Five Ways Pope Francis, Religious Leader Who Pushed to Modernize the Catholic Church, Was a Man of Firsts The pontiff, who died on Easter Monday at age 88, strived to make the church more inclusive. But critics believed his reforms either went too far or not far enough Christopher Parker and Meilan Solly April 21, 2025 7:17 a.m. Pope Francis greets crowds in St. Peter's Square in 2014. Alfredo Borba via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0 When Jorge Mario Bergoglio was 12 years old, he sent a love letter to a girl named Amalia, promising to buy her a house with a red roof and white walls when they eventually got married. Unfortunately for the lovestruck preteen, Amalia’s father refused to let the burgeoning romance continue. As Amalia later recalled, the last words Bergoglio said to her were, “If I don’t marry you, I’m going to become a priest.” Thirty-one years later, in 1969, Bergoglio fulfilled this prophecy by becoming an ordained priest. Even then, he had no idea that he would ascend to the highest echelons of the Catholic Church, assuming leadership of the Holy See after Pope Benedict XVI resigned from office due to health issues in 2013. Over the next 12 years, until his death at age 88 on Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, Bergoglio—now known by the papal name Francis—continually defied expectations, pushing the church to modernize even as he faced resistance from conservatives who believed his reforms went too far and liberals who argued the changes didn’t go far enough. The late pope rejected the traditionalism of his papal predecessors, instead emphasizing humility, charity to the poor, and outreach to marginalized groups and adherents of different faiths. Under his leadership, the papacy looked outward, considering how Catholic theology should be reinterpreted in the 21st century. Francis had survived a bout of pneuomnia earlier this year and was still recovering from the illness. Pope Francis' 10-year legacy Watch on “Francis’ openness to revisiting, and even revising, church teachings—and to the disagreements that prospect calls forth—may be the most consequential development of his pontificate, the one that truly sets him apart from his predecessors,” wrote the New Yorker’s Paul Elie in 2023. Francis’ headline-making actions included approving blessings for same-sex couples while upholding the church’s ban on gay marriage and advocating for women to assume leadership roles within the church while stopping short of allowing them to be ordained as deacons. Francis didn’t “change the letter of some church documents,” papal biographer Marco Politi told NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli in 2023. “But with his gestures or with his words, he pave[d] the way to new attitudes.” As the Catholic Church prepares to elect a new leader, Smithsonian magazine is revisiting five ways that Francis, a pope of firsts, made history during his tenure. First Latin American pope When white smoke drifted out of the Sistine Chapel’s chimney on March 13, 2013, it signaled the election of the first non-European pope since the eighth century, as well as the first-ever Latin American pope. Formerly the archbishop of Buenos Aires, Francis was born in Argentina on December 17, 1936. The son of Italian immigrants, he grew up in Argentina’s capital city and worked as a nightclub bouncer and chemical technician before joining the priesthood. Pope Francis marks World Day of the Poor with a lunch in Vatican City on November 13, 2022. Alessandra Benedetti / Corbis via Getty Images Francis continually sought out what he called “the global peripheries,” becoming the first sitting pope to visit Myanmar, Iraq and Mongolia, among other non-Western countries. The mass that closed out his 2015 visit to the Philippines is thought to be the largest papal event in history, with between six and seven million people in attendance. Francis’ identity as the “New World Pope,” as Time magazine called him upon his election, was especially relevant in light of demographic shifts in the Catholic Church. A Vatican census found that the number of Catholics globally grew to nearly 1.39 billion by the end of 2022, with gains on every continent except Europe and Asia. Once a bastion of the religion, Europe’s Catholic population has continually declined in recent years. First Jesuit pope The Society of Jesus, more commonly known as the Jesuits, is an order of priests with a long, sometimes controversial history within the Catholic Church. In the centuries after its founding in 1540, the Jesuit Order became influential in many royal European courts. But Jesuits were expelled from almost all of those courts during the mid-1700s, and in 1773, Pope Clement XIV officially suppressed the order, issuing a papal brief that called for the society’s disbandment and the confiscation of all Jesuit property. It was only in 1814 that Pope Pius VII restored the order. Francis was the first Jesuit to serve as pope, taking office nearly 500 years after the order’s foundation. His election came as a surprise to fellow Jesuits, as members of the order tend not to seek higher church offices. “Jesuits think of themselves as servants, not authorities in church,” Friar Federico Lombardi told reporters in 2013. Speaking with the Los Angeles Times’ Emily Alpert that same year, Frank T. Kennedy, then-director of the Jesuit Institute at Boston College, said, “It’s only when the Holy Fathers orders us to [accept church offices] that we accept.” Jorge Mario Bergoglio (center), then a regional leader for Argentine Jesuits, celebrates mass with other Jesuits around 1976. API / GAMMA / Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images The Reverend James Martin, a Jesuit author and Vatican consultant, tells Smithsonian that Francis ascended through church offices “almost despite himself,” emphasizing humility from the beginning. In one of his first interviews as pope, Francis responded to the question “Who is Jorge Mario Bergoglio?” by saying, “I am a sinner.” As theologian Timothy Gabrielli wrote for the Conversation in 2023, the Jesuits’ founder, St. Ignatius, left behind spiritual exercises designed to help his followers “recognize oneself as a sinner, but—crucially—a sinner loved by God.” Gabrielli added that Jesuit thinking was apparent in Francis’ approach to papal leadership, which found him “reflecting on the deeper roots of brokenness in the world—and urging people toward fundamental change.” First pope to issue an earth-focused encyclical Media outlets labeled Francis’ predecessor, Benedict XVI, the “Green Pope” in recognition of his environmental activism. Benedict added solar panels to the roof of the papal audience hall and purchased carbon credits to help make Vatican City fully carbon neutral. Francis took that focus worldwide during his papacy, issuing the first encyclical (a formal open letter to all of the world’s Catholic bishops) focused solely on the environment. The 2015 letter, titled “Laudato Si,” or “Praise Be to You,” discussed climate change through the lens of social justice and