Cola Index - January'26
A monthly catalog of noteworthy updates in the world of Interiors & Design. We celebrated Olya's Birthday!,our new love of Higgsfield Ai, and everything you need to talk about at dinner tonight.
COLA INDEX — January 2026
We finally made it back from Miami. It was Olya’s Birthday this week (Everyone wish her a Happy Birthday!) We escaped to Miami for a few days for a new project kickoff and some celebrations :), which quickly turned into a week of Hunger Games to get a flight back to these inhumane temperatures here in NYC. Remind me why we chose this?
Here’s everything else thats goin on.
AI Updates for Interior Designers
OUR RECENT OBSESSION WITH HIGGSFIELD
If you’re sick of hearing about AI, keep scrolling to the news! If you know us, you know we are addicted to learning and can be pretty nerdy when we obsess over something..so it tracks that Ai has been this year’s hobby. We’ve been actively learning various AI models in the studio to help our workflows..It’s NOT DESIGNING FOR US. There is a major difference.
Most designers we talk to are still only using Chat..can you let us know if you use anything else useful?
We are here to tell you, there is alot more out there than writing emails for you.
Our newest obsession is Higgsfield. We’ve been bouncing between Higgsfield, Narva.ai, Midjourney, and Comfy.Ui depending on the task and alot of the times combining multiple platforms.
Combining is the key because each one solves a different problem or is better than another at a task. LMarena is so fun to battle different models with the same prompt! Its free..try itt.
Higgsfield is the simplest user interface so far for us, and has become our quickest way to turn loose sketches and reference images into accurate interior images that helps our clients immediately understand our intention.
What matters more than the software is knowing what each one can and can’t do. That’s where most people get stuck. You dont know what you dont know you dont know.
AI is not replacing designers, but it is making our comunication easier. And it’s separating studios who can articulate an idea instantly from those who still need a week’s worth of time to model 3 options.
To the Ai developers building these platforms.. we want better tools for interior designers! Better spatial logic. Better material intelligence. Better integration into real workflows.
We’re actively experimenting with adapting AI systems to how our studio actually works. If you’re building in that direction, please reach out!
NEWS + HAPPENINGS
IKEA is opening a furniture pop-up in the metaverse in collaboration with game platform Roblox. We do metaverse homes too btw.
Will AI put renderers out of business? Business of Home asks, we’d like to add an answer
Short answer no. But, the job is changing really fast because Designers can get pretty incredible realistic renderings themselves. A rendering is to convey the idea well, and thats all it needs to do. AI is speeding up ideation, not replacing taste though. The renderers who will survive are the ones who understand the nuances of real spaces, and know how to prompt the Ai tools..SketchUp quietly rolls out AI object generation
SketchUp now lets users turn text or images into 3D objects directly in the app.
Travis Scott says he wants to go to architecture school
Bob Ross paintings head back to auction, again
Bonhams sold another batch of Bob Ross works, following a surprisingly strong first round a few months ago reaching nearly $1M. Nostalgia feels safe I guess.Patricia Urquiola designs the owners’ residence for another Cruise Ship
Urquiola designing the owners’ private quarters instead of just guest spaces says a lot about where luxury travel branding is heading.Harry Nuriev wins Designer of the Year at Maison & Objet
Nuriev, of Crosby Studios, work sits comfortably between fashion, interiors, and art, which is exactly why it resonates right now.
Chairish’s new owner rejects a 12th takeover bid
Chairish’s parent company Auction Technology Group just publicly disclosed it has declined a dozen takeover overtures from its biggest shareholder, private equity firm FitzWalter Capital, including a roughly $660m approach that both sides are now publicly sniping about.DWR gets a residency at Piaule
There’s a logic to it.. boutique hospitality increasingly embeds retail DNA to bootstrap guest experience and also revenue.
