ELLE DECOR December 2019

THE HOLIDAY SEASON IS FINALLY UPON US. IT’S MY favorite time of year, whether I am window-shopping on 57th Street in New York, spending Thanksgiving at Claridge’s in London, or hitting the slopes on my annual ski trip to Switzerland. Does the fact that my November 16 birthday falls right in the middle of the season have something to do with it? (Yes, I’m a Scorpio, and FYI, I accept cash and Michael George roses.) Maybe. Regardless, this is the time of year when I assemble my wish list. This year, I’m thinking big. Would I love to ascend to a higher state of being? Sure. Achieve world peace? Sign me up. But as the editor of ELLE DECOR, I have a very specific wish this year on behalf of…

SPARE A THOUGHT FOR THE DEARLY DEPARTED white-cube art gallery. While the concept may be embedded in the collective imagination, the art world has been over it since at least 1993, when Jay Jopling named his London gallery White Cube—the kind of deeply ironic gesture at which the British excelled in the ’90s. (One of Jopling’s artists, Damien Hirst, opened a Notting Hill restaurant that same decade called Pharmacy.) This fall, however, saw one of contemporary art’s oldest, most revered dealers embracing a trend in gallery design, as Pace (pacegallery.com) opened a shiny new headquarters in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, realized by Bonetti/Kozerski Architecture: a $100 million, 75,000-square-foot, eight-story space more akin to a museum, complete with a research library and a 17-foot-high performance gallery. “Our new building has allowed us…

Tell me about your latest project, a new home for the Rubell Museum, which opens December 4 in Miami. AS: The Rubells are admirable, wonderful, committed collectors, so I was pleased when they asked me to assist in moving their collection from Wynwood to a larger site in Allapattah. I designed a single-story, very large, fabulous museum with a garden and café space. I think it will quietly outdo everyone else. What is your favorite piece from their 7,200-plus works? AS: They really have a deep inventory. It would probably be one of the sculptures by Cady Noland that I love most. How does this project differ from other art spaces you have designed? AS: I never think about how things are different, but whether they are successful. At Luma Arles, in France, the exhibition…

Lafayette Anticipations PARIS Rem Koolhaas renovated this 19th-century building to include movable platform floors, making the presentation of any project possible. lafayetteanticipations.com CasaCicca Museum MILAN This 300-square-foot cabinet of curiosities is also founder Giulia Currà’s home. His collection of over 1,000 objects comes mainly from guests who book a stay on Airbnb and are encouraged to leave something behind. instagram.com/casacicca Philbrook Museum TULSA, OKLAHOMA On the outskirts of Philbrook’s manicured grounds, artist Karl Unnasch has retrofitted a 19th-century log cabin with colorful recycled-glass windows and a roof made from resin-dipped T-shirts. The installation also serves as a venue for the museum’s innovative programming. philbrook.org Pivô SÃO PAULO Based in an Oscar Niemeyer building, this nonprofit carries out an ambitious program of site-specific exhibitions and residencies with local and international artists. pivo.org.br Alden Projects NEW YORK CITY Todd Alden’s curiosity and research make this Lower…

SQUAT December through February 2020; Los Angeles Milan-based design gallery Nilufar’s traveling exhibition “SQUAT” pops up in Los Angeles, where owner Nina Yashar will present more than 150 works by such designers as Finn Juhl, Carlo Scarpa, and Michael Anastassiades in a former industrial space. nilufar.com A Boy from Texas December 3–9; Miami Beach At Design Miami, gallerist Cristina Grajales is showing sculpture and design by acclaimed theater artist Robert Wilson. The installation of cast-glass truncated pyramids and handblown deer—produced by the Corning Museum—pays homage to the work of George Paul Thek. cristinagrajalesinc.com Emotional Puzzle Opens December 3; Miami Just before Art Basel Miami Beach, Ralph Pucci unveils a mural by fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac on the facade of his Wynwood showroom. The piece depicts archetypal prints de Castelbajac has used in his designs. ralphpucci.net A Arte de…

ON A DRIZZLY LONDON evening earlier this year, more than 200 people gathered at Shoreditch Town Hall to celebrate Magnitude, a new high-jewelry collection by Cartier. A grand Victorian building that has been, variously, a cultural center for East End locals, a late-19th-century music hall, and a mid-20th-century boxing venue, Shoreditch is now an events space. On this night, the hall’s Ionic-colonnaded entrance was flanked by a cavalry of young men in red bellboy-style ensembles. Guests including the actresses Claire Foy, Lily Collins, and Letitia Wright and European socialites Iris Law and Bianca Brandolini meandered during cocktail hour before ascending to the building’s upper floor. There they sat at long tables, enjoyed a four-course meal, and were serenaded by Beth Ditto during a private concert. When the party ended, the…