This week in design, as part of a larger initiative to champion “high-end lunar tourism,” a San Francisco startup has released plans for a hotel on the moon, constructed with bricks made from lunar soil—though the interior design of the space may still be up for grabs. Stay in the know with our weekly roundup of headlines, launches, recommended reading and more.

Business News
Days after threatening increased tariffs on a group of European countries if the U.S. was not allowed to acquire Greenland, President Donald Trump has backed down from imposing the new levies. As CNBC reports, Trump and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte “formed the framework of a future deal” involving a new relationship between the U.S. and Greenland. As a result, he announced that he will no longer impose the new tariffs on Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom, which would have included a 10 percent increase on February 1, rising to 25 percent on June 1.

TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, finalized a deal to create a new U.S. entity with majority ownership held by a group of non-Chinese investors, The New York Times reports. The agreement ends a six-year legal saga that began in 2019 over national security concerns, with new pressure added after the passage of a 2024 federal law dictating that the video app would be banned in the U.S. if it did not separate from ByteDance. The new U.S. business’s owners include the software giant Oracle, Emirati investment firm MGX and investment firm Silver Lake. ByteDance will retain just under 20 percent of the company.

The American Society of Interior Designers has released its latest Compensation & Benefits Guide, compiling recent data on salaries, benefits and general labor market trends in the design industry. According to the report, employment in the industry increased by 18 percent from October 2019 to March 2025, adding an estimated 7,800 jobs in interior design. (The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts a slower growth rate of 3 percent over the next decade.) As for compensation, the BLS found that median annual salaries increased across the design industry at a pace of 2.1 percent between May 2023 and May 2024, with the median salary for all employed interior designers in the U.S. coming in at $71,430. The metric aligns closely with the median range ($75,000 to $99,999) among the more than 800 designers surveyed by ASID from mid-August to early October 2025 for the report.

Last week, President Trump issued an executive order to ban institutional investors from buying single-family homes. As The Wall Street Journal reports, the order instructs executive agencies to identify ways the federal government can stop backing loans for the purchases. It also gives Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent 30 days to define who qualifies as a “large institutional investor” and what is considered a “single-family home.” The order comes amid other efforts to improve housing affordability, including an announced $200 billion government-backed mortgage bond buyback program designed to bring down borrowing costs for homebuyers.

Thanks to a new bill introduced in California this year, real estate brokers must disclose if a home listing’s images have been digitally altered. The law—which became effective on January 1—dictates that brokers and agents, or “anyone acting on their behalf,” must also provide buyers with access to the original, unedited photos. While the bill allows for standard edits, like lighting adjustments or color correction, it prohibits “the use of photo editing software or artificial intelligence” to add or remove elements like furniture, fixtures, paint color and exterior details. The bill also notes that “willful violation of the Real Estate Law is a crime.”

Amazon has announced that it is opening a big-box store in a Chicago suburb as soon as next year, The Wall Street Journal reports. Located in Orland Park, Illinois, the store will represent Amazon’s largest retail location yet—at roughly 230,000 square feet, it would be nearly twice as large as the average Target—with offerings that include groceries, general merchandise, and fulfillment of online and in-store orders. The city’s Board of Trustees voted 5–2 to approve the project last week, paving the way for Amazon to demolish a restaurant on the site and begin construction. Sources familiar with the matter also told the WSJ that the e-commerce giant is planning to open similar large-format stores across the U.S.

Georgia-based Construction Resources—a distributor of design-oriented surfaces, appliances, cabinets and plumbing fixtures, which was acquired by Home Depot in 2023—is expanding into the Texas market with the acquisition of luxury appliance, plumbing and lighting distributor The Jarrell Company. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company also operates trade-focused kitchen and bath showrooms in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex and Lubbock. Its president, Eric Neel, and his leadership team will remain in their current roles following the acquisition.

Spanish outdoor furniture manufacturer Kettal Group has acquired a majority stake in Italian furniture house Driade, Women’s Wear Daily reports. Previous owner Nemo Group—a fellow Italian company that includes Nemo Lighting, Reggiani, and ILTI Luce—will retain a minority stake in Driade following the acquisition. Founded in Milan in 1968 by art director Enrico Astori, Driade made a name for itself by platforming the work of avant-garde designers like Enzo Mari and Nanda Vigo. Kettal CEO Alex Alorda told WWD that he plans to expand Driade’s global presence, eventually relaunching the brand with a more “Mediterranean-centered vision of design.”