openly critiqued rampant consumerism. “Caring for ecosystems demands far-sightedness, since no one looking for quick and easy profit is truly interested in their preservation,” the pope wrote in the letter. In 2023, Francis followed up his 2015 encyclical with “Laudate Deum” (“Praise God”), a letter that took aim at climate change deniers and deemed global warming “one of the principal challenges facing society.” A protester at the People's Climate March in 2017 holds up a sign with a quote from Pope Francis. Dcpeopleandeventsof2017 via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0 Francis devoted many of his efforts and writings to the poor, whom he predicted would bear the brunt of the effects of climate change. He held the church’s first World Day of the Poor in 2017 and used the annual event as an opportunity to remind Catholics to make a “social and political commitment to improving reality around us.” As Martin says, Francis’ views on environmental issues and social justice were inextricable. “Working for a just distribution of the fruits of the earth and human labor is not mere philanthropy,” Francis said in a 2015 speech. “It is a moral obligation. For Christians, the responsibility is even greater: It is a commandment.” First pope to say “gay” publicly Francis’ relationship with the LGBTQ community was complicated, with the pope often sending mixed signals on the church’s stance on sexuality. He called for the decriminalization of homosexuality worldwide, endorsed same-sex civil unions, and declared that transgender people could be baptized and serve as godparents. According to Martin, Francis was the first pope to use the word “gay” in a public statement. Martin says the pope’s message of “welcome, inclusion and treating people with compassion” marked a new chapter for a church that has historically antagonized the queer community. “Pope Francis changed the conversation around LGBTQ people in the church entirely,” Martin adds. He points to a 2013 statement made by Francis, who famously told reporters, “If a person is gay and seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge?” Pope Francis (right) with Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2023 Palácio do Planalto via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 2.0 Under Francis, the Vatican issued a 2023 document allowing priests to bless same-sex couples, though the new guidelines stressed that marriage remains a sacrament between a man and a woman. Carl Hendy, a lapsed Catholic and nonbinary person, told NBC News’ Matt Lavietes that they felt the policy change was “performative” and “a lousy attempt from the pope to validate queer people.” Hendy added, “What I want to see from the Catholic Church is them taking accountability for how they’ve treated LGBTQ people historically and then promise to validate them unconditionally by recognizing their marriages, their relationships, their families, the same way they do heterosexual people.” Francis’ efforts to welcome LGBTQ people into the church were often at odds with both his informal comments and church doctrine. He attracted criticism for using an anti-gay slur and suggesting that gay children should seek psychiatric help. The pope also upheld the Vatican’s official stance on LGBTQ issues, maintaining that gay people are “intrinsically disordered” and declaring that gay sex, while not a crime, remains a sin. In 2024, Francis approved a Vatican declaration that labeled gender-affirming surgery a grave violation of human dignity. First female Vatican appointments Another divisive aspect of Francis’ legacy is his elevation of women within the Vatican. This year alone, the pope appointed women to such prestigious positions as president of the Vatican City State and head of a major Vatican department. In 2021, he convened a global synod, or assembly of Catholic clergy and laypeople, that aimed to “make the church more inclusive and reflective of and responsive to the needs of rank-and-file Catholics,” according to the Associated Press’ Nicole Winfield. But while attendees discussed the need to promote women to leadership roles in the church, they failed to provide an answer on whether women can be ordained as clergy. Pope Francis appoints Italian nun as the first woman to head a major Vatican office Watch on “What [Francis] has done so far to improve the condition of women in the church has only been for appearance’s sake,” Italian journalist Lucetta Scaraffia told Reuters’ Joshua McElwee in 2024. “It’s useless for women to wait for ‘the good pope’ who will recognize their true value.” Progressive Catholics generally lauded Francis’ efforts to elevate women to positions of power. But many high church offices—the papacy, for one—remain reserved for ordained male priests. Overall, wrote Kate McElwee for the National Catholic Register in 2023, the cause of female priesthood did not advance far under Francis’ leadership. Even as the pope explored the possibility of allowing women to become deacons (ordained clergy who cannot celebrate mass or hear confessions but can baptize and preach), he seemed unwilling to budge on the tradition of male priests. “The most generous explanation I can think of is that Francis does not believe the church is ready to answer this question,” McElwee wrote. Whether Francis’ successor will adopt a different stance on this and other pressing matters, guiding the church to either progressivism or conservatism, remains to be seen. Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

The following article contains spoilers for both Episode 2 of The Last of Us Season 2 and the video game The Last of Us Part 2. Abby kills Joel. It’s the inciting incident of The Last of Us Part 2, developer Naughty Dog’s darkly violent sequel to its fungal zombie apocalypse hit. Unsurprisingly for a project that mostly adheres to its source material like industrial strength super glue, HBO’s television adaptation also features this shocking moment rendered in live action. It’s the crescendo of the second season’s second episode, and so occurs exactly where it needs to in order to set the wheels of Ellie’s quest for vengeance in motion. But the show’s recreation of Joel Miller’s final moments falls short of the game’s brutal, shocking sequence due to several creative decisions that weaken the bloody blow.The problems begin an episode prior. Season 2 opens with the reveal that Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) is seeking revenge on Joel (Pedro Pascal) following his rampage through the Fireflies’ Salt Lake City hospital in the finale of season one. As the first episode’s opening scene, this acts as the season’s mission statement: this story is about Abby’s pledge to kill Joel. There’s an unspoken promise that we’ll learn more about her motives, more about her past, and build empathy with a character who wants to kill the lead protagonist. There’s a lot the show needs to do to get us on board with her quest, but hey, this will be an interesting ride towards what’s sure to be a shocking season finale. One week later, Joel is dead. It’s