Cola Index - October '25
A monthly catalog of noteworthy updates in the world of Interiors & Design. Substack Design Dinner Party, Kitchen Cabinets Join the Trade War, and Ai continues to steal our hearts.
Good Morning! We spent last night at a beautiful dinner party hosted by Leonora Epstein of Schmatta and Lauren Sands of A Whimsical World + LES Collection talking about design media and this growing little corner of Substack that’s somehow become the place we’ve met some of the coolest people this year. We’re just glad to be part of it and to keep meeting people who care about design and discourse the way we do.
Earlier in the week, we joined the TALD crew for an event connecting designers with homeowners over drinks and mini consultations..a little design therapy. If you missed it, you can still book a one-on-one with us!
HAPPENINGS + THINGS TO DO IN NYC
Substack Supper Club
Last night we joined our friends Leonora Epstein (Schmatta) and Lauren Sands (A Whimsical World of LES Collection) for a stunning dinner and stimulating design media discussions. Met some wonderful people you all should check out their substacks! The Rose Period, Wrong House, Small Pleasures, Second Story, Laura Fenton.
TALD x COLA IRL
We loved meeting so many of you at the TALD event! Mini consults, real conversations, and new people! They’re traveling around the country, so find the next event in your city.
Kips Bay Decorator’s Show House
Open through October 19th. The cork room everyone’s posting? It’s even better in person. These rooms are meant to be photographable and this one is it.
NVE Flea Market, Hudson Valley (Oct 19)
Legend says America’s first outdoor flea market happened in Newburgh in 1752. Antique Furniture, Vintage, and local artisans.
Flora Yukhnovich at The Frick
Flora’s mural riff on Boucher’s Four Seasons is worth the trip. It’s lush, feminine, and alive and can see something like this used in wallpaper in a home.
Dear New York at Grand Central (Oct 6–19) @humansofny
By the creator of @humansofny has transformed Grand Central into a full scale public art installation. 150 screens, musical performances, and thousands of portraits celebrating the city’s people. The only interruption? A wedding in Vanderbilt Hall, the first in fifteen years, which somehow made the whole thing feel even more New York.
Egg Collective x Dowbuilt x OF/D (Oct 16)
Material nerds, take note. A talk on craft and detail at Egg Collective’s Hudson Street showroom featuring Stephanie Beamer, Michael Landry, and Oliver Freundlich happened last night.
MoMA Design Store Reopens in Soho
A full redesign at 81 Spring Street brings MoMA’s retail back to its roots and our roots are in Retail so we see the importance of a revival.
Cultured Magazine Party at the Guggenheim
Love the headline. Only Cultured could pull off a gala with Chloe Fineman, Kareem Rahma, and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The magazine remains one of the few print titles that actually has a pulse in our opinion.
PRODUCTS + COLLABORATIONS
A Stoneyard Collaboration That’s... Just Stone?
We had to read this twice. Bas Stone teamed up with Alvin Wayne on what they’re calling a “capsule collection” of six marble slabs. We’re used to seeing designers work with stone in furniture or interiors, so presenting raw slabs as a collection feels... different? Can someone explain this to us!
50 Designers for Zara’s 50th
Zara turned fifty and invited Es Devlin, Axel Vervoordt, and Norman Foster to celebrate. Vervoordt’s plates,formed by hand, glazed with ash from his own Belgian woods are the standout for us. The profits go to Women’s Earth Alliance. We Love Axel <3
Armadillo x Carla Cascales Alimbau
We saw this on Crosby Street and it’s stunning. Six new rugs, soft and painterly, with a kind of feminine geometry. The colorways are really stunning and feel like a timeless investment.
Lenny Kravitz x CB2 Again.
CB2’s third collaboration with Lenny Kravitz. This isn’t really news but we liked these 2 pieces
Nordic Knots Does Bedding
The brand that made solid colored rugs wildly popualr now sells sheets. We wonder if they’re good..very affordible too. Cool Brand Video.
They also opened a London pied-à-terre with World of Interiors, which feels like the logical next step.
Commune x Christopher Farr Rug Collection
Not our typical pick for a rug design, but love it styled how Commune always does. Feels like a fresh take on a vintage sweedish style rug and textiles.
