In 2021, Dasha Zhukova announced Ray: an ambitious live-work venture seeking to integrate world-class art, studio spaces, and affordable housing. In addition to makerspaces, perks—for artists and art enthusiasts alike—include exhibitions, workshops, and programming for residents and the public. To bring the properties to life, she enlisted high-caliber talent in art, design, and architecture. Handel Architects is collaborating with Frida Escobedo, the architect behind the transformation of Harlem’s National Black Theatre, on Ray’s first New York City property in the building. Leong Leong, meanwhile, has spent the past three years on the venture’s first property in Philadelphia’s Olde Kensington neighborhood.

This winter, Ray Philly welcomed its first residents. Located on the area’s main thoroughfare N. American Street, the building is unrecognizable from the vacant lots that occupied the site five years ago. Today, installations by Rashid Johnson and local artists Michelle Lopez and Marian Bailey occupy its lobby. A ground-floor coworking lounge, flexible makerspace, and rentable private studios are accompanied by pop-ups, community programming, and a soon-to-open indie art bookstore. The neighborhood, near Fishtown, mirrors the redevelopment of Brooklyn’s Gowanus as an industry-turned-arts hub. The design-focused Wexler Gallery recently expanded to a former pretzel factory a few blocks away, and the nonprofit ceramic arts center The Clay Studio set up shop in a 34,000-square-foot space just down the street after operating out of two adjoined row houses for 48 of its first 50 years.

At the center is Ray founder Dasha Zhukova. Eagle-eyed readers will recognize her name as the founder of the erstwhile Garage magazine and Moscow’s Garage Museum, which ceased operations in 2022 amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. With her roles as a trustee of institutions like LACMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and her extensive network of fellow power players in New York City’s arts and culture spheres, a neighborhood removed from Philadelphia’s Center City seemed an unlikely next frontier for the well-heeled founder and art collector.

What’s more, the nearby area of Kensington—located a few stops away from Olde Kensington on the city’s SEPTA transit system—has become a de facto capital of America’s addiction crisis. Ray itself is off the beaten path of many of the universities whose art and design programs employ the city’s artists as faculty. But “Ray is not just for artists,” Zhukova says, assured that Ray’s charming corner of South Kensington is where it’s meant to be. Zhukova spoke with Surface about the project and what its location can offer the community.

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This February, the Surface team will handpick a selection of elevated objects of affection for our exclusive Valentine’s Day Gift Guide. Expect a mix of sophisticated curiosities, housewares, fine art prints, and other covetable gifts that reimagine the holiday with a highbrow slant and represent worthwhile purchases that your Valentine will truly treasure.

Toteme is bringing touches of Scandi minimalism to the red-bricked Mount Street in London’s tony Mayfair district. The Swedish purveyor of women’s ready-to-wear recently opened a 3,000-square-foot flagship designed by Stockholm studio Halleroed that exudes a pared-down ambiance with a white storefront adorned with silver accents. Those touches continue inside, where a woven steel Random Pak Twin sofa by Marc Newson sets the tone for off-white stucco walls, honed limestone floors, and a custom niche displaying a gypsum sculpture by Carl Milles. Besides nodding to the label’s Swedish heritage, Halleroed drew inspiration from Carlo Scarpa’s rich textures and the elegance of the Swedish Grace movement. And even more expansion is afoot—Toteme recently ventured into jewelry and two Los Angeles stores are on the horizon.

Late last year, amid the hustle and bustle of holiday season and art week treks to Miami and back again, design duo Stephen Alesch and Robin Standefer fêted the opening of Guild Bar at La Mercerie. Tucked within the couple’s French-inspired restaurant-showroom concept, the five seat cocktail bar offers patrons an elegant and intimate perch. The cozy alcove is equally suited to diving into a sumptuous novel or catching up with friends old and new—all over impeccable classic cocktails and inventive featured drinks.

A mural by Dean Barger Studios provides an emotive backdrop for the one-of-a-kind glassware Alesch and Standefer sourced for the bar from artisan makers Yoshihiro Nishiyama, Keiko Lee, Yuki Osako, Hyunsung Cho, Naoya Arakawa, Kimiko Yasuda, and J&L Lobmeyr. Each expressive piece carries its own allure. Cho’s gilded and verdant stemmed goblets might evoke the artistry of the Murano glass tradition, though the maker maintains their inspiration is rooted in nature and the budding of greenery in the spring. Yasuda’s kaleidoscopic, crystal-cut rocks glasses feel stepped in Art Deco glamour, but the kiriko cut-glass techniques she uses to create them are a fixture of Japanese craftsmanship. Like all of La Mercerie’s tableware, each piece of Guild Bar glassware is available for purchase through Roman and Williams Guild.

Last week, a coterie of New York’s creative community gathered at Partridge—the winter pop-up restaurant at The Standard, East Village—to celebrate Dry January with Kin Euphorics. Throughout the evening, guests enjoyed hors d’oeuvres and sipped sparkling mocktails, especially the Madame Ruby mixed with rosé alternative Kin Bloom, as beats by DJ Lumia Nocito kept the energy high.

When was it? Jan. 11

Where was it? The Standard, East Village

Who was there? Chloe Wise, Hillary Teymour, Jen Batchelor, Jo Rosenthal, Tyler Mitchell, Marcelo Gaia, Maryah Ananda, Tynan Sinks, and Garrett Bruce.

When: Until Feb. 4

Where: Noguchi Museum, Queens

What: The pioneering experimental filmmaker Marie Menken’s first solo film was shot in Isamu Noguchi’s Greenwich Village studio. A frenetic black-and-white work shot on a handheld 16mm Bolex in which she moved quickly between and around his sculptures, the four-minute-long film produced a riotous portrait of Noguchi’s work in motion, especially when paired with composer Lucia Dlugoszewski’s haunting score of discordant sounds. The sculptor’s namesake museum is now screening the video in its original format with a series of his related works, allowing us to view Noguchi through someone else’s eyes while exploring their affinities.

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d line is a heritage Danish design brand that handcrafts enduring architectural hardware, sanitaryware, and barrier-free solutions. Its portfolio features blue-chip Danish designers like Knud Holscher, Arne Jacobsen, and Bjarke Ingels, and is present in many celebrated buildings, from New York’s Museum of Modern Art to Copenhagen’s SAS Royal Hotel.

Surface Says: d line is an aptly named hardware company that connects Danish heritage to contemporary design. Its products embrace the timeless minimalism of the mid-20th century, adding an understated sophistication to architecture.

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