as if we hit the end of the line before we’d even started. The timing of Joel’s demise may be faithful to the video game’s timeline, but the context in which it is delivered changes everything. In the game, Joel’s death comes with no warning. You have no idea who Abby is, nor why she hates Joel with such venom. It’s a confusing, shocking moment that sets up Ellie’s mission to kill the evil woman who took away her father figure for reasons unknown. It’s only at the game’s midpoint, when the perspective shifts and you’re forced to play as the “villain”, do you learn that Abby has sympathetic motivations for her actions – Joel killed her father when he rescued Ellie from the Fireflies. It’s an ingenious twist that challenges you to empathise with a character you’ve learned to hate over ten hours of play.In this week’s episode of the show, Abby plainly explains her motivations to Joel moments before she kills him. Bringing such revelations to the forefront is not inherently a mistake, but it does change the shape of the story. Rather than a straight-up villain, Abby is introduced as something closer to the protagonist she eventually becomes in the second half of the game, and as a result, the moment of Joel’s murder is transformed into a much more complex event. In theory, this setup should have us torn between two conflicting viewpoints. But for that to work, those viewpoints need to be whole. And by killing Joel in episode two, showrunners Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann have failed to solidify those viewpoints. Had this season delayed Joel’s death by introducing more original material, we’d have had the opportunity to learn more about Abby’s journey toward this moment. As it stands, Abby has so far had less than a handful of scenes to establish her character, while Joel has had an entire season and change. When the golf club strikes, there’s no escaping it: Abby is the villain here, despite what you know of her motives.When the golf club strikes, there’s no escaping it: Abby is the villain here, despite what you know of her motives.“Season 1 offers up a good example of what could have been. “Long, Long Time,” arguably the season’s strongest episode, depicts the turbulent romantic life of Bill and Frank. It’s all brand new material, showcasing a period of time not explored by the game. A similar episode illustrating Abby’s life during the five-year time gap between seasons may well exist further down the line, but its inclusion before Joel’s death would have better supported the creative decision to make Abby’s motives clear ahead of the incident. Such an episode would also help address the issue of Abby’s physique. In The Last of Us Part 2, Abby is built like an MMA fighter. She’s tall and incredibly muscular. In the show, she’s played by Kaitlyn Dever and looks just like Kaitlyn Dever. Talking to Entertainment Weekly, Neil Druckmann explained that Dever had not bulked up for the role because Abby’s size was related to gameplay rather than story: “Abby was meant to play more like Joel in that she's almost like a brute in the way she can physically manhandle certain things,” he said. “That doesn't play as big of a role in this version of the story because there's not as much violent action moment to moment. It's more about the drama.” I’m surprised by Druckmann’s comments because Abby’s physique doesn’t really provide any meaningful gameplay contrast between herself and Ellie in the game, aside from being able to wield slightly heavier weaponry. It does, however, play a significant role in the dramatic heft of the story. During the first half of the game, her stature preys on gender stereotypes; the story assumes you’ll buy into the idea that a woman with masculine features must be evil. When the story flips, Abby’s physique tells the tale of a woman who has spent five years sculpting herself into a weapon with a singular purpose. She has sacrificed everything in order to kill Joel. It’s a physical marker of what the thirst for revenge will do to a person, and represents just how concrete Abby’s dedication to her goal is. PlayHad the show’s version of Abby been of the same build as her video game counterpart, it would have helped illustrate what happened in the five years between the season’s first scene and Joel’s death. Sure, it wouldn’t be a detailed illustration, but it would be clear that Joel’s actions took their toll and he’s about to pay the price. In the absence of Abby’s physical transformation, what we ideally need is a depiction of how the character mentally sculpted herself into a weapon. Again, this may well exist further into the season, but including it ahead of Joel’s death would better capitalise on the show’s changes to how it presents Abby.Mazin and Druckmann’s new approach to Abby isn’t the only issue with the show’s version of this tragic event, though. Much of this second episode is dedicated to a Game of Thrones-scale assault on Jackson, with hundreds of infected breaking through the town’s walls. In isolation, this is an incredible piece of television, and a fantastic example of the show introducing original material to the story. But the impact of this event is so strong that it almost overshadows Joel’s death, which is uncontestably the more important moment. The inciting incident of Ellie’s journey shouldn’t be fighting for space, and the time leading into it would have been better served by building tension rather than burning bloaters. The changes being made feel rooted in a lack of confidence in the material being adapted rather than the bravery to tread its own path.“My hope for this season of The Last of Us was that it would have more conviction to tread its own path. As strong as Season 1 was, for much of its runtime it had the air of some (very well-funded) cosplayers performing reenactments of the game’s cinematic cutscenes. Season 2 certainly feels bolder than its predecessor so far, but the changes being made feel rooted in a lack of confidence in the material being adapted rather than the bravery to tread its own path. The game’s unforgettable mid-story twist is exchanged for a cards-on-the-table opening in the name of making sure viewers feel the “right” things about Abby, but the subsequent story beats throughout the first two episodes are not rewritten to make the most of that change. The result is a rendition of Joel’s death that, while practically a facsimile of the original version in terms of the physical events, feels morally confused and dramatically stunted. For fans of the game, it will be immediately clear which version of this story offers the stronger depiction of this event. But the real issue is not Joel’s death itself, but everything that happens around it. If the season has bungled the framing of its vital inciting incident, will the story threads that spiral out of it stand up to scrutiny? When it comes to Abby, The Last of Us Season 2’s remaining episodes will need to tread a smart path in order to justify its new design, not just to old players, but to new audiences, too.Matt Purslow is IGN's Senior Features Editor.

