Debut: The Rug Company taps Kelly Wearstler to translate music into dynamic new materialThe Spire rug installed at the historic estate.Photo: Courtesy of The Rug Company.Given that her latest collection for The Rug Company is called Crescendo, its only right to ask Kelly Wearstler what shes listening to these days. Oh my god, its all over the place, says the AD100 Hall of Famer, pulling out her phone to jog her memory before rattling off the names of favorite artists: Kelsey Lu, Jon Batiste, Air, Kendrick Lamar, Beach House. In Wearstlers world, theres always a soundtrack. She makes a playlist for every city she regularly visits; her sons are in a band; and tunes are always on at her Los Angeles studio.Crux, made of silk on a wool base, in Cognac.Photo: Courtesy of The Rug Company.Spire, made of silk on a nettle base, in ember.Photo: Courtesy of The Rug Company.Runa, made of silk on a wool base, in pistachio.Photo: Courtesy of The Rug Company.Spanning six new designs, Wearstlers 10th line for The Rug Company translates sound into textile form. Consider Arwens alternating high and low piles reverb, Runas repetitive gestures a chorus, and Elowens linear motif sheet music. The earthen palette, meanwhile, was born out of Wearstlers own listening experiences. These phenomena weave together to create a sonic observationno earbuds necessary.The Arwen rug installed at the historic estate.Photo: Courtesy of The Rug Company.Arwen, made of silk on a wool and nettle base, in moss.Photo: Courtesy of The Rug Company.Elowen, made of wool and silk on nettle base, in peony.Photo: Courtesy of The Rug Company.Riven, made of nettle and linen, in alabaster.Photo: Courtesy of The Rug Company.Meticulously handwoven in Nepal from wool, silk, nettle, and linen, the floor coverings blend Wearstlers signature graphic sensibility with a vaguely mystical vibe, evident in product names such as Crux or Spire. One design resembles a paper-cut collage; another is a slightly wonky checkerboard. Like a musician composing the perfect bridge, Wearstler explains, Im always trying to surprise my audience. therugcompany.com Maya IbbitsonShop: Molteni&C transforms a historic palazzo into a showcase for Italian craftLocated on Via Manzoni, the updated palazzo dates to the 19th century.Photo: Max Zambelli.Since taking the helm as creative director of Molteni&C in 2016, Vincent Van Duysen has conceived everything from furniture collections to kitchen systems to stores in Shanghai, London, New York, and beyond. But his latest project for the brand might be his most ambitious yet: a seven-story flagship on bustling Via Manzoni in the heart of Milan, Italys capital of style. When company president Carlo Molteni first approached Van Duysen about the neoclassical palazzo, the AD100 designer was excited if daunted. How could I nail our first flagship store in Milan? Van Duysen recalls thinking. I had to respect the DNA of Molteni.AD100 Designer Vincent Van Duysen, creative director of Molteni&C, in the main salon of the brands new Milan flagship.Photo: Stefano Trovati/SGP.A view of the courtyard at night from above reveals the illuminated main salon below.Photo: Max Zambelli.Perpendicular angles converge floor to ceiling.Photo: Max Zambelli.Today the store stands as a monument to Italian craft. Van Duysen took his cues from the architecturea palimpsest dating to the 19th century but updated in 1922, when Giuseppe Mentasti and Stefano Lissoni added flourishes in the Milanese Liberty style. Van Duysens update continues in that tradition, invoking the glamour of local entryways through a palette of terrazzo, dark wood, bronze, and richly figured stone. Geometric floors, meanwhile, echo new coffered ceilings, adding polished patterns.The interior courtyard looks out onto the glass-roofed main salon.Photo: Max Zambelli.The palazzos cortile, or central courtyard, presented both a challenge and an opportunity. I had to work around that void, Van Duysen explains. From the street, visitors arrive through glass doors to discover, one floor up, the main salon, anchored by the designers Augusto sofas. The plan unfolds in a sequence of residentially scaled rooms, some extroverted, with