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Bulgari’s Latest ‘Sketched’ Watches Are Drawing Attention

Bulgari celebrated its 140th anniversary this week with a trio of Octo Finissimo Sketch limited editions dedicated to the art of trompe l’oeil.

The French art history term translates to “deceive the eye,” a reference to the artist’s ability to fool the viewer into thinking they are looking at something real when it’s simply an artistic illusion.

Bulgari’s Sketch series debuted in 2022 with an Octo Finissimo Automatic and an Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT featuring “sketched” dials depicting the original hand drawings. This time, Bulgari flips the script with dials bearing illustrations of the interior movements, mirror images of the actual calibers that can be viewed through sapphire crystal case backs.

Limited to 280 pieces in steel (€17,800/about US$19,400) and 70 pieces in 18-karat 5N rose gold (€51,000/about US$55,500), the new Octo Finissimo Automatic Sketch depicts the in-house BVL 138 caliber’s micro-rotor, escapement, bridges, rubies, and intricate finishing details, such as Côtes de Genève and circular graining.

undefined Each monochromatic piece measures 40mm in diameter and 6.4mm thick, in keeping with Octo Finissimo’s ultra-thin theme. The sapphire crystal case back is engraved to commemorate the anniversary.

The third piece is a Chronograph GMT Sketch (€20,800/about US$22,600), featuring a 43mm polished steel case measuring 8.75mm thick. In 2019, the original Octo Finissimo Chronograph GMT broke an ultra-thin record with a 3.33mm-thick caliber incorporating a 30-minute chronograph and central second in addition to a second time zone at 3 o’clock.

Limited to just 140 pieces, this edition’s dial features a sketch that blends dial and movement elements. The Tri-Compax chronograph dial display (GMT at 3 o’clock, 30-minute counter at 6 o’clock, small seconds at 9 o’clock) is combined with a balance between 4 and 5 o’clock, the chronograph column wheel at 8 o’clock, and finishing details on the bridges and gears.

Those who follow the Instagram account of Fabrizio Buonamassa Stigliani, Bulgari’s product creation executive director, will instantly recognise the stylistic signature of his fast-motion freehand sketching videos. Before joining Bulgari as a designer in 2001, he designed cars for the Fiat and Alfa Romeo brands at Centro Stile Fiat, where he honed his precise yet spontaneous fast-sketching technique using a pen or marker on paper.

Each monochromatic piece measures 40mm in diameter and 6.4mm thick, in keeping with Octo Finissimo’s ultra-thin theme.
Bulgari

In 2014, he re-envisioned Gérald Genta’s Octo design with the goal of creating the world’s thinnest mechanical watch. The resulting Octo Finissimo line went on to set nine ultra-thin records, including a number of complications, such as the world’s slimmest tourbillon, minute repeater, automatic chronograph, and perpetual calendar. In 2022 it went to extremes with the futuristic Ultra, measuring just 1.80mm thick. (Ultra was ultimately bested in 2022 by Richard Mille’s UP-01 Ferrari at 1.75mm thick.)

Such accomplishments represented daunting technical feats that brought Buonamassa Stigliani’s sketches into reality. When Bulgari acquired the Gérald Genta and Daniel Roth brands in 2000, it also secured the technical know-how to create such record-breaking ultra-thin watches. (LVMH acquired Bulgari in 2011 and has relaunched the Genta and Roth brands separately.)

Bulgari’s Sketch series pays homage to the importance of hand-drawn renderings in art history. Since the Renaissance, Italian artists kept their schizzi (sketches) for their students and their archives as references to use in the quest to improve upon an original design.

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Art Market Dip Last Year Reflects Lack of Supply, Not Demand

The global market for art may have been softer last year against a more volatile economic backdrop, but trends detailed within the latest annual report from Art Basel and UBS released earlier this week continue to show collectors are willing to buy.

Scanning a chart within the report of sales since 2009 reveals an ebb-and-flow in the overall market, but surprising consistency in the value of transactions and an uptick in volume.

The year-to-year differences, such as the 4% dip in market value to US$65 billion last year, are mostly driven by the number and outcome of big-ticket sales, which declined across auction houses and galleries in 2023.

