. Until recently, some of the only peeks inside the tech giant’s enormous, ring-shaped campus in Silicon Valley have come from (likely forbidden) iPhone snapshots employees posted to Instagram. Designed by Foster + Partners, the four-story “Spaceship” houses 12,000 employees hard at work researching, developing, and designing the company’s array of tech products: the iPhone, MacBook Pro, and AirPods, among many others. This operation was previously led by chief design officer Jony Ive, who departed in 2019 after a 27-year tenure. Since then, Apple has revealed little about its design team—the people, products, and process have all been shrouded in mystery.

A new interview with Wallpaper, however, seeks to lift the curtains and delve into Apple’s approach to product development in the post–Jony Ive era. But as Bloomberg notes, the story is packed with cliches and buzzwords, as well as cursory nods toward the virtues of research, iteration, and cross-pollination. Then comes the nail in the coffin: “If the access Apple granted was intended to distinguish the company’s designers, it actually did the opposite. Perhaps the most interesting revelation of the piece was that the studio, once a source of invaluable corporate cachet for Apple, now seems kind of boring.” Ouch.

Evans Hankey and Alan Dye, the executives leading up the Apple Design Team, reveal little beyond remembering Steve Jobs imparting surface-level nuggets of wisdom such as “design is not just a veneer” and “it’s not just how things look, it’s about how things work.” Even when discussing their design approach to newer products such as the Apple Watch, the two play it safe, relying on language used by CEO Tim Cook and contrived descriptors from press releases (i.e. “the most personal product we’ve ever made”) that leaves most of our questions unanswered. And when pressed for insight on AirPods, they merely shared that Apple did extensive ergonomic studies on ears to make sure the resulting designs offered a nice fit.

In Their Own Words: “We got to where we were as a team because of our cultures and our processes,” Hankey tells Wallpaper. “It was a challenge, not an automatic win. It really took a lot of time to try new things out and be a little bit outside our comfort zones.”

“We care about making great products, but we’ve worked equally hard at making a great team and culture,” Dye adds. “A lot of that came from the beginning. Steve defined Apple by its design.”

Surface Says: While this episode could be perceived as Apple keeping a tight grip on its narrative, it also indicates a new crop of leaders who perhaps lack the gumption to tantalize us with incisive commentary about our current relationship with technology. Wasn’t that the magic behind Apple’s appeal in the first place? Tony Fadell would like to have a word.

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Now on showcase at Surface Area, Slash Objects’ Adri Chair is a sculptural statement piece defined by a recycled rubber composite seat that’s perched like a scroll between two sturdy marble slabs. Founder Arielle Assouline-Lichten says: “It speaks to a new direction with how I’m treating the same materials differently and testing the limits of their strength. It’s incredible how much you can learn about a material the longer you work with it. To me, this was about testing the capabilities of recycled rubber. I’m continuing to push myself to position materials together in daring ways.”

New & Notable is a cultural catchall that highlights interesting new products and projects from our brilliantly creative members of The List. With new releases, events, and goings-on, the below moments indicate the power they have to move the needle in so many realms, including architecture, design, fashion, and art.

Es Devlin has emerged as one of today’s most visible artists, celebrated for her large-scale performative sculptures and environments that fuse music, language, and light underscored by the urgent need for climate action. While one may reasonably surmise that her color of choice might be green, her signature shade is actually orange. The color has appeared continuously throughout her award-winning stage designs over the years and serves as a sensory reminder to take action now while sparking emotion that invigorates and energizes. So when Pangaia approached Devlin to create a four-piece capsule collection, she immediately knew it would need to be in her signature color.

The Pangaia x Es Devlin capsule, which drops today, references her most recent work at Superblue Miami, a mirrored labyrinth called Forest of Us that draws parallels between human breathing structures and the trees surrounding us. Each item in the collection—a hoodie, track pant, T-shirt, and shorts—features a quote from the exhibition that replaces Pangaia’s signature material text block: “A forest of us, a symbiotic symmetry, a branching geometry that flows within us and around us but do you see it, can you feel it, do you breath it, can you find it—go and find it.” True to Devlin’s climate mission, Pangaia will donate all proceeds to Instituto Terra, a nonprofit dedicated to environmental restoration and sustainable development in Brazil’s Rio Doce Valley.

When: Until April 3

Where: Hirshhorn, Washington, DC

What: Unfurling across the nearly 400-foot-long circular inner galleries of Hirshhorn’s second floor is an epic cycle of 40 new monumental portraits executed in pastel, charcoal, and chalk that explore an imagined ancient myth conceived by Ojih Odutola. Set in a surreal landscape inspired by the rock formations of Plateau State in central Nigeria, the works depict the tale of a fictional prehistoric civilization dominated by female rulers and served by male laborers, as well as the power dynamics at play. A soundscape by Peter Adjaye fills the surroundings.

In case you haven’t noticed, the Omicron variant is ripping through New York City and many other places around the globe. On Sunday, the New York Times noted that the number of locals who tested positive for Covid-19 just broke a single day record with over 28,000 newly reported cases. Locals are reporting three-hour waits for Covid tests at urgent care, dozens of restaurants and bars have temporarily closed, office holiday parties are being canceled, and Broadway shows are being put on hold. Despite the sharp uptick in Covid-19 cases due to the Omicron strain in places like London, India, and more, some are blaming Miami Art Week, which lures New Yorkers in droves, as a superspreader event.

Overlooking the waters of Biscayne Bay is the Fairchild Coconut Grove, a 26-unit multifamily residential building spearheaded by Strang Design and Rafael de Cárdenas. To create the building’s distinct look and feel that echoes Coconut Grove’s mid-century architecture, the two studios mixed clean lines, distinct geometries, and local stones such as Florida keystone and oolitic limestone. Perhaps the standout feature is the rooftop pool and cabanas, which seamlessly balances openness with privacy and comfort.

Each frame in the Blake Kuwahara Eyewear collection has a unique inner silhouette encased in an unexpectedly fresh outer shape. Through a laborious, handmade process, the seamless fusion of two separate frames and the juxtaposition of contrasting form and color create a design tension that is thoroughly modern yet familiar.

Surface Says: It’s evident in his artful frames that Blake Kuwahara approaches creating eyewear as a meticulous discipline of design. His brand’s handmade styles evade that status quo with their experimental and nuanced identity.

Unbeknownst to many, the late Anthony Bourdain was a martial arts enthusiast.

For the first time in history, humans have touched the sun using a spacecraft.

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