This article contains SINNERS SPOILERS. Black representation within horror movies, specifically of the supernatural variety, is becoming increasingly extensive these days. No, not in that way where we are the first to die in slashers. I’m talking about ones where we are the protagonists or supporting characters with supernatural abilities.  Many might attribute this to the cultural impact left by filmmaker Jordan Peele. And sure, that’s played a role, but truth be told, we made our mark in the genre eons ago, beginning at the height of the Blaxploitation movement with William Crain’s Blacula starring William Marshall. Ever since Blacula pioneered the subgenre,  whenever we star in horror films as the monsters, it’s usually as vampires. It’s widely known that Black don’t crack, so of course we shine as the undead.  Ryan Coogler reminded folks of that fact over this weekend with Sinners, and in honor of that fresh blood we’re looking at all the Black vampire characters who have been influential in the subgenre. Blacula – Blacula (1972) Blacula is the grandaddy of all Black vampires. During the peak of the Blaxploitation era, when you had all your action heroes like Shaft and Cleopatra Jones, Blacula was the first with fangs. William Marshall starred as African prince Mamuwalde, who is bitten by a racist Count Dracula after he refused to let him buy his wife Luva (Vonetta McGee) as a slave. Cursed and put into a deep slumber, Mamuwalde wakes up in ‘70s LA. Much like the now commonplace vampire tropes, he falls for his reincarnated form of the woman he once lost. Blacula’s defines camp, which is fitting for the Blakxploitation era and befitting the subgenre’s pantheon. Without him, the remaining entries on this list wouldn’t exist.  Ganja and Hess – Ganja and Hess (1973) The year after Blacula released, writer/director Bill Gunn offered a more unique, sophisticated, and romantic take on Black vampirism.  Oh, to be in the ‘70s and eating with two Black vampire movies! In Ganja and Hess, Dr. Hess Green (Duane Jones) and Ganja (Marlene Clark) are united in grief over the passing of Green’s assistant and Ganja’s husband, George (Gunn). Together they find renewal and love with each other. It also happens that Hess sucked the blood out of George (Gunn) after he was stabbed with an ancient blood-sucking African tribe’s dagger, right before George off’d himself. Oh, and that same dagger turned him into a vampire. No biggie. Ganja is soon turned into a vampire too after learning the truth, and it’s insanely romantic. Green and Ganja offered a profoundly rich and experimental depiction of Black love. They are true vampire couple goals. Screw Edward and Bella! Katrina – Vamp (1986) In a time when R-rated sex comedies were the rage, Vamp was a neon-drenched Gothic alternative that leaned harder in its horror than comedy. But British musician and dancer Grace Jones was worth the movie’s price of admission. She was such an icon during the ‘80s that it was the whole marketing angle for Vamp! Hell, she was the reason why Vamp is relatively watchable now. As Katrina, this relatively silent but deadly vampire masked in mosaic makeup done by the late Keith Haring, gives some unfunny frat boys oh, so much hell in the span of a single unfortunate night. Whenever she’s onscreen, Katrina invokes so much menace, which matches the Gothic ‘80s aesthetic and makes for a valiant foe who is mesmerizing in every frame. Hell, she should’ve won in the end. I’m starting a new petition. Let’s get it going #JusticeforKatrina.  Maximillian  – Vampire in Brooklyn (1995) If Blacula was a vampire navigating the West Coast as an undead in LA, Eddie Murphy’s Maximillian offered a counterpoint by sinking his teeth into the east. Hailing straight from the Caribbean and landing in Brooklyn, this thick-accented, friendly bloodsucker is full of quips and ready to get hitched. Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! His sights are keen on Detective Rita (Angela Bassett), who grows to learn that she’s already half-vampire in the blood.  There’s not much to say about this oddball Wes Craven/Eddie Murphy mashup, for it exists as a blip in both beloved talents’ filmographies. With that said, Vampire in Brooklyn isn’t without its charm, as Murphy explored the horror genre with a fun, spirited performance as three separate characters. If anything, it just goes to show Black vampires can simply be funny.  Blade – Blade (1998) You better not be a vampire trying to ice-skate uphill, ‘cause Blade will cut you down. Be honest: when you think of Black vampires, chances are you first think of Wesley Snipes’ sword-wielding, short afro-styled daywalking antihero. Who can blame you? Blade invented cool with his chic sunglasses, leather getup, and badass vampiric action moves. He was also the first Black Marvel superhero in cinematic history, sporting three movies—of varying degrees of quality—that were emblematic of the radical Y2K era of action films. While the wait for his MCU reboot might be extensive, at least we have the one and only Wesley Snipes’ Blade to save the day on disc, just the way Y2K intended.  Akasha –  Queen of the Damned (2002) Following the remarkable R&B singer’s tragic passing in 2001, Queen of the Damned exists as both only her second and final performance in a feature film. And to this day it reminds everyone that she was a unique talent through a remarkable performance. In the film, Aaliyah portrays Akasha as the first vampire in Anne Rice’s universe. Akasha is cunning, seductive, beautiful, and powerful. Frankly, the textbook definition, if not the blueprint, of a vampire.  When Akasha is awakened, this undead royalty and a Goth rock star Lestat de Lioncourt (Stuart Townsend) have a toxic and love affair where she plans on world domination, and he is seduced under her control As a film, director Michael Rymer’s Queen of the Damned is what you get when you send an Anne Rice fan to Hot Topic in 2002. SEriously, Lestat takes over a nu metal band during the heyday of Korn! You can’t get more Hot Topic than that! Much like many horrors of the early 2000s, Scooby-Doo included, it is a film of questionable quality that birthed many bisexual goth awakenings.  Laurent –  Twilight (2007) Say what you will about Twilight, but I had always thought Laurent had such a cool look. A French Black vampire with red-eyes and dreaded hair just oozes swagger. His appearance in Twilight and New Moon was menacing, but this member of James’ Coven had such a distinct style and elegance that I still remember going “nooooo!” when Jacob and his wolf pack took him down to protect Bella. The [Mr.] terrific Edi Gathegi gave his all as Laurent and while evil and gone too soon, he was one of the coolest modern vampires I’ve ever seen put to film. And it feels only right to honor the latest fangers in the pantheon via Coogler’s Sinners, all of whom fall beneath the evil power of an Irish vampire after Jack O’Connell walks into a Mississippi juke joint. Unfortunately for Stack (Michael B. Jordan), Cornbread (Omar Benson Miller),  and Mary (Hailee Steinfeld), this leads to them turning into fanged bloodsucking vampires. Once they cross over though, they elicit such a menacing and frightening presence. Influenced by Remmick, all they want is to spread their vampiric cult and add more to his community’s liberation from American racism.  The three characters’ vampiric forms and antagonism to the surviving joint’s revelers add layers to the religious and individualistic themes writer/director Ryan Coogler tackles within the film. 

