With over eighty well-chosen pieces, Art Jameel presents a retrospective of Gulf art movements from the 1930s to the 2000s in Jeddah.

This year’s NYCxDesign Festival in New York City which ran from May 15–20, recognized design innovations in architecture, interior design and more. One of the most remarkable additions was Casa Valle, set up this year by architect Giancarlo Valle and former Architectural Digest style director Jane Keltner.

They brought to the event 50 artistic replicas of the famous 1906 Batlló chair designed by Antoni Gaudí. The chairs, designed and made in Barcelona using original methods, received an ebony stain upon their arrival in the U.S. For the first time, American audiences were able to see the inside design legacy of Antoni Gaudí.

Originating in Casa Batlló, Gaudí’s famous building in Barcelona, the chair is a prime example of how architecture can become furniture, since its joints are hidden and its forms suggest nature. Valle and Keltner think it is important to talk about this unnoticed part of Gaudí’s art in relation to architecture and interior design.

The organization he works for recognizes his music, Valle observed, because it is “elegant” and “well-made.” Opening Casa Valle means that artisanal European design connects with the present-day world of American interiors, proving that more ‘living’ rooms can be found inside the objects that fill rooms.