How many high-value works of art come to market in a given year, however, often has less to do with buying interest from collectors during shaky economic conditions and more to do with the willingness of sellers to part with paintings or sculptures during a time of perceived weakness, according to Matthew Newton, art advisory specialist at UBS Family Office Solutions in New York.

“I don’t think we see an unwillingness to buy those works when they do come to market,” Newton says.

When the economy is weak, estates with less discretion over timing often are the main consignors of expensive art. For example, last fall in New York, Sotheby’s sold works owned by Emily Fisher Landau , a long-time patron who amassed a collection bursting with masterpieces that hadn’t appeared at an auction before.

Sotheby’s single-owner auction of the Fisher Landau collection led to the US$139.4 million sale of Pablo Picasso’s Femme à la montre (the second highest price for a Picasso work at auction); the US$41 million sale of Jasper Johns’ Flags ;  and the record US$18.7 million sale of Agenes Martin’s Grey Stone II —prices that were within or exceeded expectations.

“People are still willing to make trophy purchases,” Newton says. “I don’t think there’s a lack of demand, it’s about a lack of supply.”

Rising interest rates since 2022 arguably could be another factor in slower high-end sales, since wealthy individuals finance about 29% of their art collections, on average, while the ultra-wealthy (those with a net worth above US$50 million) finance as much as 39%, according to a separate report on global collecting trends published late last year from Art Basel and UBS.

But Newton doesn’t believe higher rates played a significant role in the art market last year. The wealthy typically borrow money for business or investment opportunities; if they have a US$500 million art collection on their walls, borrowing against it can be a good source of liquidity. Any impact it has on the market would be “within the margin of error,” Newton says.

Another chart in the report tracks sales growth from 2009 through 2023 in five segments of the auction market, from works sold below US$50,000 to those achieving US$10 million or more. The results show the performance of most works of art that are sold—that is, those that fall below the US$10 million level—has been “relatively flat over a decade plus,” Newton says. “It’s really those works that are over US$10 million … that’s where we see growth in the art market.”

At auction, the US$10 million-plus segment fell a substantial 25% in 2023 from the previous year, but overall, the sales trend for those ultra-expensive paintings since 2009 has been on an upward trajectory. That’s no accident, considering the population of billionaires who fuel those sales has also continued to rise, with their wealth doubling over the last 10 years to about US$13.1 billion, according to the report.

“It’s a relatively very small group of people who can spend over US$10 million on artwork,” Newton says. Of those who can afford to, not everyone does, meaning a few individuals can alter total sales for the whole market.

In part, that’s because global art sales are relatively small even at US$65 billion. Consider the global private-equity market—another place where the wealthiest individuals place their money—was estimated to reach US$16.3 trillion last year, according to London data firm Preqin.

“$65 billion … that’s obviously a lot of money,” he says. “On the other hand, that’s the entire art market—it’s like less than half the net worth of a few individuals.”

Newton says he often reminds clients that not that much art that exists in the world is sold. “What is traded is a very, very small percentage of the work that’s out there.”

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Is This $1.2 Million Entertaining Space ‘The Coolest Man Cave Ever?’

Suzanne Lovell, a Chicago-based designer, had already worked with her clients—who are in their late 50s and work in the boating industry—on a condo in Chicago and a 15,000-square-foot penthouse in Naples, Fla., when the husband called with a special request. “He had just purchased a car condo about 5 miles from their Naples residence,” Lovell says. “And he asked me to design the coolest man cave ever.”

The car condo is in a gated community, but instead of front doors, there are garage doors. The units don’t have bedrooms. Instead, there is generous space for cars and for entertaining—complete with bathrooms and wet bars—making a car condo the perfect place to host a Formula One viewing party. The double unit, which the couple bought in 2021 and would cost about $3 million in today’s market, is about 3,400 square feet. The second-floor entertaining space overlooks the ground floor, which has space for five of the owner’s 20 cars, including a 1957 Porsche Speedster, a 1962 Ferrari 250GT and a 1961 Facel Vega. Along with multiple seating areas, the entertainment floor also has a race simulator and a room for the owner’s custom slot car track. The couple spent about $1.2 million to outfit the space. Cars not included!

