What’s Happening: Whether laden with irreverence or grief, Ukraine’s postage stamps have come to reflect the national mood. They serve as an apt time capsule for the conflict.

The Download: George Orwell once quipped that “every joke is a tiny revolution.” Ukrainians are proof positive of this notion—the good-humored people have long used jokes and memes as coping mechanisms during eras of political turbulence and natural disasters. The Russian-Ukrainian war is no different. Last year, in late February, a Russian warship approached a group of Ukrainian border guards stationed at a military base on Snake Island in the Black Sea, ordering Ukraine’s surrender. “Russian warship, go fuck yourself,” the guards responded.

The act of courage has come to symbolize Ukraine’s irreverent attitude toward Russian aggression so much that the Ukrainian Postal Service (Ukrposhta) released a postage stamp depicting a Ukrainian soldier flipping the bird to an approaching ship. Since the conflict broke out one year ago, Ukrposhta has staged contests online to source artwork for postage stamps in order to raise money for the armed forces, releasing more than 30 custom stamps by both amateur and professional artists.

The final stamp of the series doesn’t mince words—or visuals. It commemorates a mural Banksy recently stencil-tagged on a wall in Borodyanka, a small town about 30 miles northwest of Kyiv. In the mural, the anonymous British street artist depicts a judo match where a young boy flips an older man on his back—a sly reference to Russia president Vladimir Putin’s black belt in judo. The David-and-Goliath metaphor is clear enough, but Ukrposhta immortalized Ukraine’s steely resolve by adding the letters “FCK PTN” in Cyrillic in the stamp’s bottom left corner.

Other stamps commemorate key moments in the conflict. When Russian missiles destroyed the world’s largest plane, called the Mriya, Ukrposhta released a colorful stamp picturing a little girl flying on bird wings next to the doomed aircraft. The visual, dreamily illustrated by an 11-year-old Ukrainian girl named Sofiika Kravchuk, was originally intended to adorn a postage envelope but took on new significance when the aircraft was destroyed. Another stamp portrays a couple that bears an uncanny resemblance to Jack and Rose, the star-crossed lovers from Titanic, perched on the edge of the Crimea Bridge that succumbed to a blast by Russia.

Because the stamps artfully document key junctures in the conflict, they’ve come to serve as somewhat of a time capsule. They also strike a chord with Ukrainians—thousands have flocked to local post offices keen to get their hands on the latest releases. “It’s a cool gesture for the world to understand Ukraine, that we remain in the spotlight,” Maxime, a 26-year-old resident of Kyiv who lined up for the Banksy stamp, told The Guardian. The numbers speak for themselves: Ukrposhta sold roughly 15 million stamps this past year alone—six times more than in 2021—prompting the agency to make them available online.

In Their Own Words: “They reflect current events, they reflect main heroes, and they certainly help people around the world better understand who we are,” Igor Smelyansky, CEO of Ukrposhta, tells Fast Company. “Understand that despite life and death situations every day, we can fight for our freedom with humor and dedication. These stamps are being sold and sent around the world to help spread the word about this war and what we stand for.”

Surface Says: As snail mail becomes increasingly obsolete, the commemorative power of stamps is only multiplying.

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Santa Monica is known for churning out good waves: from the surf scene to the legendary tunes eked out by musicians who flock to coastal California city for Universal Music Group’s (UMG) recording studios. Everyone from Dr. Dre and Billie Eilish to Lana Del Rey have made music at the legendary spot, so when local firm Studio PCH was asked to give the studio a refresh, founder Severine Tatangelo replied with a resounding “yes.”

In addition to renovating the highly technical studios, the French architect also recast an artist lounge and pantry in her firm’s signature take on timeless California cool. This approach has made Nobu hotels from Malibu to Los Cabos celebrity-favorite unwinding hotspots and pop culture staples. Now, that trademark floor-to-ceiling wood paneling, white oak-framed furniture, and abundance of greenery stands to benefit the next generation of hitmakers.

Designing Delicious is produced in partnership with Dorsia, a members-only platform with access to reservations at the most in-demand restaurants in New York, Miami, and soon L.A.

The idea is to have our customers feel like they’re in Barcelona,” says Deme Lomas, chef and owner of NIU Kitchen. Since opening in 2014, the restaurant has carved out a unique space within the Miami food scene: An authentic Catalonian tapas joint in a sea of flashy, celebrity-driven power dining. Occupying a quiet downtown corner, the humble dining room is a portal to Spain’s culture capital with natural woods, Spanish ephemera, and 70s-era European music.

At NIU, gimmicks take a backseat to what’s on the plate—the ambiance is quaint, but Lomas’s irresistible pintxos and shareable dishes sing loudly. Crowd pleasers include the vegan paella with escalivada mushrooms, octopus carpaccio, and ous (poached egg) with potato foam, crispy jamón ibérico, and black truffle.

The elemental nature of the cuisine extends to the riveting wine program built around hard-to-find natural and organic varietals from around the world. (The restaurant’s adjacent wine bar is one of the Magic City’s underrated gems.) How confident is the team in its wide-ranging menu? One of the specialties is a “round of beers for the kitchen staff.” We bet it’s one of NIU’s most popular.

Over the weekend, Amref Health Africa hosted the annual ArtBall and art auction to celebrate creative talent from Africa for a good cause. The auction featured 38 pieces of contemporary African, Pan-African, and Black Art from artists such as Tariku Shiferaw, Helina Metaferia, Adjei Tawiah, Emily Manwaring, Chris Watts, and Damien Davis to benefit a youth empowerment program run by Amref Health Africa in Ethiopia called Kefeta. At the ceremony, Shiferaw presented world-renowned painter Julie Mehretu with the Rees Visionary Award.

When was it? Feb. 25

Where was it? Brooklyn, New York

Who was there? Isolde Brielmaier, Wangechi Mutu, Shaunette Renée Wilson, Wanuri Kahiu, and more.

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, these moments indicate their power to move the needle within and beyond realms like architecture, design, fashion, and art.

Glossy abstractions and ladybugs laze across fingertips. Fungi sprout as if Björk’s hands are tree trunks. Planks of chrome, like the chicest finger splints imaginable, clutch a red rose blooming in Lil Nas X’s fist. Whether inspired by animal, vegetable, or mineral, Sojin Oh’s boundary-breaking nail art has made her among the world’s most booked, winning fans (and clients) like Cardi B, Kali Uchis, Arca, and Rihanna.

It all started, she says, with Gong Li. “I remember watching Curse of the Golden Flower and seeing the Chinese fingernail guards and gold-accent extensions,” she says. “The beauty elements of her character were inspiring and powerful to me because they captured her emotions well.” With a flick of Li’s fingers, a world of possibilities opened up. “I thought, that’s what I want to do for nails,” she says, “get inspired by the persona and create a brand-new design for that one person to express who they are and what they’re feeling.”

In 1924, Poul Henningsen created his influential Paris lamp for Louis Poulsen, and the origin of how we still design to shape light can directly be traced back to his views on the dualities of design and light. Founded in 1874, Louis Poulsen is a Danish lighting manufacturer born out of the Scandinavian design tradition where form follows function.

Surface Says: Home to Poul Henningsen’s manifold Artichoke lamp, Louis Poulsen has been a luminary in lighting manufacture for close to 150 years.

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