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In Dreams Kambel Smith S leep is often called the ultimate modern luxury — and there's no brand quite as splurge- w o r t h y a s H ä s t e n s . T h e brand's newest store opens in Houston's River Oaks District early this month. A $1 million dollar bed? It's here. The family-owned Swedish bed maker has crafted exquisite horsehair-filled mattresses for more than 170 years, but it's recently risen to renown in the U.S. thanks to a cameo in season one of Netflix's Emily in Paris and an endorsement from Drake, who showcased his Hästens Grand Vividus bed (which retails for $660,000) in a 2020 Architectural Digest spread. The European brand, known for its signature blue-check design, has begun building a U.S. presence thanks to a 2023 partnership with North American luxury distributor MadaLuxe Group. The goal is to open 20 stores across the U.S. — and Texas is a key part of the strategy. Houston's new River Oaks District store marks the second in the U.S. since the MadaLuxe partnership; the first opened last year in Dallas' Knox District. The Houston location will be the first in North America to showcase the Grand Vividus bed and headboard together — a $1 million price tag. The 2,848-square- foot boutique will also carry the widest assortment of Hästens products in North America, including 16 beds, headboards, linen sets, down pillows and duvets, blue-checked cotton pajamas, robes, alpaca throws, and goose-down slippers. The brand may be best known in the U.S. for its staggeringly priced Vividus line, but all Hästens beds are handcrafted in Sweden with all- natural cotton, wool, flax, and horsetail hair (ethically and sustainably sourced during the grooming process), with prices starting around $16,000 for a king bed. Rest assured and book a bed test with the in-store sleep experts. Hästens Houston, River Oaks District, 4444 Westheimer Road, Suite A110, hastens.com. Caitlin Clark Hästens Grand Vividus in natural shale CARDBOARD CITY AT BARBARA DAVIS GALLERY D iscovered on the streets of the Germantown neighborhood in Philadelphia in 2018, Kambel Smith's rise in the national art world has been meteoric. The self-taught talent is possessed of a special gift: He is known as an Autisarian, for his autism allows him to look at any building and render it in cardboard without any measurements. Smith's structures are meticulous yet charmingly handmade, with bricks, awnings, columns, cornices, towers, and other architectural flourishes rendered with both exactitude and a human touch, all from the most mundane materials. His transformation of cardboard, duct tape, spray paint, ink, graphite, hot glue, and foam board into sculptures as tall as 12 feet high is remarkable. In Smith's architectural arsenal, debuting this month at Barbara Davis Gallery, are renditions of such 20th-century icons as the Woolworth and Chrysler Buildings, the Lincoln Memorial, and the New York Public Library. Created for this show, Smith sculpts Houston's beloved Astrodome, set to be revealed at his opening. Dallas Art Fair co-founder Chris Byrne curates; Byrne set Smith's career in motion by organizing a solo show and residency at Elaine de Kooning House in the Hamptons. With outsider artists now mainstream, and advocates such as influential critics Jerry Saltz (New York Magazine) and Holland Cotter (The New York Times), Smith's show is generating buzz; the gallery donates a portion of sales to Houston's Orange Show Center for Visionary Art. "Kambel Smith: Raw," opening Friday, March 8, 6 to 8:30 pm, at Barbara Davis Gallery; exhibition through May 2; barbaradavisgallery.com. Catherine D. Anspon Kambel Smith's Woolworth Building, 2020, at Barbara Davis Gallery OBSESSIONS. DECORATION. SALIENT FACTS.