Eames Lounge Chairs
After a little research, Lovell discovered Racing & Emotions will customize classic Eames lounge chairs in Ferrari racing red, complete with the owner’s race number. “I was able to pair classic furniture with a classic car collection,” Lovell says. // Price: $US25,000 for both
Mural
Lovell’s client suggested she work with artist Marcus Zotter to create a wall mural in the space. “When I met with Marcus, we talked about making it feel like you’re on a racetrack, in the race,” she says. “That’s what inspired the painting on the walls.” The client chose his favourite cars to be pictured in the mural that covers three of the walls. // Price: $US75,000
Desk
The space includes an area for the owner to work. Lovell outfitted it with a CEO Cube desk designed by Lella and Massimo Vignelli for Poltrona Frau. Says Lovell, “I’ve wanted to do that desk for so long, and to do it in red was fabulous.” // Price: $US35,000
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These Professionals Aren’t Retired, They Just Have Zero to Prove

10 Trends

They came, they saw, they conquered work. Then they shrugged.

Some strivers who piled up money and status say they’re over the endless hustle and are embracing what they call a “post-achievement” lifestyle with family, health and passion projects taking priority over career accomplishments.

Another promotion? Too busy surfing. Deferred compensation that’s oh-so-close to vesting? Slipping the golden handcuffs is less painful than you might think.

Post-achievement professionals aren’t necessarily retired, even if they’re financially set for life. Many have transitioned to roles with fewer hours and responsibilities to make time for pursuits they find more meaningful such as podcasting, meditating and playing guitar.

Rather than grab every available dollar and accolade, Kevin Dahlstrom quit a seven-figure, round-the-clock job in 2018. He prefers to be seen as a bold, slightly mysterious figure who could have risen higher but opted out on his own terms.

“I’d be lying if I said that doesn’t stroke my ego,” says Dahlstrom, who left a chief-marketing-officer role and moved to Boulder, Colo., to rock climb. Professional acquaintances sometimes refer to him as a legend because he jumped off the corporate ladder in a way that most people only dream about. “Who wouldn’t like being called a legend, right?”

At age 53, he estimates that he passed up more than $10 million of future earnings but says he doesn’t need to make another penny. He recalls an executive meeting where he looked around the room, saw high-powered colleagues who seemed unhappy, and thought: What’s the point of grinding if it doesn’t bring joy?

He’s still ambitious and recently accepted a more flexible marketing-executive position at a smaller company that allows him to be on task as needed, and on a mountain whenever climbing conditions are good.

“To me, that’s nirvana because I still want to do hard things and work on fun projects,” he says. “But I also want that to be only one part of my life—and not the biggest part of my life anymore.”

Less money, more passion

Here’s the thing about getting to post-achievement status: You have to earn it by doing something impressive first.

The former go-getters I’ve met aren’t the types who could have coasted through middling careers from day one, despite being full of potential. (That would make them quiet quitters or, perhaps, masters of work-life balance .) They needed to prove, to themselves and others, that they could excel at high levels. Only then—with killer résumés and F-you money—could they make dramatic life changes.

Khe Hy , who helped popularise the term post-achievement on his website and YouTube channel , RadReads, says it’s hard not to look back. He left his job as a hedge-fund managing director in 2015 and still feels the occasional pang of envy when he considers the riches that former colleagues have accumulated. Hy, 44, says he’s sitting on about $5 million, probably enough to retire to a frugal lifestyle, but likely not enough to sustain his family forever in pricey, coastal California. Had he remained on Wall Street for a few more years, he might never have to work again.

Still, he moves past those feelings by remembering how numb he’d become to big paydays in finance.

“The key moment is when you realise that no next achievement will significantly change your baseline happiness,” he says. “I consider myself post-achievement because I’m not really striving for anything.”

That’s not entirely true. Hy is trying to bulk up but struggles to add weight to his 155-pound frame. Between running 25 miles a week and surfing almost daily, it’s tough to sculpt more than a lean six-pack, you know?

