In 1903, textile industrialist Josep Batlló had big plans for the unassuming house he purchased on Barcelona’s fashionable Passeig de Gràcia. Seeking to distinguish the property from others owned by his family, he tapped Antoni Gaudí to dream up a “risky” plan for its facade after being wowed by the Catalan modernist’s arresting mosaics throughout Park Güell. Gaudí understood the assignment, adorning Casa Batlló’s swooping exterior in shards of lustrous blue-and-green stained glass that shimmers like a lake’s glassy surface—a mesmerizing effect likened to Claude Monet’s Water Lilies. Widely considered one of Gaudí’s masterpieces alongside the Sagrada Familia, the Casa is one of Barcelona’s most-visited attractions, an otherworldly feat of artistic ingenuity even in a city teeming with stunning architecture.

This past weekend, 100,000 visitors gathered outside Casa Batlló for a different reason. The UNESCO World Heritage Site had been transformed top-to-bottom by “Structures of Being,” a kinetic phantasmagoria of light, color, and motion that danced across its 105-foot-tall facade. The spectacle is the brainchild of Sofia Crespo, the Lisbon-based artist best known for using technology to explore biological structures. At Casa Batlló, she created AI-powered projection maps of luminous florals, coral reefs, and butterflies animated by the behavior of marine currents that rippled to music by British composer Robert M. Thomas. The event was the unofficial celebration to kick off Integrated Systems Europe, the world’s largest trade fair for audiovisual systems, which started this week in Barcelona.

Crespo is the second participant in Casa Batlló’s Heritage of Tomorrow program, which invites artists to create work that engages with Gaudí’s masterpiece. (The first participant was digital wizard Refik Anadol.) The end result, which took three months of rigorous planning to see through, has fun with the curves and swoops of Gaudí’s surreal architecture—and even propels its legacy into the future. “The great challenge has been to convey Gaudí’s inspirations on a facade that has a lot of personality and intricate details,” Crespo says. “I wanted to capture how he worked and thought, including materials, symbology, and his more spiritual dimension.”

As the weekend wrapped up, Crespo sat down with Surface to talk about Gaudí the naturalist, game engine technologies, and how he might have responded to AI.

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Bottega Veneta’s footprint in Milan is growing. Situated in the prestigious Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is the Italian label’s third flagship in the city, and the first designed by creative director Matthieu Blazy. Its interior merges elements of Italian modernism with a futuristic ambiance that nods to spaceships while evoking the intimacy of getting dressed. Industrial square glass blocks are integrated into the walls and ceiling, framed by walnut wood fixtures paying homage to the label’s intrecciato woven leather technique. Brass hooks and handles throughout echo Blazy’s popular Drop earrings; a dramatic coiling staircase and one-of-a-kind glass entrance handle designed by Ritsue Mishima sets the store apart. Inside, find an array of Bottega Veneta’s leather goods, shoes, and men’s and women’s ready-to-wear.

The verdant hills of Grasse have long charmed fragrance houses into taking up residence in the South of France. The Riviera town’s agreeable climate lends itself well to cultivating the gardens that inform the noses behind today’s top perfumes. For Lancôme, stimulating the senses doesn’t stop at the door: the beauty brand enlisted Nem Architectes to create Domaine de la Rose, an aptly named visitor center, events space, perfume distillery, and warehouse. The property, which is pink inside and out, offers sweeping views of the estate’s fragrant greenery. Other buildings on the land were removed to clear sight lines, the most stunning of which is a glass-enclosed passageway that cuts through the center of the villa to reveal the lush vegetation beyond.

The London painter’s gestural canvases hold unspoken secrets for those willing to look beyond the surface; a kiss, an embrace, and even the immortalized location of his subjects leave an element of the unexpected to discover.

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

Bio: Henry Curchod, 31, London.

Title of work: Duck Confit (2023).

Where to see it: “Oh Fortuna!” at Clearing (260 Bowery, New York) until March 9.

Three words to describe it: Buttery, verdant, lofty.

What was on your mind at the time: I was thinking about how many different types of kisses there are, specifically in regards to unromantic kissing. In this case, a tender kiss on the forehead by an older work associate can become more complicated through the content of the window frame behind them. I found that a thrilling opportunity and I may try it again.

Last week, a lively group of artists, designers, and other notables gathered at Bergdorf Goodman’s Fifth Avenue flagship to celebrate the opening of this year’s Chairish Art Gallery. Created by the likes of Kate Schelter and Shaun Ellison exclusively for Bergdorf’s, the artworks range from painting and ceramics to illustration and textiles. Throughout the evening, guests enjoyed champagne while exploring the department store’s transformed seventh floor featuring more than 300 artworks across five themed rooms.

When was it? Jan. 24

Where was it? Bergdorf Goodman, New York

Who was there? Christian Siriano, Andrew Kwon, Celerie Kemble, Sheila Bridges, Michael Boodro, Katie Sturino.

Ouive designs and curates high-quality, handmade Moroccan rugs and home goods. They offer both customizable made-to-order rugs as well as a carefully curated selection of ready-to-ship rugs and home decor. Each rug is hand-knotted from high-quality local wool and produced with Amazigh weavers.

Surface Says: Offering a piece of Morocco’s celebrated rug weaving tradition and support to the Amazigh weavers who keep the tradition alive, Ouive appeals to the design-conscious who care about craftsmanship and provenance.

Minute-long soap operas, popular in China, are heading to the United States.

TikTok experiments with a new feature that could make all videos shoppable.

Carl Jung’s archetypes take shape in these cornstarch sculptures by Jo Fairfax.

An explorer thinks he discovered Amelia Earhart’s long-lost airplane using sonar.