New Orleans-Inspired: KREWE du Optic Eyewear

We chat with founder Stirling Barrett about how his hometown pride fuels his entire endeavor

Part entrepreneurial endeavor, part love letter to his hometown, Stirling Barrett’s KREWE du Optic was founded three years ago in New Orleans, after Barrett’s time away from home for art school refueled his love of the city’s uniqueness. He tells CH, “I saw an opportunity to reshape the way people viewed New Orleans’ creative culture and what could be done from a city that isn’t …

Studio Dror’s Montreal Dome Concept

Ahead of the 50th anniversary of Montreal’s Expo 67, New York-based design studio Dror has proposed adding a new structure to complement the city’s now-iconic Biosphere. The project, simply called the Montreal Dome, would mimic Buckminster Fuller’s original Biosphere in both shape and size while adding a mesh-like layer atop the dome, allowing vegetation to grow and shield it from the outside. The concept cultural …

A French Restaurant Covered In Japanese Tattoo Art

A new restaurant in Aix-en-Provence, France called Koï is transforming the criminal notions of Yakuza tattoos through beautiful design. Major portions of the restaurant are decorated wall-to-wall with the intricate, black-and-white tattoos that are typically affiliated with underground Japanese gang. Architect Vincent Coste tapped surface pattern designer Claire Leina to draw up the bold illustrations, which are featured prominently throughout the entryway and bathrooms, with …