This week in design, one family’s collection of fine china—passed down through five generations—provides a window into how living habits and tableware preferences have evolved over the last century. Stay in the know with our weekly roundup of headlines, launches, events, recommended reading and more.

Business News
The Container Store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late December after months of slumping sales and mounting losses. As The Associated Press reports, the company’s growing financial struggles were clear in its most recent quarterly earnings report, which recorded a 12.5 percent comparable store sales decline as well as $16 million in losses, and its stock was recently delisted by the New York Stock Exchange. According to court documents, the retailer had roughly $230 million in debt and $11.8 million in cash at the time of its filing. The company said it will remain operational throughout the restructuring process, with plans to emerge from Chapter 11 status as a private company.

Marquee Brands, a holding company sponsored by investment management firm Neuberger Berman, has acquired the Laura Ashley brand, archives and intellectual property from investment firm Gordon Brothers, Fashion Dive reports. Since Gordon Brothers purchased the British heritage textile company out of insolvency in 2020, Laura Ashley has undergone a transformation in recent years, debuting homewares and expanding its presence in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, China, India and the Middle East. Following the new acquisition, Marquee aims to “deepen Laura Ashley’s presence, driving new business across North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, EMEA and other key regions.” It will join a portfolio of brands that includes Martha Stewart, Emeril Lagasse and Sur La Table.

Laura Ashley wasn’t the only M&A deal to kick off the new year, which has already seen a flurry of acquisitions. In France, Porcelain maker Bernardaud purchased its competitor Haviland, while stateside, Construction Resources, a Home Depot–owned distribution company, acquired Atlanta-based custom and semi-custom cabinet brand Bell Cabinetry. Elsewhere in the industry, BridgeTower Media—the owner of design industry news sites Furniture Today and Home Accents Today—acquired Furniture Lighting & Decor last month from Scranton Gillette Communications. The publication’s future content will be folded into Home Accents Today, which will begin incorporating expanded coverage of the lighting industry this month. Finally, Getty Images announced that it will merge with rival Shutterstock in a bid to combat growing challenges posed to the visual content industry by AI tools like Midjourney and AdobeFirefly. If approved, the merger would create a $3.7 billion stock-image empire.

Nordstrom is set to go private after agreeing to a $6.25 billion buyout deal from the retailer’s founding family and the department store chain El Puerto de Liverpool, which owns 29 shopping centers in Mexico. As CNBC reports, the purchase will hand majority ownership back to the Nordstrom family with a 50.1 percent stake in the company, while El Puerto de Liverpool will take on 49.9 percent. Common stock shareholders, meanwhile, will receive $24.25 in cash for each share they hold. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2025.

Over the past year, retail store closures outpaced new openings—a departure from the two years prior, which favored openings—and home retailers represented a significant portion of the closures. As The Wall Street Journal reports, data firm Coresight Research found that retailers announced 1,400 more store closures than openings in 2024, along with 51 retail bankruptcies compared to just 25 the year before. Some of the main drivers behind the shift were major retailers like Big Lots, LL Flooring and Conn’s, which each filed for bankruptcy and closed hundreds of stores last year.

Launches and Collaborations
King Charles III has awarded a new Royal Warrant—a prestigious recognition for companies that supply goods or services to the royal households—to English heritage home furnishings brand Sanderson. The company has long served as a supplier of fabric and wallpaper to the royal family’s estates, having received its first Royal Warrant from King George V in 1924. The renewal of the brand’s status also reflects its commitment to environmental standards, including a plan to reduce its carbon footprint to net zero by 2030.

London-based design studio Campbell-Rey has teamed up with The Lacquer Company to debut a furniture and home accessories collection. The assortment features a variety of tables, consoles and decorative items imbued with the art and design firm’s aesthetic, leaning into rich jewel tones accentuated by The Lacquer Company’s traditional techniques.

Multiline showroom Jerry Pair has announced the debut of a new subsidiary company called Tambor Leather. Complementing Jerry Pair Leather, which primarily serves the luxury residential market, Tambor Leather is geared toward the hospitality and contract sectors. The new brand has launched with 250 unique leather patterns and is available for clients to shop directly.

Recommended Reading
On TikTok, a growing niche of creators are presenting a counterpoint to the bachelor pad with the “boy apartment”: tidy, carefully curated homes that demonstrate equal parts interior design know-how and a capacity for cleanliness. For The New York Times, Josh Ocampo explores a broader shift that’s been more than a century in the making, from a society that saw women as “high priestesses of the home” to one in which more men are appointing their own personal spaces.

On the first day of 2025, a new crop of artwork, literature and film entered the public domain upon the expiration of their decades-long copyright protections, allowing artists and businesses to utilize some iconic works of art and design for the first time ever. For Fast Company, Grace Snelling provides an overview of the materials that are now free to use in the creative commons—including pieces by Henri Matisse and Frida Kahlo, as well as the work of architect William Van Alen (the designer of New York’s Chrysler Building) and art-deco architect Auguste Perret.

The flooding surrounding pediatric emergency room doctor Meghan Martin’s home in St. Petersburg, Florida, became so frequent in recent years that she sometimes resorted to commuting to work via paddle board. Her family’s one-story space wasn’t quite as resilient: Following two severe floods, the Martins followed in the footsteps of a growing number of neighbors by renovating their home to lift it 8 to 10 feet in the air—and out of harm’s way. For The New York Times, Gregory Barber examines how more frequent flooding brought on by climate change is making house-raising more popular among homeowners in coastal areas, who are willing to shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars (for the Martins, a cost exceeding the price of their home) to protect their properties.

Call for Entries
The American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame is now seeking nominations for its 2025 inductees. All existing members of the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame Foundation are eligible to make and to second nominations, and are encouraged to submit candidates who have made contributions that have impacted the industry—from the standpoint of creativity, philanthropy or innovation. To submit a nomination, click here.

Cue the Applause
The Howard University Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts Kimberly Elaine Ward Scholarship—presented by Benjamin Moore, Black Interior Designers Inc. and Howard University—has been granted to second-year interior design student Kayla Chambers. With the $30,000 grant toward tuition fees and other educational resources, Chambers plans to continue pursuing her goal of owning a design firm and creating a nonprofit organization that uses design in underserved communities.

In Memoriam
Art and design industry veteran Anthony “Tony” Fusco passed away in late December. As the co-founder and director of marketing and public relations agency Fusco & Four Associates, he found himself at the helm of preeminent large-scale art and design events, including the Boston International Fine Art Show and Boston Design Week. Fusco nurtured his own expertise in the field, writing five books on vintage posters and art deco and organizing numerous World Congress on Art Deco events. In Fusco’s memory, Boston Design Week has announced a one-year hiatus, with plans to return in 2026. “Tony’s support and dedication to hundreds of artists, designers, authors and talented professionals will always be remembered,” Robert Four, Fusco’s partner at the agency and Boston Design Week co-producer, wrote in a statement.