When Ulla Johnson celebrated the opening of her L.A. flagship in October, Hollywood’s A-list showed up in full force. Cynthia Erivo, Gabrielle Union, Dakota Fanning, and Melanie Lynskey were among those who turned out for a first look and a dinner party hosted in the boutique’s Miranda Brooks–designed native garden. Perrier-Jouët champagne graced the table, Johnson’s guests donned her latest collection, and Courtney Storer, culinary director of FX’s restaurant drama The Bear, prepared the food.

This is typical of the kind of crowd that turns out to celebrate the likes of Johnson and her collaborators, interior designer Kelly Wearstler and Brooks, a landscape designer, who are all regarded as doyennes in their respective fields. Brooks and Johnson go way back—she dreamed up the gardens for Johnson’s boutique in Amagansett, as well as her home in Montauk. So two years ago, when the fashion designer announced a Los Angeles store where their talents would coalesce, it sparked the sort of anticipation typically reserved for the likes of a new Sofia Coppola film. Johnson’s label is steeped in influences, textiles, and handicraft sourced from her global travels, but until now has been firmly anchored in New York by its two stores, showroom, and headquarters.

Over the course of two years, they remade the “scary Hobbit house,” as Johnson described it, into a verdant, sun-drenched vision of their own. Walls came down, a solarium went up, and so too did a towering 16-foot-tall Brachychiton tree indoors. They relocated the building’s primary entrance from the bustling Beverly Boulevard to a path snaking through Brooks’ secret garden while adding 1,200 square feet to the footprint. Across its two floors, a mix of furniture made by local talents, like a surreal hand-carved table by Vincent Pocsik, mesh with collectible Italian design from the ‘70s by the likes of Urano Palma and Carlo Scarpa, as well as pieces from Wearstler’s eponymous gallery.

“We came away with something I feel very excited about, and that truly celebrates L.A., light, life, texture, and beauty—everything I hoped it would be,” Johnson told Surface. “It’s very important to work with somebody who’s steeped in the location. I don’t believe in creating a uniform brand experience that’s translated across myriad cities. That’s why I was excited to learn from and collaborate with Kelly.”

Surface sat down with Johnson and Wearstler together to talk about the city’s artisan scene, where in the world they source one-of-a-kind vintage pieces, and how a stay at the Santa Monica Proper kicked everything off.

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Dare to blink while driving west towards Joshua Tree on California’s 29 Palms Highway, and you just might miss café-bar Màs o Menos. Siblings Brit Epperson of Studio Plow and Barrett Karber of Grain Construction transformed a 1952-era residence painted a severe shade of red into a light-filled, all-day hangout evocative of its desert surroundings. An alabaster façade furnished with Douglas fir seating gives way to an interior resplendent with handmade tiles laid to reference the captivating desert sunsets. It’s tempered with a playful menu: alongside pour-overs and flat whites, the bar also serves coffee negronis and irish coffee all morning before transitioning to a full evening cocktail menu.

The Kansas City Museum’s historic Beaux Arts conservatory is undergoing another major transformation. The New York artist Summer Wheat has teamed with local firm International Architects Atelier to reimagine the chapel-like structure as JewelHouse, a luminous sanctuary that promotes wellness and pays tribute to women in the arts. Built in 1910 to store winter plants and later transformed into a planetarium, the conservatory will become a meditative space in the spirit of the Rothko Chapel and Ellsworth Kelly’s Austin. Unlike its predecessors, however, JewelHouse will focus on empowerment and equity. Wheat’s interventions include colorful stained glass that glimmers against white marble walls and her signature water bearer motif that symbolizes women’s labor and nourishment.

Matthew Fisher, the New York talent who imbues sculptural stone objects with an anthropological slant, found inspiration in an unexpected place for his latest collection: the ballet. It’s no coincidence that the collection, Elegy, shares a name with the somber final movement of Serenade, George Balanchine’s first full-length American ballet. The production’s origins are steeped in the late choreographer’s vision for the New York City Ballet; the composition was created to teach the fledgling company how to perform. Set to Tschaikovsky’s emotive Serenade for Strings, the production has evolved from its origins as a teaching ballet to read as a meditation on the passage of time.

Fisher, a trained dancer and Lincoln Center regular, has channeled that profundity into a collection reflecting a new frontier for his creative process.

Earlier this month, artists, curators, museum leaders, and collectors gathered in Chelsea, New York, for the opening celebrations of “Making Their Mark,” the major new traveling exhibition of art by women curated by Cecilia Alemani. The exhibition is a vibrant showcase of more than 80 women luminaries from the past eight decades—and the first public showing of Komal Shah and Gaurav Garg’s groundbreaking collection.

When was it? Nov. 2

Where was it? Chelsea, New York

Who was there? Cecily Brown, Carrie Moyer, Amy Tillman, Jenna Gribbon, Kate Capshaw, Padma Lakshmi, Michelle Kuo, JiaJia Fei, Connie Butler, and more.

When: Until Jan. 7

Where: Mobilier National, Paris

What: Whether a furry magenta furniture line or whimsical cocktail brew pub, Harry Nuriev’s interiors are teeming with vibrant colors and textures that will make you smile. He brings flashes of his immersive world to Mobilier National in Paris, recreating a reading room furnished with traditional sofas adorned with a silvery sheen and backdropped by chairs mimicking shelves. In the Galerie des Gobelins, meanwhile, two 17th-century tapestries face a gazebo upholstered in custom textiles whose patterns Nuriev created using AI.

Founded in Graz, Austria, in 2013 by Anastasija and Martin Lesjak, 13&9 Design has developed numerous collections from concept to production together with specialized partners in a variety of spaces including furniture, lighting, acoustics, textiles, accessories, exhibitions, and sound design. This creative community is its own label and a design studio for international companies such as BuzziSpace, Mohawk Group, FACT Design, Lande, Wever & Ducré, XAL, and VITEO Outdoors.

Surface Says: The companion studio to Austrian architecture firm Innocad stands out from the crowd for its science-based, social-conscious approach.

Las Vegas celebrates 70 years as the world’s undisputed “wedding capital.”

Indonesian scientists unearth a lost echidna species after six decades.

Studio Job’s whimsical sculptures add fun touches to MIKA’s latest music video.

This new fragrance brand employs neuroscents to offer cognitive benefits.