Aunia Kahn’s Lush Portraits Depict a Playful Inner Landscape

“For me, it always starts with joy,” explains Aunia Kahn. The Detroit-based artist uses a handful of materials—gouache, pastels, pencils, and gold ink—to create rich, velvety portraits that evoke folk art patterns, surrealist themes, and celestial iconography.

Reclaiming the importance of play in the creative process has been a powerful catalyst for Kahn, who had previously experienced a loss of joy in making amid life-threatening health challenges. “That playfulness led me straight back to my roots, to growing up in Michigan and spending time in Canada, to the German and Polish folk art that filled my grandparents’ home,” she says. “I...

She Runs the World

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More White House ballroom renderings revealed as CFA approves designs

Members of the advisory council Commission of Fine Arts unanimously voted to approve designs for the White House ballroom expansion, releasing new renderings of the controversial project.

Digitised drawings and rendering by White House ballroom designer Shalom Baranes Architects were presented and approved in a Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) meeting on 19 February. The documents detail the 90,000-square-foot (8,360 square metre) project that is set to replace the now-demolished East Wing.

According to reporting by the Washington Post, the committee voted unanimously to approve the designs proposed by Shalom...

Fabrication Studio designs Toronto ADU to change with the seasons

Local outfit Fabrication Studio has completed an accessory dwelling unit in a private garden in Toronto, clad in copper so that the building can "register time alongside the trees".

The 60-square-metre (645-square-foot) ADU, known as Copper House, was completed in 2025 on the edge of the quiet Sunnybrook Park neighbourhood in Toronto.

The client enlisted architect François Abbott and his practice Fabrication Studio, which specialises in ADUs and garden units, to create a place where their grown children could visit, while maintaining privacy and independence.

The self-contained guest house, designed to blend in...

Dezeen Agenda features Trolley Bag designed for Lidl by Nik Bentel

The latest edition of our weekly Dezeen Agenda newsletter features a gridded Trolley Bag designed for Lidl. Subscribe to Dezeen Agenda now.

Designer Nik Bentel used industrial stainless steel to create the Trolley Bag for supermarket Lidl, featuring a gridded rectangular shape and a handle in the brand's yellow-and-blue colours.

This week's newsletter also included a Saudi metro station topped with a mirrored bowl-shaped canopy by Snøhetta, detailed drawings of the White House East Wing expansion and an exclusive interview with RIBA president Chris Williamson.

Dezeen Agenda

Dezeen Agenda is a curated newsletter sent every Thursday containing...

A Newly Updated Monograph Surveys Four Decades of Ai Weiwei’s Career

From his monumental, meditative installation of 100 million hand-painted porcelain sunflower seeds on the floor of Turbine Hall at Tate Modern to architectural columns wrapped in 14,000 salvaged life vests worn by refugees, artist-activist Ai Weiwei has long tapped into the power of scale, repetition, and symbols to plumb cultural heritage and expose societal issues.

Ai is known for his wide-ranging practice that encompasses large-scale installations, video, architecture, photography, public art, and more. This spring, TASCHEN releases a fully revised monograph titled Ai Weiwei. Updated Edition, building upon the initial volume published a decade ago.

Carlos Ott and Cube 3 design "vertical resort" supertall skyscraper for Miami

Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott and US studio Cube 3 have designed the Delano Residences in Miami, which is set to join a growing number of supertall skyscrapers in the city.

The Delano Residences Miami skyscraper will be located in Downtown Miami, not far from the city's first supertall skyscraper, the stacked-box Waldorf Astoria Miami, which is currently under construction and was also designed by Carlos Ott.

It will reach 90 storeys and 985 feet at its highest point (300 metres), according to the team, while the stacked cubes of the Waldorf...

new artworks

A West German Folding Military Case from 1965

Designed by German manufacturer Zarges around 1965, this aluminum case might not look like much. But it's got a special trick.

The case was designed for the Bundeswehr (the West German army) to transport field rations, earning it the nickname "The Bread Box." After the rations were consumed, the case could be broken down—quickly, and tool-free—to just 1/6th of its assembled height.

Here's the assembly/disassembly process:

While Zarges still exists today and still makes aluminum cases, sadly they no longer produce this collapsible model.

Alternative UI Design: The RollerMouse Red

https://invidious.privacyredirect.com/watch?v=x85fBltrmys

This RollerMouse Red is by Contour Design, a manufacturer of ergonomic computer hardware. It's presented as an alternative to the computer mouse: Rather than being off to one side, it's placed in the center, between you and your keyboard. The idea is that you use it with both left and right hands, with your wrists supported on a pad, and that this arrangement reduces strain.

To move the cursor up and down, you roll the studded bar. To achieve left and right motion, the bar slides from side to side.

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Posted at 2026-02-19 15:00:00 | Art_and_design | read on