His RadReads business, which includes coaching for hard-charging professionals who want to rebalance their lives, generates about $200,000 annually. He works about 35 hours a week but controls his schedule and no longer fixates on career advancement.

Rachel Barek , 44, isn’t ready to step down as chief executive of Said Differently, the marketing agency she co-founded, anytime soon. But the majority stake she and her partner sold to a private-equity firm comes with a lifetime of financial security, she says.

“I could very easily fall into the trap of being a serial entrepreneur. I was born that way,” she says. “A lot of serial entrepreneurs are scared of the white space in their lives, and I’m really excited by that white space.”

In her future post-achievement phase, Barek plans to do something radically different: beauty school. She developed the interest while cutting her son’s hair at home during the pandemic and wants to offer pro bono barber services for children with special sensory needs and others who can’t afford to pay. But she concedes her clipping skills could use some work.

Avoiding the success trap

Kristopher Abdelmessih says he was six months shy of collecting about $1 million of deferred compensation when he walked away from his job as an options trader in 2021.

“Maybe it was rash, but I’ve replayed this in my head many times, and I don’t think I would do it any differently,” he says. “I was done.”

Abdelmessih, 45, was motivated to succeed by his modest upbringing in an immigrant household. There would be no safety net if he sputtered professionally, so he picked a field that paid well, played to his strengths and didn’t require graduate school.

But trading was never a calling. Leaving wasn’t so much about losing ambition as it was about a desire to chase fulfilling interests, like tutoring low-income students, gaining the confidence to play guitar on stage for the first time and traveling with his family six to eight weeks a year.

He and a business partner are in the early stages of developing a trading software tool that Abdelmessih hopes will become profitable. If it takes off and demands more of his time someday, that’s OK with him because it’s a passion project.

Jason Chow , a financial-services firm vice president, isn’t post-achievement yet, but he wants to be. Chow, 45, and many others say they’ve climbed high enough to realise each progressive rung brings new hassles and fleeting satisfaction.

“It resonates with me because my life is work, and I know there’s more,” he says. “I just haven’t found what that is yet.”

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The 15-Minute Living Room Makeover—That Costs You Zip

THE DECOR doldrums hit hard as the weather lollygags toward spring. “We spend so much time in our most lived-in spaces, like the living room, that they begin to feel monotonous after a long winter,” said Malorie Goldberg, an interior designer with Noa Blake Design, a firm in Marlboro, N.J.

Fortunately, rearranging your stuff can significantly shake up a stale space , and all you need is 15 minutes to do it.

“We get used to where things are and overlook potential in objects we already have,” said Leslie Martin, of M+M Interior Design in Kenilworth, Ill. The pro calls this state of inertia “house blind,” and asks rhetorically, “Does the chair you have piled with laundry in your bedroom suddenly take on new life when moved to your living room?”

Here, interior designers share their fast fixes for breathing new energy into your tuckered-out living room decor.

1. Flip your layout from one side of the room to another to “create new traffic patterns and sightlines,” said New York designer Kimberly Bevan. “Don’t forget to rotate your rugs along with the furniture.” Adds Ariel Okin, another New York designer, “Map the arrangement out in blue tape beforehand to make sure you like the look.”

2. Don’t be afraid to pull in pieces from other rooms. “Two dining chairs and a side table can become a game-table vignette,” said Kristine Renee, of Design Alchemy in Sacramento, Calif. Add a side chair or ottoman underneath a console table to get a “new” writing desk.

3. Group flowers , a few coffee table books and a small dish on a big, handsome tray, said Okin, for a “styled moment that feels considered.”

4. Swap lampshades from one room to another, suggests Bevan. “Imagine the difference between a simple linen shade and one that’s patterned ,” she said.

5. For a coffee table refresh , “throw a beautiful tablecloth over it and let the edges drape on the floor,” said Toronto designer Justine Alexandra Dunk. A couple of books or decorative catchall on top will layer in the “super cozy, Old World English feel.”

6. Beware the “dorm-room phenomenon,” said Pittsburgh designer Leanne Ford. “We never stopped thinking we had to push everything against the walls.” Moving your furniture just 6 inches off the wall “will actually make your space feel bigger.”

