What’s Happening: The architectural style’s core tenets inform just about every aspect of Brutø, from a single-page website and a pared-down dining room to “impact receipts” that outline the sustainability practices of each meal.

The Download: Stark slabs of béton brut might not seem particularly appetizing, but Id Est’s Kelly and Erika Whitaker would disagree. The James Beard Award–winning restaurateurs behind Denver’s celebrated Brutø distilled the architectural movement’s core tenets into an 18-seat chef’s counter that champions minimalism at every turn, from a snug dining room focused on a concrete oven from Naples to a low-waste culinary approach that earned a coveted Michelin Green Star. As Brutø was nearing its five-year milestone, though, the Whitakers were itching for a rebrand. With the help of creative studio Wunder Werkz, they leaned even deeper into the brutalist theme.

“They were going through an evolution of staff and program after winning their Michelin stars and asked us to think outside the box and really consider the intersection of brutalism in cooking, design, and architecture,” says Wunder Werkz partner John Hartman. The firm created an entire suite of graphics and experiences conveying the spirit of brutalism, warts and all, that now informs the entire restaurant from the website and menu to interior finishes. Replicating the dining room’s snug footprint, the website utilizes a single page that displays everything from their manifesto to information about key staff members, like newly hired executive chef Byron Gomez of Top Chef fame.

Gomez’s prix-fixe tasting menu couldn’t be more on theme—the fully black Colorado lamb with squid-anise caramel and confit eggplant resembles a delicate lump of coal. Yet it glimmers thanks to the dining room being encircled mostly by tinted glass walls that lend an ambiance of seclusion. The entire Brutø experience could be considered a keepsake, but diners are encouraged to take menus home and reflect on the meal—they’re printed on pulpy gray recycled paper and adorned with a simplistic grid that communicates the chef’s thinking behind each dish. The cherry on top? An “impact receipt” that totals not only the meal’s cost, but the restaurant’s sustainability practices: water savings, waste reduction, and how it all factored into each individual meal.

In Their Own Words: “We really tried to bring materiality to the forefront and do more with less, introducing design that was thoughtful, utilitarian, material-driven, and stylish without seeming overly embellished or frivolous,” Hartman tells Surface. “Everything, from the menu to the receipts, was created with honesty and function in mind.”

Surface Says: We thought Carsten Höller nailed this concept with Stockholm’s Brutalisten back in 2022, but perhaps that was just the appetizer.

Have a news story our readers need to see? Write to our editors.

Whether it’s artist dinner parties in Tribeca, sold-out soirées at Spring Studios, or a five-day beachfront bungalow party in South Beach, no one unites art and design enthusiasts quite like Surface. This year, we’ll be back at Miami Art Week where we’ll host a series of exclusive events and high-octane integrations—reach out to learn more about how your brand can be considered for partnership opportunities.

Time-tested châteaus, cloistered getaways, and Michelin-grade culinary programs are just a few of the draws on this glamorous Mediterranean stretch.

Cheval Blanc St-Tropez: A South of France standard-bearer from LVMH, there’s a reason that crowds keep coming back to Cheval Blanc: it embodies unabashed yet elegant luxury. The marquee restaurant, chef Arnaud Donckele’s La Vague d’Or, holds three Michelin stars. The house art collection features works by celebrated ceramicist Roger Capron, on view since 1936. And its idyllic perch above the Bay of Saint-Tropez gives almost every room a view of the super yachts plying glistening bay.

Muse Hotel Saint-Tropez: Tucked into a lushly landscaped compound in the gulf of Saint-Tropez, Muse feels like the sort of place the hotly sought-after might seek for total discretion. The 15 earth-toned suites are stocked with Hermès amenities and outfitted in custom furnishings by Henryot; the pool is sequestered in a gorgeous three-acre Mediterranean garden designed by decorated landscape artist Sophie Agata Ambroise (who also conceived the Bulgari Hotel garden in Milan).

Mociun, which is aptly named for its founder Caitlin Mociun, has become a Williamsburg destination for those with an affinity for the finer things. Now, her line of heirloom-caliber fine jewelry and Mociun’s edit of artisan homewares is bolstered by the launch of CRZM: a bold collection of 22-carat gold and silver hand-sculpted jewelry rooted in chain motifs that take inspiration from the undulating Sierra Nevada mountain range. While the designer’s upbringing in one of California’s former gold rush towns offered inspiration in spades, so too did ‘70s-era eclecticism and design’s trend towards chunkiness in the ‘90s.

The Intuit Dome, the new home of the Los Angeles Clippers, officially opens next month with a Bruno Mars concert—and the unveiling of $11 million worth of ambitious site-specific works by seven artists with Angeleno ties. That’s because the city of Inglewood, where the $2 billion project is located near SoFi Stadium, stipulates that commercial construction projects allocate at least one percent of total project costs to public art. At the dome, it takes the form of sculptures, murals, and digital art installations by the likes of Refik Anadol, Jennifer Steinkamp, Charles Gaines, and Glenn Kaino, who were all selected by Ruth Berson, a former deputy director of curatorial affairs at SFMOMA.

An on-the-nose standout comes from Kaino, whose sculpture evokes a clipper ship, its sails made of hoops and backboards inspired by photographs of people playing the sport however they could. A digital artwork by Steinkamp illuminates the AECOM-designed stadium’s net-like facade with animations of wind and gravity. Backdropping the community basketball court outside is a digital media piece by Anadol, who programmed live weather data, player tracking data, and images from California national parks into a series of swirling abstractions. Kyungmi Shin overlaid a glass mosaic of Centinela Springs with steel tracery outlining silhouettes of players like the late Jerry West, whose profile inspired the NBA logo.

Reach the design world every morning. Find out more about advertising in the Design Dispatch.

After years as a consultant in the renewables sector, as well as fabricating objects for museums, artists, and interior designers, Josh Neretin founded Buoyant to introduce his own brand of engaging objects to the design community. His award-winning limited-edition collection is hand-crafted using traditional materials and is influenced by the sculptural arts, spirituality, and natural form.

Surface Says: By combining unexpected materials and shapes informed by Neretin’s deep well of experience in art and interiors, Buoyant stands out in a crowded landscape.

Memes are the life force of Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.

A billionaire hedge funder spent $46 million on a stegosaurus last week.

Abercrombie’s vanilla era is ludicrously profitable—to the tune of $2.2 billion.

“In theory…possible”: Meteorologists fact-checked the premise of Twisters.