What’s Happening: The French label wins a lawsuit against the creator of MetaBirkins NFTs, with a jury determining the virtual bags aren’t protected by the First Amendment. The case will likely influence how fashion brands approach their entry into the “Wild West” metaverse.

The Download: In the rarefied world of fashion, the Hermès Birkin bag is an extraordinarily rarefied product—and at one point could have reigned as the world’s rarest bag. Named after the actress Jane Birkin, the handbags are meticulously hand-made by the luxury French label’s specialized artisans over an agonizing 18-hour-long process. The ten-figure totes are exceptionally hard to come by and famously have years-long wait lists, sometimes fetching 23 times retail value on the secondary market.

So Hermès executives watched in horror as unauthorized digital versions of the coveted bag made the rounds on social media after 2021’s well-documented rise of NFTs. First up was the creepy “Baby Birkin,” a 3D animation of a translucent handbag pregnant with a fetus created by artist Eric Ramirez and streetwear entrepreneur Mason Rothschild. The latter soon introduced 100 additional MetaBirkin NFTs—some equipped with mammoth tusks, others swaddled in shaggy Grinch fur and emblazoned with smiley emojis—priced at $450 each.

Hermès quickly sued Rothschild, arguing that MetaBirkins were diluting the French maison’s trademark, causing confusion in the marketplace, and profiting off the appeal of the Hermès brand. Rothschild rebuffed that his MetaBirkins are original artworks—in this case, digital assets sold on the blockchain—and shielded by the First Amendment. “This is a battle for ownership of luxury in the metaverse,” Susan Scafidi, academic director of the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham University, told Business of Fashion in an article called “Why Hermès Probably Can’t Stop the MetaBirkin.”

It turns out Hermès can. A nine-person federal jury determined yesterday that Rothschild infringed on the label’s trademark rights and awarded Hermès $133,000 in damages. The case concluded that his NFTs were not protected speech, a ruling likely to influence how digital artists use trademarks in their work. The closely watched trial is the first to examine how NFTs can be viewed through the lens of intellectual property law, and its findings are expected to guide how companies and creators approach art and branding in the virtual world.

That’s bad news for the embattled NFT market, which at its height surpassed $40 billion in value yet plummeted by 97 percent in the past year, illustrating the financial boom-and-bust cycle that has come to define cryptocurrencies. The NFT space often tries to align itself with the creator economy, but the reality now seems murkier—and likely to steer how legal experts approach trademark infringement cases in the future. Yuga Labs, the creator of Bored Ape Yacht Club, recently filed an infringement lawsuit against the artist Ryder Ripps, who claimed the charges attacked his rights to free speech.

Some fashion industry insiders found Hermès’s preoccupation with the litigation puzzling, especially when other third-party projects involving the Birkin haven’t set off any alarms. But the label argued that offering virtual goods falls within its “natural zone of expansion,” especially as rival fashion brands like Gucci, Nike, and Balenciaga continue to grow their metaverse footprint.

In Their Own Words: “[This] will be a very meaningful case for the fashion industry,” says Michelle Cooke, a trademark lawyer uninvolved in the case, who predicted the matter will be debated for years to come. “Their ability to control their brands in these digital spaces as much as they do in the real world will have significant implications about how much money they put into these new environments and how they enforce and protect their rights.”

Surface Says: MetaBirkins? Them shits in storage.

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The common thread linking Rafael Prieto’s endeavors—whether as the co-founder of the consistently rewarding architecture and branding firm Savvy Studio, or as the creative force behind Mexico City’s Casa Bosques Bookstore and a line of sculptural chocolates of the same name—has been connection. “We don’t want to put out a pretty image,” he once told Surface. “We’re aiming to create a relevant and solid concept that will connect with people.” So for his latest undertaking, which involved fashioning a table and stools for his 19th-century TriBeCa loft, he leaned on input from his network of creative friends. Like usual, their combined sensibilities elevated the results to new heights.