balconies facing the street, others inwardly focused. This Molteni world sits between the noise of the city and the quiet of the courtyards, he muses. Up the monumental central staircase, three additional floorsof retail await, with the next two levels dedicated to penthouse offices.Richly figured stone frames a hearth.Photo: Max Zambelli.A vignette of furnishings.Photo: Max Zambelli.At every turn, Van Duysen notes, the ethos of Molteni prevails. Its rich in emotions, in beauty. We want to create things that inspire, he says. This is an industry where you can still feel humanity. The store should trigger curiosity. At 9 Via Manzoni; molteni.it Sam CochranOne to Watch: Artist Ara Starcks immersive creations deliver dashes of wonder at an architectural scaleArtist Ara Starck with her stained-glass windows at Maison Heler, a new hotel in Metz, France, designed by her father, Philippe.Photo: Guillaume Meilgen & Jimmy Taieb/Herbeth Immobilier"Metz was once the heart of stained glass, says artist Ara Starck, speaking of the city in northeast France. Theres its famous cathedral (also known as the Lantern of God) with windows by artists like Marc Chagall and Jacques Villon, as well as glise Saint-Maximin, with more by Jean Cocteau. Now, Starck has added her own vitreous touch to that urban landscape, designing 27 stained-glass panels (nearly every window) for Maison Heler, a hotel conceptualized by her father, industrial designer Philippe Starck, opening this March.The project marks the latest in a series of collaborations between dad and daughter, who share a flair for the dramatic. In 2008, she conceived a 1,560-square-foot canvas for the ceiling of a restaurant at Le Meurice hotel in Paris. In 2022, she created a massive curtain for the redesign of Madrids Teatro Eslava. And last year she unveiled a nearly 10,000-square-foot ceiling mural for LA Almazara, an olive oil museum in Ronda, Spain. The idea is always to position the viewer at the center of the art piece, she explains of her architecturally scaled installations.Starck started painting around the age of six, receiving lessons from the French fine artist Grard Garouste. Today, though her work still begins with brushstrokes, she thrills at adapting her constructivist, vaguely figurative imagery into a range of mediums, often teaming up with master artisans. With their savoir faire we try to translateor even to transcendthe painting into what I call the third matter, she explains. In the case of Maison Heler, that involved close collaboration with Metzs esteemed stained-glass experts. Elsewhere, she has created supersized carpets and friezes. Shes currently researching immersive approaches to ceramics.Its all about a person encountering the workotherwise it is a dead material, she insists. Its an echo of the theatricality of life. arastarck.com Hannah MartinReading: Aerin Lauder Honors Her Love for Flowers in Living with Flowers (Rizzoli)18th-century scenic panels wrapping Aerin's Manhattan dining room.Photo: Thomas Loof/Art Department, NYFor as long as Aerin Lauder can remember, flowers have been a source of inspirationfrom the calla lilies and tuberose favored by her trailblazing beauty-mogul grandmother, Este, to the potted geraniums beloved by her mother, Jo Carole. Today, botanicals real and depicted continue to enrich the tastemakers everyday life. Maybe shell clip monochromatic bouquets from her all-white cutting garden, a fairy-tale landscape brimming with peonies, delphinium, roses, and more; or cluster red dahlias, anemones, and Hypericum berries into earthenware vases; or snip fulsome blue hydrangeas first thing in the morning. That lifelong passion reveals itself in her new book, Aerin Lauder: Living with Flowers (Rizzoli). Part entertaining guide and part grand tour, the tome pairs arranging tips with looks inside her own residences. There, florals appear as porcelain china, upholstery fabrics, and wall treatments, among them the 18th-century scenic panels wrapping her Manhattan dining room (pictured). Flowers and fragrance are deeply intertwined in my memories of family and home, she writes. What else gives so much joy for so little effort?Sam Cochran