An AI-designed architecture project wins approval in Denmark
The design itself matters less than the precedent.The top auction lots of 2025 are exactly what you think
Stability at the top, uncertainty everywhere else.Wellness design fatigue gets a headline
We LOVE the spa..but they all look the same..all have great PR though.Victoria Yakusha opens a space in Miami
Miami continues to attract design. The city’s design identity is widening..saw The Future Perfect open a showroom recently, as well as Maiden Home..Modern Italian brands need to watch out
Allied Maker is moving into a new headquarters
Beloved lighting brand is expanding!Mouthwash Studio moves into a Charlap Hyman & Herrero designed office
Not a single Charlap project has missed yet. Rugs as architecture, YES.
Happenings + Things to Do
Vincenzo De Cotiis at Carpenters Workshop Gallery
Through February 14, 2026
Fifty works in cast white bronze and Murano glass inspired by Monet
FOR SCALE launches a décor criticism writing prize
Deadline February 15, 2026!
Cash prizes, print publication. If you have opinions about interiors and a keyboard, this is your moment and all we have wanted more of.
Apartment Ra’el opens in Bed-Stuy
ummmmm So cute.
Who did this Nordic Knots Video Campaign for their new colorways?
It’s SO GOOD! Watch here.
DOUBLE ACT was a favorite from at FOG Design + Art (@fogfair).
It’s a tandem presentation of new works by Minjae Kim (@mnjaekim) & Dominik Tarabański (@tarabanski)The presentation features nearly a dozen new functional works (moveables and lighting) by Kim in dialogue with a series of six new photographic compositions by Tarabański
Mantua Nangala and Yukultji Napangati at Salon 94
Go see this.
Products + Collaborations
Devin Wilde makes ceramics and furniture for DWR
Wilde is a ceramic artist trained as an Architect, debuting beautiful sculptural vessels and side tables
Dover Street Market x Feldspar teapots
Tea as sculpture. We like.deVOL turns its popular Ditsy Delft wallpaper into tiles
Hand-painted, bisque-fired, and decorative..Kitchens are allowed to be sweet again.
Kohler is teasing archival sinks
Look at this electric sink in West Point Grey from the Kohler archives.
Really good lighting from Studio Ebur and So Koizumi Design
Alana Burns shows lighting in Mallorca
Seven one-of-a-kind lamps made from Tumbaga metal and shells. From jewelry to lighting..On view by appointment through January
Romantic maximalism is creeping back in
Heavy drapery, matching upholstery, canopy beds. Peter Copping’s Normandy home and Greenrow’s cord covers look like the same collection.
Very cutie Cloudy Cushions by Grace Dimofski. Available on www.garce-dimofski.com
LOVE.
Inax tiles is one of our favorite japanese tile brands carried by Karen Pearse in the states. Dying to use this SAWARABI tile on a project
Project Spotlight
Nicholas Potts renovates a double unit in the Rockefeller Apartments, NYC
You’re probably seeing this project everywhere, but its for very good reason. What we love most is that Potts clearly trusts the building. He looks at its history not as something to preserve, but as a working set of ideas that can still move forward. The references are there if you know where to look, but they never read as clever for clever’s sake
There’s a generosity to the decisions. Returning the kitchen to its historic location is the kind of move that sounds obvious in hindsight but it was a pretty radical one. It reorganizes the apartment emotionally as sightlines relax, circulation falls into place. That kind of clarity is hard won.
What ultimately makes the project special is its discipline. A continuous datum of mahogany and Portoro marble grounds the kitchen and quietly sets the rules for everything else. Details like the marine edge stainless countertop or the oversized Nanz hardware feel historic and contemporary at the same time.
Even the salvaged toilet becomes part of the story. The best historic renovations in our opinion are when Designers know exactly when to intervene and when to leave something alone.
We wanted to start this because we found it impossible to consume news and happenings in one place! You could say this is helping us as much as it is helping you :)
We get hundreds of emails for events, listen to podcasts, have access to countless design publications, and save folders and folders of content that we love to reference, and thought..why wouldn’t we share this?
So give it a read, go to events, and check out the amazing products and artists we’re inspired by. We’ll be back next month with more! - xx Sam + Olya
Such a great round up, as always
Another great round up