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Arts & Culture / Design

Rotorelief no. 1. This 1935 lithograph, printed on a 7 7⁄8-inch cardboard disc, could spin on a record player to create a hypnotic illusion of three dimensions. 

MoMA Plans a Retrospective for Marcel Duchamp, the Dada Artist Who Was Unimpressed With His Own Masterpieces

The French-American avant garde artist said painting and sculpture exhibitions made him sick. But the collection of 200 of his works may tell the story of art in the 20th century

Original hand-carved hubs for the Purple Heart and Silver Star rest in the jeweler’s toolbox of legendary Providence-based hub carver Elio “Duke” Lossini.

This Massive Collection of More Than a Million Tools Tells the Striking History of Jewelry Making in America

Before computers and A.I., beautiful trinkets were formed with a combination of hubs, dies, finesse and force. Kevin Potter has perhaps the world’s largest assemblage of them

A young living root bridge, barely a decade old, is seen from the deck of a much older root bridge on the same riverbed. Five months after I shot this photograph, monsoon rains triggered a landslide that sent boulders crashing into the younger bridge. It absorbed the impact and shielded the older bridge downstream.

In One of the Wettest Places on the Planet, Indigenous People Build Bridges and Ladders Out of Living Tree Roots

For hundreds of years, Khasi and Jaintia people in Meghalaya, India, have woven the roots of Indian rubber trees into structures that help them navigate flooded areas

Wu’s innovation won the top prize of $25,000 at the 2025 Thermo Fisher Scientific Junior Innovators Challenge.

This 14-Year-Old Is Using Origami to Imagine Emergency Shelters That Are Sturdy, Cost-Efficient and Easy to Deploy

Miles Wu folded a variant of the Miura-ori pattern that can hold 10,000 times its own weight

Curtis Kauffman with a 1950s Vendo 39 Coke machine—which he has not yet refurbished—at the Route 11 Antique Mall in Hagerstown, Maryland.

When This Restoration Expert Gets His Hands on a Relic, the Result Can Send You Back in Time

At a Maryland antiques mall, Curtis Kauffman takes trinkets from the past and makes them better than ever. For his customers, that’s worth a lot

A company called Roofscapes has installed an experimental green roof over a zinc one at the Academy of Climate in Paris. A wooden platform, dotted with planters, runs along the building’s side, creating a terrace.

The Skyline of Paris Is Filled With Zinc Rooftops. But Can They Survive Climate Change?

Innovations are overdue, as the signature blue-gray metal roofs heat up in high temperatures, making living conditions in the apartments beneath them unbearable

Clachtoll Broch, a Scottish dwelling with dry stone walls, was built at least 2,000 years ago. Its thatched roof was destroyed in a fire.

Why the Ancient Craft of Dry Stone Walling Still Holds So Much Appeal in the 21st Century

Artisans around the world are ditching the mortar and embracing an old method of building rock walls

 Cards from the Sola Busca, the earliest extant example of a complete 78-card tarot deck, made in Italy in the late 1400s.

The Colorful History of Tarot Is as Mesmerizing as the Decks Themselves

The original meaning behind the cards, first created 500 years ago, still remains elusive. But that didn’t stop our reporter from traveling to Milan in an effort to find out

The proudly jutting—and sometimes-imperiled—terraces above the cataract that gave the world-famous house its name.

How Fallingwater Gave Frank Lloyd Wright a Second Wind

The architectural wonder re-established the designer as a titan of his generation and shifted the public’s view of Modernism from a foreign movement to a part of the American character

A selection of ballots from the 1860s shows a variety of the persuasive flourishes then in vogue.

Back in the 19th Century, Your Election Ballot Could Double as a Work of Art

During and after the Civil War, inventive illustrations allowed Democrats and Republicans to turn American ballots into powerful propaganda

To celebrate the guitar’s 70th birthday, Fender has released a Limited Edition 1954 Hardtail Deluxe Closet Classic, complete with gold hardware, for more opulent collectors. 

The Stratocaster Became Rock Music’s Most Iconic Guitar 70 Years Ago

The plucky design behind the legendary instrument that forever changed the look of rock ‘n’ roll

From inside of the Hirshhorn, the museum's circular design creates an oculus effect.

How the Hirshhorn Museum Went From Iconoclast to Icon

Celebrating 50 years of the modernist masterpiece that shocked critics—and helped turn Washington into an arts capital

Artist Tyrus Wong, with kites of his own design, at California's Santa Monica Beach

How Tyrus Wong Spent 106 Years Making the World More Beautiful

The Chinese American artist left a breathtaking legacy that ranged from fine art to Disney movies to Christmas cards

Some credit menswear company Nat Nast with creating the classic bowling shirt, distinguished by its boxy shape, bright colors and short sleeves. 

How a Questionably Fashionable Shirt Bowled America Over

The gaudy top went from practical necessity to vintage treasure

In the weave room, a worker uses a classic Crompton & Knowles loom to make suitable fabric for some 18th-century furniture.

When Hollywood Needs a Historically Accurate Outfit That Looks Just Right, It Turns to Rabbit Goody

How do filmmakers get period clothing to look the part? Inside the textile workshop where the past comes to life

Pioneering designer Clara Driscoll conceived this indelible lamp around the turn of the 20th century—with help from her fellow "Tiffany girls."

These Women Were the Real Geniuses Behind the Iconic Tiffany Lamps

A chic light fixture reveals how female designers remade the Tiffany brand—and went largely uncredited for nearly a century

An original Michtom teddy bear once held by two of Teddy Roosevelt’s great-grandchildren, Mark and Anne.

The Teddy Bear Was Once Seen as a Dangerous Influence on Young Children

Inspired by a moment of empathy from President Theodore Roosevelt, the huggable toy had a rocky start before it became the stuff of legend

The Dallas County Administration Building, formerly the Texas School Book Depository, as photographed in 2015

The Architectural History of the JFK Assassination Site

How November 22, 1963, changed Dallas’ Dealey Plaza forever

In an exhibition on ancient Egyptian-inspired fashion at the Cleveland Museum of Art, a relief depicts the wife of Amenhotep wearing a kalasiris, or long linen dress, juxtaposed with a white jersey gown designed by Karl Lagerfeld in 2019.

Was Ancient Egypt’s Most Lasting Influence in the Field of Fashion?

An exhibition in Cleveland showcases millennia-old designs and the more modern creations they inspired

A tattooed devotee prays at the annual tattoo festival at Wat Bang Phra in Nakhon Pathom, Thailand.

The Worldwide History of Tattoos

Ancient ink exhibited religious faith, relieved pain, protected wearers and indicated class

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