Design Wire May 2025
The LANGLAIS ART PRESERVE in Cushing, along with 18 other sites across the country, has been added as an affiliate to the NATIONAL TRUST FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION’s prestigious HISTORIC ARTISTS’ HOMES AND STUDIOS membership network. This peer-to-peer coalition of sites leverages the knowledge and experience of individual members to benefit the entire network in critical areas, including historic preservation, visitor and community programming, and communications. The network’s 80 affiliate sites, from intimate studios to expansive compounds, provide visitors with authentic experiences of the places where influential art has been conceived. The 90-acre Langlais Art Preserve showcases artist BERNARD LANGLAIS’s large-scale wooden sculptures and includes a preserved workshop and seasonal barn studio along the St. George River. Another New England site, Stephen Huneck’s DOG MOUNTAIN in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, was also included in the latest affiliate cohort.
Harvard-trained designer CHLOE REDMOND WARNER recently unveiled RAD GOODS, an exclusive line of wallpaper, textiles, and custom case goods inspired by her idyllic summers in Maine. “Time spent on Islesboro has had a profound impact on my design aesthetic, especially through my love for layered, comfortable interiors and confident floral patterns—an appreciation I developed from spending time in homes filled with beautiful English and early American antiques, including homes decorated by Sister Parish,” Warner told MH+D. “The refined, traditional atmosphere of Islesboro, paired with memories of family gatherings and the distinct, colorful bedrooms of my grandmother’s house, shaped my passion for decoration, ornament, and creating cohesive patterns. My first RAD Goods collection draws directly from these influences, incorporating flora from Maine to capture the tender, site-specific atmosphere of a place that means so much to me.” Launched under Warner’s REDMOND ALDRICH DESIGN studio, RAD Goods debuted with the Peony Chintz textile at the 2024 KIPS BAY DECORATOR SHOW HOUSE at Palm Beach.
The BANGOR REGION YMCA has unveiled renderings for a new $57.8 million campus that will be named the CATHY GERO BANGOR REGION YMCA in honor of a longtime member and supporter of the organization. Sitting on a seven-acre site on Main Street, the three-story, 82,000-square-foot building will be nearly twice the size of the current YMCA facility. It will feature a STEAM MAKER SPACE, cafe and food pantry, kids adventure zone, outdoor play- grounds, sports fields, a teen center, and an expanded childcare program as well as a community health center offering mental health support, primary care, and physical therapy. “The design of the new Bangor YMCA takes shape as a thoughtful and contextually rooted response, intricately woven into the fabric of Bangor’s rich urban landscape. It engages with the site in a manner that not only respects its surroundings but also enhances the functionality and aspirations of the YMCA’s programs and mission. The collaboration with the Bangor Region YMCA has been a partnership in every sense of the word,” said Nick Vaughn, director of education and athletics practice at SMRT ARCHITECTS AND ENGINEERS, the firm behind the project. The new facility will break ground in September and is expected to open in spring 2027.
In collaboration with the ANDY WARHOL FOUNDATION FOR VISUAL ARTS, phone accessory maker CASETIFY unveiled a new lineup of phone and tech cases inspired by the artist’s iconic pop art. The ANDY WARHOL X CASETIFY COLLECTION showcases three of Warhol’s most well-known works: Banana, Campbell’s Soup Can, and Brillo Box. “They’ve been reimagined by CASETiFY in ways that feel distinctly Warholian—playful, innovative, and thought- provoking,” Michael Dayton Hermann, the foundation’s director of licensing, market- ing, and sales, told Design Milk. Each product comes in special-edition packaging inspired by Warhol’s Heinz Tomato Ketchup Box, adorned with the famous quote: “Art is what you get away with.” Revenue from the collaboration will contribute to the founda- tion’s endowment, which awards over 100 grants annually to artists, art organizations, and curators throughout the United States to support research fellowships, exhibitions, and other programming.
The $56 million, 107,000-square-foot MAINE INTERNATIONAL COLD STORAGE FACILITY that recently opened on Commercial Street in Portland will help the country meet the increasing demand for fresh and frozen food products, including seafood, produce, dairy, and pharmaceuticals. Icelandic-owned shipping company EIMSKIP, Yarmouth-based TREADWELL FRANKLIN INFRASTRUCTURE, the MAINE PORT AUTHORITY, MAINE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, and U.K.-based AMBER INFRASTRUCTURE collaborated on the project, which was completed by FCL BUILDERS in January. The facility, which is operated by TAYLOR LOGISTICS, includes 21,000 pallet positions, 85,500 square feet of storage space, and more than 13 loading docks. It also features the largest rooftop solar photovoltaic array in Maine.
Portland public art organization TEMPOART announced the appointment of LAURA ZORCH MCDERMIT as its first full-time executive director. Before coming to Maine, McDermit led the Laramie, Wyoming, Public Art Coalition for five years while championing payment for artists and conceiving innovative projects in public spaces. Prior to that, she spent 15 years piloting artist-led programming at the CARNEGIE MUSEUM OF ART in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. McDermit has a master’s degree in arts management and is the co-chair of programming for the national PUBLIC ART EXCHANGE network. “I am excited to join TEMPOart and make Maine my home. It will be an absolute joy to connect with the Portland community to create moments of belonging and curiosity through public art alongside my new neighbors,” she said in a press release.
Two local companies aim to meet the state’s future and current housing needs with modular multifamily housing that can be constructed much faster than traditional residential structures. Maine-based developer DOORYARD is working on a mail-order catalog of options from single-family to 10-unit buildings made with a kit of parts. According to their website, Dooryard homes are “designed to address the unique challenges of infill development, on the smaller and narrower lots that characterize Maine’s village centers and cities built before 1940.” Elsewhere in Maine, KBS BUILDERS has developed a climate-controlled assembly line facility in which 70 percent of each of their modular homes is produced, eliminating the issue of working around seasonal weather changes. According to the CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS, modular homes represent only about 3 percent of America’s residential construction, whereas in Finland, Norway, and Sweden, 45 percent of homes are modular.