What’s Happening: Jony Ive’s design firm collaborates with Linn on a gentle evolution of the British audio brand’s LP12 turntable—a world away from the industrial designer’s work on Apple’s compact digital music devices.

The Download: Jony Ive spent two decades as Apple’s chief design officer, responsible for envisioning products such as iPods and AirPods that have become icons of modern music consumption. His new creative studio, LoveFrom, which officially launched in 2019 with the help of Marc Newson, has brought Ive’s exacting approach to a historic typeface and royal seal, but not yet a physical piece of industrial design. That changes with Sondek LP12-50, a new turntable by British audio brand Linn celebrating the original’s 50th anniversary.

While teaming with LoveFrom to create an audio device far more analog than an AirPod may seem counterintuitive, Ive, a lifelong fan of Linn, was eager to get involved. The brand’s turntables cost a premium, but promise to capture vinyl’s utmost subtleties and offer modular, mix-and-matchable parts that can be upgraded over time, birthing a community of fervent audiophiles. Gilad Tiefenbrun, the brand’s CEO, invited Ive to assess each of the LP12’s components and see what could be fine-tuned. “If you’ve ever had a real estate agent look around your house,” Tiefenbrun writes, “you’ll be familiar with how I felt.”

Given Linn’s philosophy, not much could change—a healthy exercise of designing within boundaries. They introduced a dense wood plinth that minimizes vibrations and identified several areas where gentle design tweaks could be feasible. These came in the form of smoothing the edges of squared-off components, swapping out a plastic rocker power button for charcoal aluminum, and developing hinges so the dust cover could stay open at any angle. A limited run of 250 units will go on sale starting in August for $60,000 each.

In Their Own Words: “When it’s such a broadly recognized and respected icon, and elements of the design are familiar, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re optimal,” says Ive, who took on the project pro bono for the sake of exploring the craft, noting how LoveFrom’s longer-term contracts with Airbnb and Ferrari provide the income to explore passion projects. “When you have products that assume the status of becoming iconic, and have that sort of cultural resonance, it’s easy to assume they’re beyond improvement. This is a challenging design problem to respectfully evaluate the product.”

Surface Says: No further proof is needed: Ive has an impressive range.

Have a news story our readers need to see? Submit it here.

Reach the design world every morning. Find out more about advertising in the Design Dispatch.

Joana Vasconcelos often uses handicraft techniques like embroidery and crochet to create vibrant, large-scale sculptures that comment on cultural identity and feminism. Take the Portuguese artist’s tentacular woven backdrop for Dior’s Autumn/Winter 2023 runway show, her fantastically dimensional take on the Mah Jong sofa for Roche Bobois, or her 2005 contribution to the Venice Biennale—a chandelier made of 14,000 tampons. Her latest undertaking manages to exceed all these scales by cooking up a 40-foot-tall, three-tiered wedding cake folly for the quaint English countryside.

Installed this spring on the grounds of Waddesdon Manor in Buckinghamshire, the colossal confection is clad in 25,000 pastel-glazed ceramic tiles manufactured in and inspired by the Baroque buildings of Lisbon, where Vasconcelos lives and works. Adorned with expressive details like ceramic cherubs, dolphins, and a water feature, the candy-colored folly towers over the Rothschild Foundation’s lush gardens as both a temple of love and an exploration of marital traditions. “I wanted people to have three different approaches,” she says. “Looking from the outside, enjoying the surroundings from the different levels or balconies, and rising to the top, finally completing the artwork with their presence.”

A new space in downtown Napa Valley takes the region’s signature export and layers it on top of contemporary art. Located on First Street Napa, Serge Sorokko Gallery and Martin Ray Vineyards & Winery Tasting Room marries art and juice in a one-of-a-kind setting. Showcasing a rotating selection of American and European works alongside exceptional wines from the brand’s vineyard, the gallery is a haven for taste in more ways than one.

Internationally recognized talents include Donald Sultan, Ross Bleckner, and Hunt Slonem, as well as the Belgian artist Isabelle de Borchgrave, known for her intricate painted paper sculptures. The 4,500-square-foot gallery and tasting room, designed by architect Craig Steely, features floor-to-ceiling retractable glass walls, glossy white epoxy floors, and striking circular “power” shapes. The centerpiece is the beautifully arched steel wine bar, offering a selection of exquisite varietals on pour.

There’s something to be said for discovering a truly original it-bag. Finding one that feels downright revelatory rather than something that’s already been seen on the arm of everyone from A-listers to nano-influencers might seem impossible these days. Thankfully, Finnish label Marimekko has just the fix with six new summery hues of its Swedish candy-inspired Karla bag. With its buttery-soft leather, punchy colorways like juicy guava and berry mascarpone, and delicate finishing details like ruching and a strappy handle, this shoulder bag is a sweet treat in more ways than one. $310

When: July 12–Aug. 12

Where: Hexton Gallery, Aspen

What: The light-based artist reveals a series of transportive wall sculptures that blur the lines between traditional painting and light’s own captivating power. Each piece draws on elements of painting, sculpture, and architecture to present color in such a way that inspires stillness in the face of an increasingly frenetic world. It not only provides a close-up look at Smith’s vision of an abstracted, light-filled environment, but also taps into emotional memory and intimacy.

Savvy Studio is a branding and architecture design practice based in New York and Mexico. The firm uses its expertise to create brand stories and experiences for ventures such as boutique hotels, restaurants, retail spaces, art galleries, and museums.

Surface Says: With work that ranges from interiors and graphics to elaborately spiced chocolate bars, Savvy Studio injects a contemporary slickness to each of its projects. Consequently, their clients are always on the cutting edge of cool.

Naxos has made its opera collection available for streaming on Amazon.

Here’s a vivid look into the wondrous—and mysterious—lives of sharks.

Astrophysics reminds us that Earth’s most famous art started as stardust.

A decade after its brief disappearance, the Twinkie brand is thriving.