7. Clean exterior windows , says Jacu Strauss, creative director at hospitality company Lore Group, in London. “You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how much extra light the room receives.”

8. Steal a throw blanket from a guest bedroom and swap it for the one currently in your living room, says New York interior designer Emma Beryl. “Artfully drape it, either on the corner of the sofa or over the arm of a chair to make it look purposeful.”

9. Use your printer to reproduce a few favourite photos in black and white, and swap them for what’s currently in your frames, says Okin. “Black and white brings an instantly classic, clean and edited look to the room.”

10. Shuffle your art. “This will breathe new life into the space,” said Boston designer Honey Collins.

11. “Deflect attention from the TV by repositioning artwork and light fixtures to create new spots that draw the eye,” said Lindye Galloway, a designer in Newport Beach, Calif. Lean a bold art print against the wall on the credenza or move a mirror so it doesn’t reflect the television, says Goldberg. “Then the TV just exists in the room instead of owning it.”

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The TikTok Bill Targets China’s Cultural Influence. That’s a Big Shift from the Tech War.

Congress’ new swing at social-media app TikTok might seem like more of the same old U.S.-China tech war that’s been running for several years—just that now it has come for dancing teens.

But what leading advocates of the new TikTok bill want would significantly expand the scope of the U.S. government’s interventions into the economy in the name of national security. The law would effectively ban TikTok if it didn’t change owners out of Chinese hands. The hallmark of China-focused regulation in recent years has been to keep American stuff—advanced technology, data, and intellectual property—out of the hands of the Chinese military. The TikTok bill would attempt to do something different: regulate companies’ ability to wield cultural power over Americans.

U.S.-China competition has already been hugely consequential for both countries’ economies and the world. Flows of trade, capital, information, and people between the two have fallen by 28% over the past decade, a report out today on the state of globalisation by logistics company DHL finds. The rise of industrial policy and other political interventions in markets are helping keep inflation high worldwide. Any expansion of regulation into new areas could add to that pressure.

To be sure, the bill is still far from becoming law. It passed the House today with overwhelming margins, but it must still pass the Senate and be signed into law by the president. Its advocates make a strong case that something really is new when it comes to TikTok. But given the stakes, it’s worth understanding exactly what that new thing is.

The bill’s leading advocates want it for two reasons . One, they argue TikTok is effectively a vast data-collection tool that can hand information about Americans directly to the Chinese Communist Party, whose requests TikTok’s management can’t refuse. This is a familiar issue in tech regulation. It is also why U.S. government employees aren’t allowed to keep the app on their phones.

The other issue is more novel. This is the idea that TikTok can be used “to mobilise public opinion,” as one of the bill’s lead sponsors, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D., Ill.), put it in a hearing with the leaders of the U.S. intelligence community on Tuesday.

Many TikTok users saw a pop-up last week urging them to contact Congress about the pending legislation, and quite a few did. Doesn’t that show exactly how the Chinese Communist Party could manipulate Americans, Krishnamoorthi asked? “While I can’t speak to the specific example,” responded FBI Director Christopher Wray, “I can tell you that the kind of thing you’re describing illustrates why this is such a concern.”

Avril Haines, U.S. director of national intelligence said that she couldn’t rule out that the CCP would use TikTok just like that to intervene in the 2024 election, something the intelligence community warned about in a new public threat assessment issued this week.

The TikTok legislation would resolve that worry not by taking away TikTok’s ability to influence Americans—only a full ban would do that. Instead, it would give the government leverage to force ByteDance, the app’s parent company, to hand ownership to an American company. Americans could still be influenced— Meta , X, and other social-media companies have been the target of other foreign-influence campaigns—but they could at least be more confident U.S. enemies aren’t secretly try to push them ideas.

TikTok’s leadership doesn’t see the issues this way. It believes the legislation is intended to ban the app, not just force divestment, and says it doesn’t take orders from the Chinese Communist Party in any case. Its CEO is from Singapore, not China, and the company is working with U.S. tech company Oracle to keep its data local to the U.S.

What no one seems to dispute is that TikTok really is wildly influential. Its 170 million users care deeply about what happens on the platform.