Or perhaps in this case, lows. The table, made of repurposed white oak, is low-slung to accommodate four square-shaped stools, all designed in collaboration with carpenter Andrin Widmer. Perched atop are Valerie Name Bolaño’s cushions upholstered in her interiors firm Spoliâ’s collection of handwoven deadstock textiles such as cashmere, bouclé, cotton velvet, and wool jacquard. Sewed on are rock-shaped buttons by ceramist Natalie Weinberger, who channeled both Franz West and stones Prieto picked up in Maine. The effect is tatami-like—a result of him traveling through Japan and feeling “humbled” to sit so close to the ground.

Creating each stool is a labor of love—and “a reaction to the increasingly fast pace the world is moving at,” Prieto wrote on Instagram. “We’re repurposing materials that were once considered humble—at times discarded—and revealing their beauty in a new form.” Though an intimate reflection of Prieto’s proven ingenuity and collaborative ethos, the stools aren’t only for his apartment. They’re currently available at 180 the Store nearby, and more are underway as he readies his first-ever solo exhibition of recent design pieces under his own name at Emma Scully Gallery in the spring.

The Yanomami, an indigenous group that lives on the border between Venezuela and Brazil, existed in near complete isolation until the early 20th century, when deforestation and climate change set in, threatening their numbers. Swiss-born Brazilian photographer Claudia Andujar has spent more than five decades photographing them, raising visibility for their struggle to protect their land, people, and culture. “I think the most important thing is the chance to introduce people to another aspect of our world,” Andujar says. “At the same time, this other aspect of our world allows us to recognize ourselves in other human beings who deserve to live their lives as they wish and according to their own understanding of the world.”

More than 300 pictures and a series of Yanomami drawings comprise this retrospective, which illuminates how Andujar sees the Yanomami: As people. She employs techniques including double and long exposure or colored filters to convey their experience and encourage political activism. After displaying at Fondation Cartier in Paris and London’s Barbican Centre, the exhibition lands at The Shed in New York (until April 16) with works by contemporary Yanomami artists on view for the first time.

When: Until April 23

Where: Triennale Milano

What: A maverick of material experimentation, Angelo Mangiarotti wielded a prescient understanding of the ways that shape, space, texture, and color coalesce to create exceptional pieces of functional sculpture. The late Italian architect’s artistic side often goes overlooked in favor of his focus on material culture and prefabrication techniques, which this landmark exhibition seeks to correct through an incisive look at never-before-seen sketches and models from his six-decade career. “While it’s true that Mangiarotti reinvented the eternal archetype of the post and lintel,” curator Fulvio Irace says, “it’s equally true that his work contains a creative vein of great plastic and sculptural power.”

In 1936, the arts patron and publicist Federico Sánchez Fogerty and his wife Magda initiated a series of parties in their home, known as the Red Palace of Tacubaya for its sanguine color scheme. Everyone in Mexico City who was, or longed to be, anyone—poets, politicians, artists, critics—would scramble for an invite to bashes like the Empire of Illusion, the Great Saturdays, or the Teas Crazy. These festivities, known as the Parties of Third Empire, went on through the 1970s. They established the 6,450-square-foot colonial house as an epicenter of Mexico City’s cultural movements through the 20th century.

This year, the house once again becomes a home for cultural innovation as the first permanent location for MASA Galeria. Founded in 2018 by a quintet of creative forces including Héctor Esrawe, Age Salajõe, Brian Thoreen, Isaac Bissu, and Roberto Diaz, the gallery is known for shows that form cracks in the walls between art and design, in spaces that expand ideas of what and where a gallery might be. From early shows in neglected mansions to a beguiling group outing curator Su Wu installed in a ghostly post office in the belly of Rockefeller Center, MASA eschews the typical white box.

Grounded in the world of international fine art, Brooklyn-based Callidus Guild conceives, designs, and installs surfaces and wallpapers for the world’s most illustrious clients. Callidus Guild is known for an elevated, one-of-a-kind aesthetic that incorporates plasters, precious metals, and handmade paints.

Surface Says: Owner and creative director Yolande Milan Batteau’s creations—from her wallpapers to gilded mirrors—are infused with a sense of magic. That aura radiates from her verdant and charming Clinton Hill studio, too.

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