Pinterest plans to lay off nearly 15 percent of its workforce and reduce its office footprint as it shifts resources toward an AI-focused strategy, Reuters reports. The cuts will impact up to 780 positions in the company’s 5,205-person full-time workforce, and are expected to be completed by September 30, the end of its third quarter. Shares of the company fell nearly 10 percent following the news. The platform’s AI efforts thus far have included the introduction of Pinterest Assistant—a shopping tool that provides users with product recommendations—and the Performance+ program for automated ad campaigns.

Launches and Collaborations
Jamie Stern, CEO of his eponymous furniture, carpet, leather and fabric company, will launch a new exhibition next week called “Woven Resistance.” The initiative tapped 13 interior designers and industry professionals—including Matt Goodrich, Penelope Fischer-White and Suzanne Tick—to create one-of-a-kind rugs that will travel to New York, Miami, Chicago and Los Angeles for a series of one-day live exhibitions next month. From February 1 to February 28, the pieces will also be available for purchase through an online silent auction, with proceeds to benefit nonprofit organizations that LGBTQ rights, civil liberties and the fight against climate change. For more information, click here.

Clé, the tile brand founded by Deborah Osburn, has debuted a new collaboration with cosmetics company Ilia Beauty. The partnership draws inspiration from Ilia’s Overglaze Hydrating Lip Gloss, translating the product’s sheen into a collection of handmade tiles available in five styles: Clay, Crystalline, Figure, Mosaic and Resin.

ICFF has announced a new partnership with Habitat for Humanity, which will serve as the charity partner for the New York trade show’s 2026 edition. This year’s event, taking place May 17 to 19, will support the nonprofit’s New York City and Westchester chapter, which works to expand access to permanently affordable homeownership and advance equitable housing solutions across the region.

Home appliance brand Rocco has tapped Moët & Chandon for a limited-edition collaboration in celebration of Valentine’s Day. The pair have released Rocco’s Super Smart Fridge in a bright red hue—the Champagne house’s signature color—with each unit accompanied by 12 matching Moët & Chandon 750-milliliter bottles and 24 minis of its Impérial Brut.

Showhouses
Wow!House, the designer showhouse held annually at London’s Design Centre, Chelsea Harbour, returns this summer with a group of 18 designers and architects selected to reimagine the 6,458-square-foot space. For the event’s fifth edition, Young Huh, Francis Sultana, Samantha Bartlett and more are teaming up with top brands to design each of the home’s 21 spaces. The showhouse will be open to the public from June 2 to July 2, with proceeds to benefit the nonprofit United in Design, which provides pathways into the interior design industry for people from underrepresented groups.

Recommended Reading
The latest trend in lighting is a far cry from the standard lamps and bulbs the category most commonly uses. For The New York Times, Misty White Sidell explores a new generation of large-scale, sculptural sconces—pieces that may not be identified as lighting elements at first glance, but in fact offer an innovative approach to illumination.

As the traditional dining room falls by the wayside, the formal dinner party is also beginning to fade away—in its place, a new age of hosting is being ushered in. For Dwell, Eve Upton-Clark writes about the rise of homeowners and apartment dwellers using their stylishly appointed spaces as the site of supper clubs, pop-up branded dinners and informal cafés, which are often marketed on social media and serve as a stepping stone for broader business ventures.

While each American president has left his mark on the White House, none has implemented changes as sweeping as those carried out by the Trump administration over the past year. For The New York Times, Ashley Wu, Doug Mills, Jeffrey Furticella and Nico Chilla document the president’s renovations, providing before-and-after images of the 10 spaces that have been overhauled.

Call for Entries
The Atlanta Decorative Arts Center is now accepting submissions for the 2026 Southeast Designers & Architect of the Year awards. Each year, the contest recognizes firms and designers from across the region who have demonstrated excellence in the categories of residential interior design, contract interior design and architecture. To make a submission before the February 27 deadline, click here.

Sub-Zero, Wolf and Cove are accepting applications for the 2024–2025 Kitchen Design Contest. Each year, the competition honors the best in kitchen design across several categories—contemporary, traditional, transitional and specialty, plus student design. To make a submission before the January 31 deadline, click here.