The question Congress is raising is whether some of TikTok’s users have been manipulated. This is a version of the argument Democrats made when it became apparent that Russia tried to intervene in the 2016 election to favour President Trump. The problem with that logic, as Republicans pointed out at the time, is that it’s not clear where it leads. If a bunch of Americans vote for the wrong reasons, does that mean the election is illegitimate? That’s a dangerous road to go down.

The point of the TikTok bill is to essentially head the debate off at the pass. Let there be no questions about the legitimacy of voting, because there wasn’t any illegitimate foreign influence behind it in the first place.

As Chris Fenton, a former Hollywood executive-turned-China critic who advised the bill’s sponsors, points out in an essay for RealClearPolitics , there is some precedent here. The Federal Communications Commission prohibits control of U.S. broadcasters by hostile governments. “Why should TikTok be an exception?,” he asks.

That’s the question the Senate will have to answer, while considering the costs of a major expansion of the U.S.-China fight and the risk that calling into question the political judgment of millions of U.S. social-media users will backfire in unexpected ways.

This decision will matter for much longer than the next dance craze.

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If You’re Buying a Home Near a Nightmare Neighbour, You Might Want to Think Again

Q: Have you ever had to deal with a nightmare neighbour while showing a home?

Arthur Greenstein, broker associate, Douglas Elliman Real Estate, Dallas

In April 2022, I showed a four-bedroom duplex unit in University Park, near Dallas, to one of my clients. From the second we arrived, I knew there was going to be a serious problem because the next-door neighbour, who lived in the other half of the Midcentury Modern house, was nosy and angry. She would barge into the unit each time I was there with my buyer, trying to find out who her neighbour would be, and she would stand outside the duplex yelling at us about how we parked our cars. She was retired and had a lot of time on her hands, and she acted like she was the mayor of the block. It was difficult because I didn’t want to be confrontational with anyone when showing a house, and she was being intrusive. After she did this a few times, I tried to convince my client not to buy the property because I’ve seen in other situations what an unpleasant neighbor can do to the value and enjoyment of a property. But he purchased it anyway because that area had limited inventory and great schools. After the closing, the problems continued. The neighbour shut off my client’s water and electricity and put a lock on the water meter. He had to call the police to get the utilities turned back on. Over the past year, things have not calmed down. My client is involved in a lawsuit now with the next-door neighbour and the previous owner for not disclosing the adverse condition of having a nightmare neighbour living next-door.

ILLUSTRATION: DAVE URBAN

Tom Stuart, associate broker, The Corcoran Group, Brooklyn, N.Y.

In June 2020, I listed a two-bedroom co-op in Brooklyn. This was during Covid, and the neighbour next door was very angry that buyers were coming in and out of the building. At the very first open house, when I was buzzing individual buyers into the building one by one, a buyer informed me that there was a note taped to the door of the apartment. When I went to look, I found a piece of notebook paper taped to the door that said in scrawled handwriting: “Don’t buy this! Rats and Bugs!” I had no idea how many people saw it. The neighbour also called building management and my manager to complain, but everything was being done properly. He started posting signs on the walls of the hallway that said things like “You are being watched!” and “Area under surveillance.” More than once, I caught him with his door cracked open, peeking through, which spooked potential buyers. My sellers were perplexed, but didn’t want to confront him. I was eventually able to sell the apartment, but he didn’t do himself any favours since his efforts certainly meant it took longer to sell the property and, ultimately, more people came through than might have without his interference.

Melvin A. Vieira, Jr., real-estate agent, Re/Max Destiny, Boston

In October 2019, I sold a two-bedroom, Cape Cod-style home in the Hyde Park neighbourhood of Boston. I was representing the seller. Every time I would go over to the house, the seller would yell, “Melvin, close the door, close the door!” I didn’t know what he was talking about, but then he would shout, “It’s too late. She’s there!” And then, his next-door neighbour would appear, a middle-aged woman who was nice, but quirky. She would just walk into the house and start talking about everything going on with the house and the neighbourhood. My client said she was just making it up. It got to the point where I had to sneak into the house. It became a game, almost like an episode of “Mission Impossible.” I would pull up, check for her car, and if I saw it, I would park my car down the block and then walk to the house and go in a side door just to avoid having her see me and come over to interrupt a showing. My client told me she was doing that because she didn’t want him to move. He had lived there since 1996, and she didn’t like change, so she was trying to kill the deal. My strategy was to become friendly with her and have conversations with her away from the house. If I knew someone was going to show the house, I would stop her outside her house and talk to her to distract her. The market was strong, and the house sold within a few days of being listed, so she didn’t slow anything down. And, ironically, she and the new owners get along now.