As Country Living’s senior homes and style editor, I field a ton of questions from friends and colleagues about a variety of topics from how to style a coffee table to whether the latest micro-trend is here to stay. Earlier this week, I was asked one of my favorite types of questions from our resident HGTV expert on staff, our digital director, Katie Bowlby: “Is a stove cove a thing in real life or just on HGTV?” These questions are always my favorite because they’re valid! Spoiler alert: Not everything that looks so great on HGTV is going to translate to real, everyday life. While the answer is more often “no, that’s not a real thing,” this time that isn’t the case. While some may call it by a different name, a stove cove is a real thing, and it’s a design trend definitely worth considering for your own kitchen. Get the full scoop below:FOR MORE ON KITCHENS:What Is a Stove Cove? As the name suggests, a stove cove, sometimes called a “cooks nook” or “stove nook,” is a recessed nook in a kitchen that houses the stove or range. While many stoves have vent hoods that are supported by corbels or flanked by cabinetry, stove coves are distinctly different in that they rely on being framed by three complete walls to be classified as a stove cove. While wood is a common material used to construct the enclosure, brick or tile is usually preferred. Are Stove Coves Trending?If it’s making an appearance on HGTV, there’s a good chance it’s trending. Stove coves are a favorite of designers looking to add architectural interest to a kitchen. Brick stove coves add a traditional flair to a kitchen, making it a perfect material for Colonial- or Tudor-style homes, while wood surrounds bring cottage- and farmhouse-like warmth.Related StoriesAre Stove Coves Safe? Yes, stove coves are definitely safe, especially if you’re using an electric or induction cooktop. However, if you do have a gas range, make sure that there are no directly flammable items near the stove just as you would with any open flame.Examples of Stove CovesBecky Luigart-Stayner for Country LivingA beadboard backsplash adds humble charm to this farmhouse kitchen designed by Trinity Holmes. Sara Ligorria-TrampAn antique accordian lamp brightens this Washington barn home’s stove cove. Courtesy of Christopher Horwood/Artichoke LTDSweet blue-and-white tile serves as the backsplash for this grand stove cove from British kitchen design firm Artichoke Ltd.Related StoriesAnna LoganSenior Homes & Style EditorAnna Logan is the Senior Homes & Style Editor at Country Living, where she has been covering all things home design, including sharing exclusive looks at beautifully designed country kitchens, producing home features, writing everything from timely trend reports on the latest viral aesthetic to expert-driven explainers on must-read topics, and rounding up pretty much everything you’ve ever wanted to know about paint, since 2021. Anna has spent the last seven years covering every aspect of the design industry, previously having written for Traditional Home, One Kings Lane, House Beautiful, and Frederic. She holds a degree in journalism from the University of Georgia. When she’s not working, Anna can either be found digging around her flower garden or through the dusty shelves of an antique shop. Follow her adventures, or, more importantly, those of her three-year-old Maltese and official Country Living Pet Lab tester, Teddy, on Instagram.  

Five flourishing French scaleups have made it into TECH5 — the “Champions League of Technology.” The quintet will now compete for the title of top scaleup in Europe. The contest concludes on June 19-20, when the TECH5 champion will be announced on the main stage of TNW Conference. But first, the contenders have to win a regional crown. For the French challengers, that’s no easy task.  The country’s tech sector has been going through a historic boom. Over the past decade, the startup scene has seen the most dramatic growth of any European country, with investments surging nearly 1000% to €53bn, according to VC firm Atomico. The 💜 of EU techThe latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!One of the largest recent funding rounds went to French AI darling Mistral. In June 2024, the Paris-based company raised €468mn and became Europe’s most valuable AI startup. France’s blend of highly skilled talent, increased government support, and expanded investment streams has created fertile ground for tech firms to grow. This has laid the foundation for an impressive flock of scaleups. Yet only five of them could enter the TECH5 finals. Our judges selected them based on an analysis of their growth, impact, and future potential. Their evaluation led us to the following high-flying scaleups, listed in random order: 1. Kinetix A frontrunner in the thriving AI scene of Paris, Kinetix specialises in 3D character animation for games. Using GenAI tools, the company transforms camera footage and text prompts into precise animations. AI filters can then add extensive customisations to the visuals. The platform makes 3D content creation accessible to anyone. “At Kinetix, we believe character motion is at the heart of storytelling,” the scaleup told TNW. “Whether in games, entertainment, or branded content, movement brings digital characters to life and creates meaningful, engaging narratives.” Kinetix is best known for its embeddable AI emote feature, which lets players create and use custom emotes in-game. It’s a concept that has attracted booming demand. Fortnite alone has over 1,000 emotes. By 2030, the digital human avatar market is forecast to reach over €450bn. 2. Kovalee Kovalee has developed a powerful publishing platform for non-gaming apps. The scaleup wants to give every promising content creator a chance to build the best app in their field — regardless of their resources. Through product enhancement, monetisation boost, user acquisition, and app store optimisation services, Kovalee has fostered numerous success stories. Several have become category leaders in the App Store, from stretching platform Bend to motivational companion PetTalk. The model has fostered a rapid rise for Kovalee, which was founded in 2020. Last year, the company topped Sifted’s list of France’s fastest-growing startups after an eye-catching 626% two-year revenue growth. VC firm Iris, which led an €8mn Series A investment in the company in 2023, said Kovalee has “the potential to become the leading non-gaming publishing platform.” 3. Swan One of Europe’s premier fintechs, Swan provides a straightforward route to embedding banking features. Via simple APIs, companies can quickly integrate services including accounts, cards, and payments into their own products. Swan was founded in 2019 by three fintech veterans and seasoned entrepreneurs. The trio had first-hand experience with the frustrations of embedded finance, from the interminable meetings and piles of paperwork to the clunky APIs. They launched Swan to offer an alternative.  Nicolas Benady, the company’s CEO and co-founder, has an ambitious goal for the business: “Swan is on a mission to build the leading tech-driven bank in Europe.” Investors have been impressed by the plans. In January, Swan announced it had raised €42mn, bringing the scaleup’s total funding to an estimated €100mn.  4. Qovoltis Qovoltis has created an innovative all-in-one EV charging solution. It comprises a smart charging station that adjusts power in real time, a mobile app for remote management, and a novel energy optimisation system. Last year, Qovoltis expanded its product line with the launch of the Qobox mini, an ultra-compact smart charger. The model is the first charging station to earn an “Origine France Garantie” certificate — a guarantee of French production and quality. It also won the Made in France Innovation Grand Prix 2024. The milestone year culminated in a €45mn Series A funding round. Qovoltis president Ehsan Emani — who founded the company in 2019 — described the cash injection as a “decisive step” for the business. “It will enable us to expand our commercial offerings and solidify our role in the transition to sustainable electric mobility,” he said. 5. Dalma Dalma has pioneered a new approach to pet insurance. The company’s insurance reimburses all veterinary expenses within 48 hours — with no excess or hidden fees. Founded in 2021, Dalma has rapidly expanded — and still has enormous growth potential. Nearly half of European households have a pet, on which they collectively spend an estimated €24.6bn annually, opening up a lucrative market for insurers.  Investors have identified Dalma as one of the industry’s front runners. Last month, the company raised €20mn, taking its total funding to over €50mn, according to Bounce Watch data. “Our ambition for Dalma is to build the pet insurance leader in Europe — one that not only provides financial protection but also fundamentally improves pet healthcare,” Dalma told TNW. What’s next for the French scaleups? The fabulous French five will compete for the TECH5 title with contenders from six other regions. At TNW Conference in June, the grand champion will be crowned Europe’s hottest scaleup.  The challengers from France, Benelux, the Nordics, and DACH have now all been chosen. Next week, we reveal the finalists from another region in the tournament: Southern Europe. TECH5 is part of a packed programme for TNW Conference, which takes place on June 19-20 in Amsterdam. Tickets for the event are now on sale. Use the code TNWXMEDIA2025 at the check-out to get 30% off the price tag. Story by Thomas Macaulay Managing editor Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he e (show all) Thomas is the managing editor of TNW. He leads our coverage of European tech and oversees our talented team of writers. Away from work, he enjoys playing chess (badly) and the guitar (even worse). Get the TNW newsletter Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week. Also tagged with

