What’s Happening: Perched on a historic South Carolina harbor where enslaved Africans once landed, the long-delayed museum is a powerful document of Black cultural energy entering, shaping, and reshaping the United States.

The Download: In the 18th and 19th centuries, ships carrying tens of thousands of enslaved Africans landed at Gadsden’s Wharf in Charleston Harbor, not far from where the Civil War’s first shots were fired. The ships may have gone, but the site’s heavy history remains intact thanks to the long-awaited International African American Museum, whose quarter-century journey to life was beset by political squabbles, economic downturns, and administrative snafus. The museum, floating ship-like on the harbor in an elegant building designed by Moody Nolan and Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, is a powerful document of Black creative and cultural energy shakily entering the United States.

That fraught journey begins outside, in a tranquil park conceived as a tribute to victims of the torturous Middle Passage. Life-size silhouettes of ghostly bodies packed shoulder-to-shoulder loom like specters in the pavement; they contrast landscape architect Walter J. Hood’s lush gardens of African palm trees and sweet grass from South Carolina. Not unlike Menashe Kadishman’s poignant tribute to Holocaust victims at Berlin’s Jewish Museum or the Field of Empty Chairs to commemorate victims of the Oklahoma City Bombing, the fountain immediately sheds light on slavery’s human toll—and sets a tone of solemnity and reflection.

That tone of survival persists today. When the museum isn’t tracing Black stories old and new across American history (the “African Roots” exhibit cleverly links African spiritual practices to those in Latin America), it reminds one of the pernicious ways racism continues to endure. Around the corner is the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, where a white supremacist murdered nine Black people in 2015. Those painful memories are tempered with triumph—a traveling Smithsonian exhibition, on view at the museum until August 6, honors dozens of Black luminaries, all rendered in vivid portraits by the likes of Nina Chanel Abney, Hank Willis Thomas, Shaunté Gates, and Tariku Shiferaw.

In Their Own Words: “I want to be part of this idea that folks should be taking trips all over the country to see these great places,” Tonya Matthews, the museum’s president, tells the Post & Courier. “There’s something about a museum that makes it okay to learn in public. It’s one of very few places you can show up and admit ‘I don’t know.’ I want us to be this wonderfully gentle and welcome elephant in the room.”

Surface Says: Presenting a balanced history of the African American experience in this context is tough, and may draw ire—but from devastation sprouts triumph.

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Set in the vibrant Psyrri neighborhood of Athens, the Apollo Palm Hotel heralds a new wave of hospitality, echoing the area’s blend of ancient history and modern creativity. The hotel, a brainchild of promising Parisian firm Mariette Sans-Rival Studio, is a tribute to Greece’s rich seafaring heritage, encapsulated in two 20th-century buildings reimagined into 48 tranquil guest rooms and several luminous common spaces.

Nautical curves reminiscent of the Aegean Sea and a creamy palette evoke serenity while amplifying the buildings’ verticality. Custom furniture, crafted in collaboration with local artisans, threads through the hotel, their soft lines tracing around the golden hues of the fabrics and textures. (One such piece, a chair from the hotel’s Lucie Collection, was featured in the design exhibition “Trônes” at the Galerie Downtown Paris.) Grab a bite at the casual Patio Wine Bar and Bistro located in a street-level courtyard or head to the rooftop “spritzeria” where the cocktail menu by Alekos Alexiadis, founder of the cool-kid haunt Santa Rosa nearby, comes with Acropolis views.

Tariq Dixon always envisioned TRNK, his furniture studio, as a curatorial platform for emerging designers with diverse perspectives. The brand’s latest outing, the Artist Rug Series, doubles down on this spirit by translating works by three artists into heirloom-quality rugs. “I was intrigued by the idea of using rugs as an art medium,” Dixon says, “so I thought it would be interesting to combine the role and language of wall art with the textural and tactile qualities of rugs.” The inaugural series brings three talents into the fore, weaving their visual languages with time-honored craft. Jesus Perea’s geometric patterns translate seamlessly from wood to wool, as do the ink drawings of Louis Reith and Zackery Abernathy’s abstract paintings.

Selections from the Surface team’s endless list of personal obsessions.

Candles are often a safe entry point for brands eager to jump into homewares, but they don’t always hit. The Alexander McQueen Candle Collection escapes that fate, debuting today with three scents that mimic the provocative contradictions the late couturier so loved. Ghost Flower contrasts fresh freesia and peony with earthy patchouli; Pagan Rose balances fragile wild rose and earthy peat. Each comes in an egg-shaped black lacquered glass container and mycelium shell. The collection may hew closely to McQueen codes, but lends further proof the fashion legend’s light will never go out. $395

The textile artist celebrates the multifaceted power of her chosen medium, finding softness and strength in her monumental embroidered portraits.

Here, an artist frames the essential details behind one of their latest works.

Bio: Gio Swaby, 31, Toronto.

Title of work: Where I Know You From 6 (2023).

Where to see it: Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, until July 15.

Three words to describe it: Honest, expansive, captivating.

What was on your mind at the time: I finished this self-portrait on Mother’s Day and I was thinking a lot about my mom through the process. I thought about how she would be so proud of everything I’ve accomplished and how this work continues her legacy as a person that sewed for most of her life (and all of mine). I thought about everything we didn’t get to do but also reflected on all the beautiful gifts she’s left with me.

New York City’s pizzerias could face costly changes under a proposed regulation targeting coal-and-wood-fired ovens emitting smoke and pollutants. The city has drafted rules requiring eateries with these ovens to reduce carbon emissions by up to 75 percent with new emission control devices. Less than 100 restaurants would be impacted by the new rule, but chefs aren’t happy about its potential impact on flavor. “If you fuck around with the temperature in the oven, you change the taste,” one restaurateur told the New York Post. “That pipe, that chimney, it’s that size to create the perfect updraft. It’s an art as much as science!”

Duplex is a New York–based design boutique engaged with the world’s most iconic design brands, groundbreaking talents, and master artisans, all of whom offer a surrealistic take on form and function. Its founder, Patrizio Chiarparini, brings a curatorial approach to Duplex’s roster with the goal of providing clients with a sophisticated, unexpected range of pieces.

Surface Says: Chiarparini goes the extra mile to offer one-of-a-kind objects and exhibitions, making Duplex a destination for those lucky enough to be in the know.

Hasbro dials into ‘90s nostalgia by relaunching the mildly creepy Furby.

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The student who ate Maurizio Cattelan’s $120,000 banana finally speaks out.

A Finnish national park is asking all visitors to ditch their smartphones.