—Edited from interviews by Robyn A. Friedman

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Concrete Is One of the World’s Worst Pollutants. Making It Green Is a Booming Business.

Bill Gates , Jeff Bezos and former Los Angeles Laker Rick Fox are part of a new wave of investors and entrepreneurs looking to make one of the world’s worst pollutants greener.

Concrete accounts for more than 7% of global carbon emissions, according to some estimates. That is roughly the same as the CO undefined produced by all of India and more than double the amount produced by the global aviation industry.

Most of those emissions are caused by cement, the glue that binds together sand and gravel to make the concrete used to build roads, bridges and tall buildings.

Concrete, the second-most-used material in the world after water, is popular because it is cheap, relatively easy to produce, fire-resistant and extremely strong.

“It’s the most democratic material,” said Admir Masic , an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

It is also very, very dirty. Cement is made by heating limestone and clay at around 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit in giant kilns and turning them into marble-sized granules called clinker, which are then turned into a powder and mixed with other materials. As it heats up, the limestone releases a lot of CO undefined , and the whole process is often powered by fossil fuels such as coal or gas.

Big cement producers and startups including Brimstone and Partanna, a startup based in the Bahamas and headed by three-time NBA champion Fox, are developing new technologies to produce cement while producing less CO undefined . Breakthrough Energy Ventures, which was founded by Gates and is backed by Bezos, Jack Ma and Michael Bloomberg among others, Fifth Wall and other venture firms have poured tens of millions of dollars into these companies.

These companies are being motivated in part by the federal government, which is dishing out grants and setting aside billions to decarbonise materials such as cement. Local regulators are also encouraging these new technologies. California in 2021 passed a law to cut emissions from cement and New York in 2023 issued rules that limit emissions on concrete used in state-funded construction projects.

Some companies are trying to make cement from different materials that are less polluting. Brimstone said it developed a way to make cement from rocks that contain no carbon. The company said it has raised around $60 million in venture funding to date.

Others are selling substitutes for cement so that concrete mixers need less of it. Eco Material Technologies, for example, harvests coal ash from landfills and volcanic ash from mines and sells it to concrete mixers. These substitutes aren’t new, but the company says it has worked out ways to increase its share in concrete.

“Our goal is to be able to use the last several generations of trash as the next several generations of greener concrete,” said CEO Grant Quasha .

Still others are removing pollutants from the air. The Halifax, Nova Scotia-based startup CarbonCure came up with a process to pump CO undefined into concrete as it is being made and raised $80 million in venture funding this past year.

CarbonCure pumps CO2 into concrete as it is being made. PHOTO: KENT NISHIMURA FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Partanna, which uses brine from saltwater desalination to make concrete, said homes made from its material suck carbon out of the air.

It is unclear if the greener concrete alternatives will ever catch on broadly. Building codes have rigid rules on what concrete must contain, and many builders don’t like to try out new materials, Masic said.

Cost is another issue. Eco Material’s most environmentally friendly cement alternative, for example, costs around twice as much as standard cement, according to Quasha. CEO Cody Finke said Brimstone’s cement will be as cheap or cheaper than the common sort, but the company has yet to build a factory.

“If I go to the developing world and tell them you’re going to have to pay 20% more for your cement, they won’t do it,” said Eric Toone , a managing partner at Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

Even if some of these new technologies succeed, the startups have yet to prove that they can produce green cement at the vast quantities needed to make a dent in global warming.

Still, Toone said cement makers have no choice but to find cheap ways to cut emissions because ditching the material isn’t an option.

“Cement is sort of this wonder material,” he said. “It’s so cheap, it’s so valuable, it’s so good for what we need that it’s really hard to think of ways around it.”