Detecting scam emails is getting increasingly difficult as attackers use more and more sophisticated methods. A new report highlights a method which makes fake security alerts from Google and PayPal look extremely convincing. It reinforces the need to apply a simple but effective safeguard anytime you receive what seems to be an important email requiring your immediate attention … How do phishing attacks work? A phishing attack is when someone sends you a fake email claiming to be from a company or organization, and including a link asking you to login to take some action. Very often the email will create a sense of urgency, for example claiming that your account has been compromised. The link will take you to a webpage intended to look like the real thing, but which is used to collect your login credentials. There are a number of steps companies like Apple and Google take to try to detect and block phishing attacks, as well as clues you can look for to identify many fakes. However, Bleeping Computer reports on a clever method being used to impersonate Google and PayPal. A highly convincing attack method A highly experienced developer and security professional received one of them, and did some digging. Nick Johnson, the lead developer of the Ethereum Name Service (ENS), received a security alert that seemed to be from Google, informing him of a subpoena from a law enforcement authority asking for his Google Account content. Almost everything looked legitimate and Google even placed it with other legitimate security alerts [and] the message was signed and delivered by Google. What the attacker had done was create the fake login page on sites․google․com, a web hosting service anyone can use. They also used a trick to get Google to send them a real email, then forwarded it with the scam content. This meant it appeared to have passed the standard security checks intended to identify this type of scam. The fraudulent message appeared to come from “no-reply@google.com” and passed the DomainKeys Identified Mail (DKIM) authentication method but the real sender was different […] “Since Google generated the [original] email, it’s signed with a valid DKIM key and passes all the checks,” Johnson says, adding that the last step was to forward the security alert to victims. The weakness in Google’s systems is that DKIM checks only the message and the headers, without the envelope. Thus, the fake email passes signature validation and appears legitimate in the recipient’s inbox. Furthermore, by naming the fraudulent address me@, Gmail will show the message as if it was delivered to the victim’s email address. The login page is also an exact copy of the real thing. Google says it is working on a fix to prevent this method being used in future, but it remains possible for now. A similar method has been used with PayPal, in which a gift feature was used to have the phishing email appear to originate from a genuine PayPal address. How to protect yourself The most important step you can take is to never click on links received in email, even if it appears genuine. Instead, use your own bookmarks or type a known genuine URL. Be especially wary of emails which imply urgency. Common examples include: Claiming that your account has been compromised Sending you an invoice for a fake transaction, and a link to cancel it Claiming you owe money for tax, road tolls, etc, and need to pay immediately In the Google case, it claims law enforcement has served them with a subpoena requiring access to your account content, and inviting you to object. Highlighted accessories Image: 9to5Mac collage of screengrab from Nick Johnson on background by Mathias Reding on Unsplash Add 9to5Mac to your Google News feed.  FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Apr 21, 2025The Hacker NewsEndpoint Security / Zero Trust The problem is simple: all breaches start with initial access, and initial access comes down to two primary attack vectors – credentials and devices. This is not news; every report you can find on the threat landscape depicts the same picture. The solution is more complex. For this article, we'll focus on the device threat vector. The risk they pose is significant, which is why device management tools like Mobile Device Management (MDM) and Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) are essential components of an organization's security infrastructure. However, relying solely on these tools to manage device risk actually creates a false sense of security. Instead of the blunt tools of device management, organizations are looking for solutions that deliver device trust. Device trust provides a comprehensive, risk-based approach to device security enforcement, closing the large gaps left behind by traditional device management solutions. Here are 5 of those limitations and how to overcome them with device trust. 1. Zero visibility into unmanaged devices MDM and EDR solutions are effective for managing and securing devices that are enrolled and within the organization's control. However, they cannot provide visibility and control over unmanaged devices, such as personal laptops or phones, contractor devices, and devices used by business partners. Unfortunately, these devices are still accessing your corporate resources, and they are a major threat precisely because they are not company-managed. They may not adhere to the organization's security policies (no disk encryption, no local biometric, hasn't been updated in three years, etc), and you are none the wiser because you have no security footprint there, making them perfect entry points for attackers. How device trust solves this problem: Device trust provides coverage over all devices that are authenticating, including unmanaged, BYOD, and personal devices. The ideal way to achieve this is via a privacy-preserving, lightweight authenticator that has no remote wipe capabilities nor administrative privileges over the device. However, it should be able to capture device risk telemetry and support rapid remediation to provide risk visibility and security compliance enforcement for all devices in your fleet. 2. Incomplete coverage across operating systems While many MDM and EDR tools offer support for popular operating systems like Windows and macOS, their coverage for Linux and ChromeOS devices is often limited in their capabilities or completely non-existent. This gap leaves organizations vulnerable, especially those that rely on diverse operating systems for their operations, such as software engineers and system administrators. How device trust solves this problem: Device trust delivers broad-based coverage across all commonly used operating systems, including Linux and ChromeOS. This provides administrators the ability to evaluate device risk in real-time on any device, regardless of operating system, and block access from devices that fail to meet the security threshold. 3. Lack of integration with access policy MDM and EDR tools typically operate independently of access management systems, leading to a disconnect between device security posture and access controls. That is, even if your MDM or EDR flags a suspicious activity, event, or behavior from an endpoint, the signal is not available to your access management solution to make real-time decisions about the user's access to resources. Without a tightly coupled integration, organizations have no ability to enforce access policies based on real-time device risk assessments collected from device management tools. How device trust solves this problem: Device trust puts adaptive risk policy into practice by incorporating as many signals as available as part of access decisions. If a device is non-compliant, it can be prevented from accessing company data in the first place. And if a device falls out of compliance, its access should be able to be revoked instantly. As a bonus, device trust enforced via access policy does not disrupt end-user productivity by forcing automatic updates. Instead, the device risk is contained because it cannot gain access while the user or their admin takes the steps needed for remediation. 