What’s Happening: Throughout their career, the visionary duo amassed and studied thousands of toys that imbued their design process with curiosity and allowed them to temper serious situations with fun and joy.

The Download: Design with whimsical attributes—puffy motifs, exaggerated proportions, unexpected colors—often get described as “playful.” For many designers, however, play is all about process. That was the case for Charles and Ray Eames, the husband-and-wife duo whose visionary contributions to 20th-century design need no introduction. To the Eameses, play meant undertaking an activity simply for the value of the activity itself, developing connections and seeing where they lead by engaging in a process of trial and error. It also meant amassing thousands of toys strewn throughout their L.A. office as both brainstorming fodder and pleasant diversions. “Toys are not as innocent as they look,” Charles famously said. “Toys and games are the preludes to serious ideas.”

The duo’s predilection for play underscores “Toys & Play,” the latest exhibition from the Eames Institute for Infinite Curiosity, a virtual archive and gallery that aims to spread their ingenuity. The show features a trove of ephemera pulled from their archives, from a group of spinning tops and a circus mirror to tricycles, kites, and a barrel organ. Playing with these toys and studying their design attributes fed the studio’s intellect and proved instructive as they wove means of enjoyment into just about everything they did. In doing so, they sought to replicate the mindset of a curious child constantly observing their surroundings. Incorporating play in their design process enabled the studio to tackle problems elliptically, unburdened by self-consciousness and pretensions.

Perhaps the show’s biggest revelation involves how the Eameses tempered their job’s serious elements—museum shows, corporate clients, exhaustive prototyping—with an undeniably fun outlook. It’s hard to believe the same designers whose technical mastery yielded the molded plywood chair also carved out a spirited world where plywood elephants, animatronic puppet shows, and films about trains were standard fare. In his memoir, former Herman Miller CEO Hugh De Pree recalled a 1954 meeting at the Eames Office that turned into an “exhausting but exhilarating” all-night filmmaking session where they watched wind-up toys waddle. “I learned that night that it was important to care, it was important to be concerned about what you were doing, that the details were vital,” he wrote. “I learned about quality. I learned about excellence.”

In Their Own Words: “For Ray and Charles, playing was a portal to serious ideas like understanding an unseen force like gravity becoming visible, as I witnessed when I dropped a marble down the musical tower and listened to the notes play,” says Llisa Demetrios, chief curator of The Eames Institute of Infinite Curiosity and the duo’s youngest granddaughter. “For me, toys were empowering tools of ‘found learning.’ Having fun and learning without realizing you were—that was the best game growing up.”

Surface Says: We hear sound baths are great for spurring creativity, too.

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When Peter Do staged his Spring/Summer runway show in Paris this past September, all eyes were on the collection of remixed suiting, punctuated by striking splashes of red. Those singularly focused on the new Helmut Lang artistic director’s design signatures—singularly brilliant executions of tailoring and drape—likely missed out on some choice styling gems in the form of All Blues’ sterling silver bracelets, necklaces, and earrings. The Swedish jewelry brand founded by Jacob Skragge channeled Do’s signature minimalism into an 11-piece stackable collection made of recycled sterling silver and available online, at All Blues’ Stockholm store, and at Dover Street Market Tokyo.

The Los Angeles–based artist-curator has cultivated a body of work that explores the interwoven tradition of Blackness and sound. Take Lay Me Down in Praise, his recent installation at the California African American Museum, in which he establishes a connection between the Earth’s climate disasters and Black resistance and liberation. LeRoy’s newest work, a climate opera X’ene’s Witness, opens tomorrow at the Marciano Art Foundation and continues the line of analysis in Lay Me Down in Praise. Through an R&B and Soul score composed by LeRoy and Alexander Hadyn, featuring vocals and piano by X’ene Sky and choreography by Qwenga, the opera expresses Earth’s suffering in ways the audience can see, hear, and ultimately feel.

Using egg tempera on canvas, the Leipzig-based painter renders desolate, disorienting interiors whose fleeting human presence verges on the uncanny.

Here, we ask an artist to frame essential details behind one of their latest works.

Bio: Matthias Weischer, 50, Leipzig.

Title of work: Shell (2023).

Where to see it: GRIMM, New York, until Dec. 9.

Three words to describe it: Red, blue, and yellow.

An interesting feature that’s not immediately noticeable: When I was finishing the painting, I realized the symbolism is quite strong. The playing card, the icon painting, and shell are connected in the sense that they symbolize death in a playful way. The shell came last and was a natural extension of the symbology.

Last week, Salon Art + Design celebrated its opening night at New York City’s Park Avenue Armory with an exclusive champagne preview. More than 2,000 visitors flowed into Upper East Side landmark throughout the evening to preview a selection of the world’s finest blue-chip 20th-century art and vintage, modern, and contemporary design from 50 leading galleries. Bold-faced names from the art, design, fashion, and culture spheres attended the vernissage, yielding high-profile sales that set the tone for another successful edition.

When was it? Nov. 8

Where was it? Park Avenue Armory, New York

Who was there? Jeremy Anderson, Lisa Perry, Anna Karlin, Colin King, Amy Lau, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Holly Hunt, Wes Gordon, Christine Gachot, Martin Brudnizki, Samuel Amoia, Emma Scully, Giancarlo Valle, Robert Stilin, and more.

When: Until Feb. 15

Where: Hotel Bel-Air, Los Angeles

What: The Colombia-based artist takes his work to the five-star hotel’s sprawling grounds, where amid lush greenery and Spanish Colonial architecture his terracotta planter chairs pay homage to Colombia’s tropical flora. The show nods to the country’s status as the continent’s floral capital while exploring the emotional weight of giving one flowers.

The Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited university, offering more than 100 academic degree programs in more than 40 majors across its locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France; and online via SCAD eLearning. The innovative SCAD curriculum is enhanced by advanced professional-level technology, equipment, and learning resources, as well as opportunities for internships, professional certifications, and projects with corporate partners.

Surface Says: SCAD leverages its vast industry relationships and flourishing alumni network to equip the designers of tomorrow to thrive in a continuously evolving landscape.

Crocs teams up with McDonald’s to offer Grimace and Hamburglar footwear.

A London theater will produce a musical about Gwyneth Paltrow’s ski trial.

Robert Pattinson designed this odd ear-shaped sofa on display at JF Chen.

This book unearths almost everything strange about the Middle Ages.