This modernist velour furnishing fabric designed in 1934 was produced in an area of northern France where weaving centers like Lille, Roubaix, and Tourcoing manufactured fabrics for use on airplanes, trains, and boats. During this era, escalating industrialization facilitated mass transportation, which led to an increased emphasis on travel. This cultural shift not only introduced...

This flatware designed by Zaha Hadid gives new life to the term “mindful eating.” While the pieces of this place setting are immediately recognizable as forks, spoons, and a knife, each stainless-steel utensil looks as if it is reflected in a fun house mirror. The pieces are very individualized, but as a five-piece group they...

Baroque is delicately formatted and creates a sense of mystery or intrigue in the way it appears to fade in and out, almost as if receding into a shadow. This pattern is from Frank Tjepkema’s first wallcovering collection for Wolf-Gordon called Tjep. Cubism. Based on the cube format Baroque contains stylized foliage that intermingles with...

Collections of miscellaneous objects in pale blue and gray are grouped in floating clusters on a ballet-pink background. In the lower right-hand corner of the panel, a paper fan floats towards a pile of shapes that I choose to interpret as a pitcher, an upside-down lampshade, a vase of flowers, some lemons, a book with...