4. Risk of device management tool misconfigurations Configuration drifts happen. But misconfigurations in MDM and EDR solutions can create security blind spots, allowing threats to go undetected. These misconfigurations may result from human error, lack of expertise, or complex system requirements, and they often remain unnoticed until a security incident occurs. For instance, CrowdStrike requires full disk access to be able to properly execute its detection and response functionality. Being able to evaluate not just the presence of the tool but its correct configuration is crucial to enforcing defense in depth. How device trust solves this problem: With a tightly coupled integration with device management solutions, device trust can ensure that not only is the tool present on the device, but all configurations are in place as intended. This provides an additional layer of security to defend against configuration drifts of security tooling. 5. Limited ability to detect advanced threats MDM and EDR tools are designed to detect known threats. MDMs, in particular, offer coarse risk telemetry, with some variation across vendors. However, they give organizations no ability to identify or do anything about security risks such as: Identifying specific processes or sensitive files on a device Existence of unencrypted SSH keys Third-party MacOS extensions Evaluate the existence of applications with known CVEs How device trust solves this problem: Device trust delivers fine-grained device posture evaluation. In combination with a tightly coupled integration with access management, it allows organizations to enforce device security compliance beyond the scope of what device management tools allow. Conclusion In conclusion, while device management tools are important, they are not sufficient for ensuring device security. Organizations must adopt a device trust approach that provides comprehensive visibility, cross-platform support, integration with access management, vigilant configuration management, and advanced threat detection capabilities.​ Beyond Identity is an access management platform that delivers robust device trust capabilities. To see the platform in action, contact us today for a demo. Found this article interesting? This article is a contributed piece from one of our valued partners. Follow us on Twitter  and LinkedIn to read more exclusive content we post. SHARE    

Jeff Reihl, CTO for the legal and professional side of LexisNexis, discusses how the introduction of AI changed their project plans.

In satellite images, the 20-odd coral atolls of the Maldives look something like skeletal remains or chalk lines at a crime scene. But these landforms, which circle the peaks of a mountain range that has vanished under the Indian Ocean, are far from inert. They’re the products of living processes—places where coral has grown toward the surface over hundreds of thousands of years. Shifting ocean currents have gradually pushed sand—made from broken-up bits of this same coral—into more than 1,000 other islands that poke above the surface.  But these currents can also be remarkably transient, constructing new sandbanks or washing them away in a matter of weeks. In the coming decades, the daily lives of the half-million people who live on this archipelago—the world’s lowest-lying nation—will depend on finding ways to keep a solid foothold amid these shifting sands. More than 90% of the islands have experienced severe erosion, and climate change could make much of the country uninhabitable by the middle of the century. Off one atoll, just south of the Maldives’ capital, Malé, researchers are testing one way to capture sand in strategic locations—to grow islands, rebuild beaches, and protect coastal communities from sea-level rise. Swim 10 minutes out into the En’boodhoofinolhu Lagoon and you’ll find the Ramp Ring, an unusual structure made up of six tough-skinned geotextile bladders. These submerged bags, part of a recent effort called the Growing Islands project, form a pair of parentheses separated by 90 meters (around 300 feet). The bags, each about two meters tall, were deployed in December 2024, and by February, underwater images showed that sand had climbed about a meter and a half up the surface of each one, demonstrating how passive structures can quickly replenish beaches and, in time, build a solid foundation for new land. “There’s just a ton of sand in there. It’s really looking good,” says Skylar Tibbits, an architect and founder of the MIT Self-Assembly Lab, which is developing the project in partnership with the Malé-based climate tech company Invena. The Self-Assembly Lab designs material technologies that can be programmed to transform or “self-assemble” in the air or underwater, exploiting natural forces like gravity, wind, waves, and sunlight. Its creations include sheets of wood fiber that form into three-dimensional structures when splashed with water, which the researchers hope could be used for tool-free flat-pack furniture.  Growing Islands is their largest-scale undertaking yet. Since 2017, the project has deployed 10 experiments in the Maldives, testing different materials, locations, and strategies, including inflatable structures and mesh nets. The Ramp Ring is many times larger than previous deployments and aims to overcome their biggest limitation.  In the Maldives, the direction of the currents changes with the seasons. Past experiments have been able to capture only one seasonal flow, meaning they lie dormant for months of the year. By contrast, the Ramp Ring is “omnidirectional,” capturing sand year-round. “It’s basically a big ring, a big loop, and no matter which monsoon season and which wave direction, it accumulates sand in the same area,” Tibbits says. The approach points to a more sustainable way to protect the archipelago, whose growing population is supported by an economy that caters to 2 million annual tourists drawn by its white beaches and teeming coral reefs. Most of the country’s 187 inhabited islands have already had some form of human intervention to reclaim land or defend against erosion, such as concrete blocks, jetties, and breakwaters. Since the 1990s, dredging has become by far the most significant strategy. Boats equipped with high-power pumping systems vacuum up sand from one part of the seabed and spray it into a pile somewhere else. This temporary process allows resort developers and densely populated islands like Malé to quickly replenish beaches and build limitlessly customizable islands. But it also leaves behind dead zones where sand has been extracted—and plumes of sediment that cloud the water with a sort of choking marine smog. Last year, the government placed a temporary ban on dredging to prevent damage to reef ecosystems, which were already struggling amid spiking ocean temperatures. Holly East, a geographer at the University of Northumbria, says Growing Islands’ structures offer an exciting alternative to dredging. But East, who is not involved in the project, warns that they must be sited carefully to avoid interrupting sand flows that already build up islands’ coastlines.  To do this, Tibbits and Invena cofounder Sarah Dole are conducting long-term satellite analysis of the En’boodhoofinolhu Lagoon to understand how sediment flows move around atolls. On the basis of this work, the team is currently spinning out a predictive coastal intelligence platform called Littoral. The aim is for it to be “a global health monitoring system for sediment transport,” Dole says. It’s meant not only to show where beaches are losing sand but to “tell us where erosion is going to happen,” allowing government agencies and developers to know where new structures like Ramp Rings can best be placed. Growing Islands has been supported by the National Geographic Society, MIT, the Sri Lankan engineering group Sanken, and tourist resort developers. In 2023, it got a big bump from the US Agency for International Development: a $250,000 grant that funded the construction of the Ramp Ring deployment and would have provided opportunities to scale up the approach. But the termination of nearly all USAID contracts following the inauguration of President Trump means the project is looking for new partners. Matthew Ponsford is a freelance reporter based in London.