Pierre Augustin Rose’s Galileo Sofa
Their first signature fabric, and it’s good.
NEWS + BUSINESS
Kitchen Cabinets Join the Trade War
Starting October 14, imported kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities face a 50% tariff, with 30% on upholstered furniture. Trump says it’s to rebuild North Carolina’s furniture industry, which he claims has “completely lost its business to China.”AI Comes for Etsy
OpenAI partnered with Etsy and Shopify to bring “ChatGPT Checkout” to e-commerce. A lot of small brands may soon find AI selling their chairs faster than SEO ever did. Vendors rolling their eyes at “AI tools” might want to start paying attention.Kelly Wearstler’s Side Hustle
She’s turned her Beverly Hills pool house into a gallery platform called Side Hustle, debuting with the show Again, Differently this week before expanding to other cities and venues worldwide. The space extends her world beyond interiors and cements her status as one of our industry’s best shape shifters in our eyes.IKEA Moves Into Soho
IKEA’s putting real capital behind its real estate strategy. The SoHo location is part of a $2.2 billion expansion push. They’re getting rid of warehouses for a footprint in prime retail real estate, owning the building itself so they control rent, identity, and narrative.Someone buy this and don’t mess it up!
A restored modernist carriage house in Philly just listed for $2.95M. It’s one of those rare spaces, previously a carriage house that we would love to sink our teeth into.
A Podcast for you: Social Currency
Sammi Cohen’s podcast is a fun listen. Deep dives into brand mythologies..especially the Restoration Hardware CEO gossip
INDUSTRY DRAMA
RIP Brooklyn Mirage 💔
After months of safety violations, canceled reopenings, and internal chaos, the Mirage is officially over. The parent company filed for bankruptcy and applied for a demolition permit. A lotttt of memories
PSA: Stop ruining gems!
Another mid-century home lost to no taste.
Owning a Piece of the Flatiron is owning a slice of NYC
The building’s long awaited condo conversion is targeting a $375M sell-out, with units starting around $11M and penthouses reaching $50M. 38 units available. Who’s it gonna be?
PROJECT SPOTLIGHT
We found this image on a blog and couldn’t stop looking at it. A pale arch catches light like silk or rice paper, a low black desk sits in the middle, and the whole thing feels weightless.
No one seems to know where it came from..we can’t even reverse image search. A Reddit comment said Midjourney, which tracks. It doesn’t feel real but we don’t care. It gets at what most designers are chasing anyway, which is a mood. It gave us pause and made us want to stay quiet for a minute.
It’s rare to see an image like this without many notes to edit. Maybe that’s the point. Good Designers are selling energy, which might be the most radical idea in design right now.
Shop Where We Shop
In Residence…
Moodboard by: Cola Studios
Shop our selections below!
Otlo Sofa by Atelier Ashiesh Shah. Inspired by sacred geometry, the Otlo Sofa features intersecting circular forms and a low, grounded profile. Upholstered in handwoven fabric and produced in India, the piece reflects Shah’s ongoing exploration of proportion and spatial harmony.
Bamboo Light by Studio HAOS. Constructed from bamboo and steel, this pendant light reduces form to its essentials. Studio HAOS’s approach merges everyday materials with graphic clarity, resulting in a silhouette that feels at once primitive and contemporary.
Glass 005 Coffee Table by Clive Lonstein. Part of a limited edition of 6 + 2 AP, this cast bronze topaz glass table reflects Lonstein’s architectural approach to form and material. With offset geometries and subtle irregularities, the piece explores transparency, mass, and the way light reshapes glass in space. Produced exclusively for Studio Twenty Seven.
Équilibre Rug by Atelier Février. Hand-knotted in Nepal using highland wool and silk, the Équilibre rug balances asymmetry and precision. Abstract forms float across a neutral field, reflecting Atelier Février’s signature approach to contemporary textile as art.
Curule Stool by Pierre Chareau for Galerie MCDE. Originally created in 1925 for a private interior, this stool features a concave seat and crossed-leg construction. Crafted with meticulous woodworking, each piece reveals the character of the chosen wood species through an artisanal finish that highlights natural grain and tonal variation.
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
Sooo nice meeting you at the Tald event!! That glass table is like a sexy jell-o shot!
The best night!! ❤️