This week in design, podcast studio interiors are a growing area of opportunity for designers—in fact, the spaces have become so elevated they’ve developed their own set of niche styles. Stay in the know with our weekly roundup of headlines, launches, recommended reading and more.

Business News
Canada’s retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. took effect on Tuesday, applying levies of between 15 and 50 percent to $28 billion in American imports—ranging from steel and aluminum to household goods and furniture. As CBC reports, many small businesses in Canada view themselves as casualties of the new trade regulations, a response to the Trump administration’s 50 percent tariffs on Canadian goods, which rolled out on August 22. One Manitoba-based home furnishings and appliance retailer told CBC that American goods account for roughly 60 percent of the company’s sales by volume; with levies of 50 percent on large furniture pieces and 25 percent on smaller items, the business is forced to absorb the sudden cost increases or scramble to make deals with manufacturers as the new policies take effect.

Houzz has debuted its 2026 U.S. “State of AI: Construction & Design” report, examining how the design industry is reacting to an evolving technological landscape. Surveying more than 600 construction and design pros in the States, the report found that adoption of AI in everyday business tasks has increased 7 percentage points year over year, with 41 percent now using the technology in their daily practices. Those who have begun implementing AI largely agree that it has boosted productivity, with 52 percent saying that it has saved them three or more hours per week, while 18 percent say it has saved them eight or more hours per week—which Houzz translates to an estimated $134,000 in annual productivity gains per firm. Yet, growing adoption has not deterred skepticism about AI, with concerns over reliability and accuracy jumping from 33 percent to 37 percent from last year.

Major auction houses like Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Bonhams have quietly increased their buyer’s fees in recent months, ArtNews reports. Sotheby’s kicked off the trend in February, raising its own buyer’s fees for lots of up to $2 million from 27 percent to 28 percent. Just last week, Christie’s announced that starting September 1, it would charge 28 percent of the hammer price of each lot up to $2 million, rising from last year’s 27 percent, while Bonhams’s new structure, to take effect on October 1, includes a 30 percent fee on the first $35,000 of the hammer price, up from 28 percent on the first $50,000 (among other price changes). Also known as buyer’s premiums, the fees are applied in addition to an item’s hammer price, often serving as a key revenue driver for auction houses—a group that’s seen a decline in business in recent years following a three-year art market downturn.

Diesel fuel prices reached a record high in the U.S. last week, The New York Times reports. As the war in Iran continues to impact the global energy supply, the national average price of a gallon of diesel hit $5.85 on Friday—up more than 55 percent since the start of the conflict, and surpassing the previous all-time high four years ago, at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Meanwhile, gasoline is up nearly 40 percent and the price of crude oil has increased 30 percent since the Iran war began. For the design industry, higher fuel prices could elevate the costs of manufacturing operations and the transportation of goods, translating to price hikes for products.

Doug Bergeron, the activist investor who debuted a proposal to oust Ethan Allen’s corporate board and CEO last month, has made an official filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission outlining his plan for a proxy vote. Last month, the company announced a special dividend of $3 per shareholder, a total payout of approximately $76 million, a move chairman, president and CEO Farooq Kathwari said reflected the company’s “cash generation, debt-free balance sheet, sustained levels of profitability and confidence in our long-term strategy.” In his statement, Bergeron tied the Danbury, Connecticut–based brand’s recent financial performance—including declines in revenue, share price, market share and investor confidence—to Kathwari. The filing goes on to urge investors to vote for his proposed board (Anna Brockway, Kristine Miller, Steve Oblak, Stefanie Tsen Ward and Bergeron himself) in advance of the next shareholder meeting, which will be in November.

The U.K. design industry—defined as professionals working across any of a number of different disciplines, from architecture and fashion to medicine and technology—has undergone rapid growth in recent years, overtaking the nation’s retail sector as the single-largest contributor to the national economy, Dezeen reports. According to a new report from the Design Council, the country’s national strategic advisor for the sector, the design industry added the equivalent of $185 billion in gross value to Britain’s economy in 2023, representing a 40 percent increase from 2019 and beating out the $154 billion retail sector. The design category also outpaced overall U.K. economic growth, which saw a 24 percent rise over the same period. The study also found that the sector recorded a 15 percent increase in employment from 2020 to 2025, even as the country’s employment grew by less than 2.5 percent. Despite overall growth, the report’s look at the architecture and built environment category—which employs roughly 400,000 among more than 2 million in the total design economy—revealed a 1 percent decline for the same period.

Launches and Collaborations
Ruggable and Anthropologie have reunited for the launch of a whimsical collection of rugs, doormats and pet beds. The new assortment draws inspiration from pastoral landscapes and folklore, with vintage textiles, classic plaids and Oushak-inspired patterns—resulting in motifs like blooming roses, hand-drawn horses and layered patchwork, all rendered in a palette of rich olives, blues and mauves.

The home division of fast-fashion giant Zara has tapped Call Me by Your Name director Luca Guadagnino and architect and production designer Stefano Baisi—who have collaborated on several films—for the debut of a cinematic new product assortment. Launching on September 26 on the Zara and Zara Home websites, the Atlas of Desire collection spans more than 200 pieces of furniture, lighting, tableware, textiles, rugs, mirrors and accessories, referencing design movements such as Viennese Secessionism, French art deco, Brazilian modernism and Italian Radical Design. The introduction will be accompanied by a ready-to-wear fashion collection and a short film directed by Guadagnino, starring Jamie Bell, Chase Sui Wonders, Michael Stuhlbarg and Patricia Arquette.

Recommended Reading
The odds have been stacked against stainless steel starting when the first Trump administration applied tariffs to imports of the material in 2018, culminating in prices climbing as much as 45 percent since last year’s levies—but that doesn’t seem to have deterred consumers. For The Wall Street Journal, Misty White Sidell writes about a rising demand for high-end home goods and furniture made from stainless steel, which is lauded for its durability and sleek appearance, and has become the material of choice for goods like kitchenware, seating and home accessories.

In recent years, top brands in the sleep industry have been quietly engaged in a race to develop a new kind of pillow—one that ultimately improves sleep posture, ideally resolving a range of issues, including chronic neck pain, which affects approximately 30 to 50 percent of adults annually. For Fast Company, Elizabeth Segran details the results of those efforts: a new generation of pillows (some of which resemble clouds or marshmallows, or have large holes in the surface) befitting a diverse array of body types and sleepers.

Bed Bath & Beyond has embarked on a total brand makeover in the years since its 2023 bankruptcy filing and acquisition by Overstock, leading to a journey through several new names and a number of acquisitions, and finally emerging as a new entity called Neighborhood Intelligence. For Retail Dive, Caroline Jansen explores the company’s efforts to cultivate a portfolio that spans omnichannel retail, home services, blockchain capabilities and homeownership—and examines why poor financial ratings among its newly purchased properties may spell trouble for the retailer’s grand ambitions.