Submitted by WA Contents Also Architects creates art museum made of umbrella-like bamboo structures and undulating fabric China Architecture News - Apr 21, 2025 - 11:07   html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" Also Architects has created an art museum made of umbrella-like bamboo structures and white undulating fabric at the R-Day Music Festival in Chengmai, Hainan, China.Named Urban Nomad Art Museum, the modular structures, spanning 350 square meters, create a temporary yet dynamic cultural exchange hub for the Urban Nomad Art Museum along the coastal shores of Chengmai, Hainan. The main design challenge was to ensure fast assembly, simple disassembly, and adaptable reconfiguration for sustainable reuse while also seamlessly fitting in with the museum's philosophy of "borderless curation." The project aims to go beyond its transient nature by using a creative modular strategy that fosters profound cultural resonance within its constrained timeline and provides flexible opportunities for future uses in a variety of situations.Resonance in SyncAs sound waves move through a medium as mechanical vibrations, various frequencies combine to create intricate aural experiences. Resonance, which is not limited to the physical world but also manifests in human emotions and social interactions, is the result of items sharing a common inherent frequency. This phenomenon promotes a feeling of comprehension and connection. Also Architects has created a number of modular art works based on the idea of "sound waves," taking inspiration from this phenomenon. Invisible vibration frequencies are converted into a concrete, open spatial field by the design, which mimics the shape and path of sound diffusion and propagation.The umbrella-like structures represent the resonance of sound and the connections made via shared emotions as they rise and converge in space like musical notes. These installations encourage people to come together, discover the power of vibration, and open up countless opportunities for communication and connection in a public setting.  While the undulating cloth at the top represents changes in vibration frequency, the umbrella-like structures' hexagonal contours replicate the concentric waveforms of sound dispersal. The three main configurations of the modular units—linear arrays, circular enclosures, and flexibly scattered layouts—allow them to be tailored to various functional requirements. These installations were put together to create a marketplace and a forum area during the R-Day Music Festival, specifically designed to fit the lively vibe of the event.Cyclical Construction Bamboo was selected as the main material for the Urban Nomad Art Museum due to its adaptable Eastern beauty as well as its innate ecological philosophy, which reflects the designers' consideration of a temporary structure's entire lifecycle. The symbiotic relationship between natural materials and industrial logic is embodied in the structural design: In order to achieve a balance between firmness and flexibility, the bamboo ribs are curved using heat-bending processes, while a central steel ring acts as a fixed structural anchor in the core. Bamboo's inherent pliability enables flowing, smooth arcs, and precisely designed modular connections precisely link it to metal components. The tightly stretched cloth canopy is more than just a cover; pre-applied tensile stresses through steel tubing give it a funnel-like shape that gives it a suspended appearance. Intentional holes in the fabric let sunshine and sea air through while reducing wind pressure disruptions. A temporary pavilion that is both sculptural and breathable is the product of the dynamic balance achieved by the interaction of steel, bamboo, and fabric. In addition to ensuring effective modular assembly, lightweight metal connectors enable possible reconfiguration in various locations. After the music festival is over, the constructions will be broken down into separate parts. The bamboo parts will be turned into urban furniture, and the cloth will be recycled into creative and cultural goods.By converting art into a recyclable cultural medium, this "reversible construction" idea frees it from the curse of single-use consumption. This strategy is in line with the ecological knowledge of nomadic societies, where giving and taking are balanced.Contextual Adaptation The design of these installations translates nomadic culture into tangible spatial strategies: The arrangement adjusts to different functional requirements by changing array densities, rotating angles, and module counts. A semi-sheltered passage is created in the market area by a continuous canopy of modular units. The acoustic environment in the performance area is improved by the reflective surfaces created by the staggered modules. Sea breezes can easily flow through the loosely laid-out relaxing area. Together, the market, lounge, gathering, and exhibition spaces create a comprehensive creative and lifestyle experience that is both connected and unique. This adaptable strategy guarantees flexibility for a range of roles in future contexts in addition to accommodating on-site modifications in real time. The geometric order of the hexagonal module itself conveys inclusion and fluidity, embodying the spatial aesthetics of migratory civilizations. One of nature's most effective geometries, the hexagonal form is seen in turtle shells and honeycombs. It represents both the natural ability to disassemble and reassemble as well as logical order. These modular installations reimagine how art travels and flourishes across geographies, much how nomadic tribes shift with the seasons and easily reassemble their tents into houses on new pastures.These disassembled bamboo modules, which hold the memory of sea breezes, will be put back together to create new cultural landscapes in various towns after the festival's energy wanes. Modularity is the architecture that enables art to continuously change; it is not a sterile industrial phrase. It doesn't aim for permanence, but every time it moves, it has meaningful conversations with new people and locations.  Finding lighter, more flexible methods for art to exist is at the heart of the Urban Nomad Art Museum's work. This approach to sustainable building might be the key to reintegrating public art into daily life.Project factsProject name: Urban Nomad Art MuseumCuratorial institution: R-Day Music Festival & Urban Nomad Art MuseumCurator: Ottavio ZhangProject location: HaikouProject area: 350m2Event time: January 2025Design Team: Valo Xiao, Ziming Ye, Jane Zhang, April LoLighting design: WOY LightingConstruction unit: Innovbamboo Architectural Technology Co., Ltd.Main materials: Bamboo, MetalAll images © INSPACE.Drawing © Also Architects.> via Also Architects