What’s Happening: The global firm finishes up its three-year transformation of the Blanton Museum of Art’s grounds, centered on a swooping canopy of towering petals and Carmen Herrera’s only major public commission.

The Download: Simone Wicha, director of the Blanton Museum of Art, once joked that “people have a hard time finding our front door.” Occupying two inward-facing buildings at the edge of the University of Texas at Austin (UT) didn’t help—nor did its architecture, which blends in with UT’s Spanish Revival style. The Blanton needed a grand entrance to distinguish itself while reinforcing its outsize presence as one of the country’s foremost university art museums. For that, Wicha turned to the Norwegian-American firm Snøhetta, whose founder, Craig Dykers, studied architecture at UT as an undergraduate, and who shepherded the firm through visionary projects like the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and the new SFMOMA.

The museum is now much harder to miss. Snøhetta’s intervention elevates the Moody Patio—a 20,000-square-foot courtyard situated between the museum’s two buildings that frames postcard-perfect views of the Capitol—into an exuberant gateway. There, the firm built an elegant shade canopy of 15 perforated, petal-shaped structures whose swooping shapes dance in dialogue with the arched vaults of the buildings’ loggias. They generate dappled light and capture and distribute rainwater to an underground filtration system that irrigates the plaza’s walkways and gardens, which abound with 25,000 native plants like the dwarf palmetto and Texas gold columbine.

The redesign beautifully connects the Blanton’s campus and draws more attention to the wonders awaiting both inside and out. Adorning an interior wall behind one of the building’s loggias is a sprawling new geometric mural by the Cuban-American painter Carmen Herrera, the only major public commission she completed before her death, in 2022, at 106 years old. There’s also Ellsworth Kelly’s majestic Austin, a stucco chapel punctuated with orderly chromatic glass windows that translated the late artist’s vivid abstractions into the third dimension. They both harmonize with the newly refreshed landscape, which also features an immersive sound garden gallery that plays Bill Fontana’s recordings of Texas wildlife.

In Their Own Words: “The Blanton holds a prominent place at the intersection of the new Texas Capitol Complex, and it also serves as the gateway to the university campus,” Dykers said in a statement. “[Our] design expands the museum’s world-class art collection beyond the museum’s galleries and creates a highly visible public place of–and for–the arts in Austin.”

Surface Says: Don’t miss Gabriel Dawe’s rainbow gradient thread installation in the lobby, which beautifully complements Kelly’s chapel.

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New York has always felt like a home away from home for Fabian Berglund and Liza Laserow, the husband-and-wife co-founders of Nordic Knots, who first met at a Manhattan bar. The couple soon abandoned their day jobs and decamped to Sweden, where they launched the Scandi textile brand to address the market’s lack of quality rugs that aren’t outrageously expensive. Their hunch proved fruitful—in the years since, Nordic Knots has grown steadily and resonated with stateside tastemakers thanks to collaborations with Garance Vallée, Campell-Rey, and Giancarlo Valle, who converted a historic Stockholm cinema into their flagship showroom. Their second home beckoned as the brand’s profile rose, though, and they relinked with Valle to transform a SoHo storefront into their first U.S. outpost.

Berglund and Laserow intend for the store, which opened in mid-June, to forge a sense of home for themselves and the brand’s growing U.S. customer base. That’s achieved through personal touches—a Sissòn painting, an antique Axel Einar Hjorth worktable, vintage lighting by Palle Suenson—as well as sweeping gestures like floor-to-ceiling windows outfitted with sheer curtains, casting a heavenly glow. Drawing inspiration from archive rooms, oversize steel cabinets contain an array of rug samples, sparking the nostalgia of discovering books in a library. The atmosphere is warm, welcoming, and reflects what the founders describe as a “big city vibe”—qualities they’re sure to nail again when they expand to Los Angeles next year.

The Italian lighting purveyor is known for its ability to expertly thread the needle of classicism and innovation, and Clara, its collection of outdoor lanterns, is no exception. Designed by Chiara Caberlon and Marco Forbicioni, the rechargeable luminaire comes in three sizes with finishes available in matte white lacquer or painted bronze. A resin diffuser, rendered to emulate Vienna straw rattan, adds organic panache to the silhouette and evokes Bauhaus-era codes. A top-carry handle and lightweight form factor lend portability, speaking to the designers’ brief of “bringing light with you, wherever you go.”

When: Until Oct. 30

Where: The Museum of Latin American Art in Buenos Aires

What: Together with the Craig Robins Collection, the Argentinian museum is staging its first survey of the late conceptual art trailblazer. It encapsulates more than 50 years of his practice, beginning with paintings that he later cremated and his legacy of joining the medium of photography with language.

After designing for Antwerp-based jewelry label Kim Mee Hye for seven years, Kimy Gringoire took a hiatus and worked as a design consultant before launching her eponymous jewelry brand in 2021. Each piece embodies Gringoire’s unparalleled attention to how it moves with the wearer, while subtle punk references combine narrative design with understated elegance.

Surface Says: Kimy Gringoire combines poetry, gemstones, precious metals, and philosophy to inimitable effect, creating fine jewelry that speaks to a life of travel and romanticism.

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