Eileen Gray, Reimagined
By Wim Langedijk for HURS
Eileen Gray, Reimagined
HUR Reads is our definitive shortlist of the most prominent articles from around the web.
By HURS Team
1
Carving Time with Emily Young
Kitty Grady visits British sculptor Emily Young at her restored monastery in Tuscany, where she carves ancient stones—some over 100 million years old—into serene heads, discs, and torsos. A descendant of sculptor Kathleen Scott and influenced by William Blake, Young views her practice as a collaboration with the Earth. Her work bridges geology and spirituality, bringing time into vivid, human focus.
A RABBIT’S FOOT
Brit Barton reviews Lauryn Youden’s solo show I Wanna Hold the Hand Inside You at CIRCUIT in Lausanne, where the artist reimagines Eileen Gray’s iconic modernist furniture through a queer and feminist lens. Mixing steel frames with ribbons, lockets, and pepper spray, Youden transforms objects of design into symbols of care and desire. As Barton writes, her work exposes the tension between control and intimacy, turning modernism’s cool restraint into something tender. Youden’s exhibit is on view in Lausanne until November 8th.
FRIEZE
The New York Times profiles Lois Freedman, the co-CEO and president behind Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s 60-restaurant empire. For nearly four decades, Freedman has shaped everything from hiring to décor, known for her exacting eye and no-nonsense honesty — “Madam no,” as Vongerichten calls her. Raised in Queens and trained at the French Culinary Institute, Freedman helped redefine fine dining with warmth, precision, and a deep sense of hospitality.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Gentlewoman features Zadie Smith navigating life as a celebrated novelist, essayist, and mother in Paris and New York. Smith blends humor, politics, and human intimacy in her work, approaching writing as a disciplined “condition” of confronting oneself. Childhood, motherhood, and self-criticism shape her process, enriching both her life and literature. Despite fame, she remains fiercely honest, curious, and devoted to her family, craft and relationships.
THE GENTLEWOMAN
Jane Birkin’s name is usually inseparable from the bag that bears it. In this interview with It Girl author Marisa Meltzer, she unpacks the woman behind the icon. Meltzer discusses Birkin’s effortless style, fearless vulnerability, and refusal to monetize her influence, showing how she navigated fame, fashion, and aging on her own terms. From the accidental design of the Birkin bag to her intuitive evolution as a woman and muse, Birkin emerges as candid and enduringly inspiring.