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The Couples Embracing the DINK Label

Natalie and Keldon Fischer have no debt other than the mortgage from their Seattle condo, where they live with their Pomeranian, Noble. They each have six-figure salaries and hefty savings accounts. Last year, they traveled nearly every other month, including to Italy, Mexico, Thailand and Finland.

“I really enjoy being a DINK,” says Keldon, a 30-year-old software engineer.

DINK, of course, stands for “dual income, no kids.” It isn’t new slang, but suddenly, vocal DINKs are everywhere as more couples like the Fischers not only embrace the label but boldly let their DINK flags fly.

“Being DINKs means we just have a lot of freedom, time and money,” says Natalie Fischer, 25, a full-time content creator. She’s open to having children, but is first focused on building a net worth of $1 million by age 30. “I know that once I have a kid I will have to assume a lot of the caregiving responsibility and work less.”

Videos touting the DINK lifestyle now rack up millions of views on TikTok and Instagram. Most feature married couples sending the message that they don’t have kids yet (so stop asking), possibly never will, and life is fantastic, thank you very much.

Life as ‘DINKWADs’

The lexicon has ballooned to include DINKWADs (DINKs with a dog), SINKs (single-income, no kids). Some DINKs prefer “DINO,” for dual-income, no offspring.

There is even DINKY—for dual income, no kids, yet.

The public pronouncements represent a shift, says Zachary P. Neal, a psychology professor at Michigan State University who studies child-free adults. Though not all DINKs are strictly child-free, as some may have kids later, he says there is overlap in the groups.

“It has been for a very long time a sort of stigmatised category,” says Neal. “There are all sorts of stereotypes—things like…they’re self-absorbed, they have no stake in the future, they’re too focused on their career.”

But these days, DINKs are leaning into the label, thanks in part to the snowball effect of social media, Neal says, where DINKs are finding safety in numbers. “As some people start to openly identify as child-free, it creates an environment more open and welcoming.”

In a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, 44% of non-parents ages 18 to 49 said they were not likely to have kids ever, up 7% since 2018. Reasons included economic obstacles, concerns about the state of the world and simply not wanting to. And many young adults who do want children are having them later in life than previous generations.

The recent vocal DINK-dom is also generating backlash.

On social media, parents argue they do much of what DINKs do, just with kids in tow. Internet commentators and comedians are using DINKs as material.

“Childless couples are even more annoying than the imaginary children they complain about not even having,” said Lewis Spears, an Australian comedian. “They don’t seem to do anything with their free time except make videos about how much free time they have.”

‘We go where the wind blows’

Brenton and Mirlanda Beaufils, both in their 30s, have been together for over a decade, and say that they’re often questioned about whether they plan to have children.

But they are not ready to give up the flexibility of the DINK lifestyle.

On a trip to Las Vegas, for instance, they partied poolside, dined at the renowned Nobu restaurant, visited casinos and totally lost track of time and went to bed after 5 a.m.

And when Brenton, who is 32 and works in property management, was offered a new job that started in two weeks in another city, the couple made the move—from Boston to Dallas—happen in one week.

“We go where the wind blows,” says Mirlanda, a 30-year-old real-estate agent. “We love that about our relationship.”

In Dallas, they’re closer to Mirlanda’s sisters, including Preciana Prinstil, 29, who often jokingly wonders when Mirlanda will give her children some cousins.

“I want her to feel the love of kids and how they bring joy,” says Prinstil. “Even though they can be a headache.”

Others in the couples’ orbit are also curious. Mirlanda, who wants to be a mom one day, but isn’t in a rush, has a stock retort. “I’m like, ‘Oh, you guys ready to babysit for us? If you can’t answer that question, then stop.’ ”

Free to give mom a car

When Norelle Marquez was younger, she imagined having children at around age 24 or 25. But lately, the 26-year-old hasn’t seen them in her future.

Norelle, a professional photographer, and her husband Robert Marquez, a 28-year-old Marine Corps service member, have no debt, and stick to a firm budget for their Dallas household. “It’s fairly easy being DINKs,” says Robert.

Norelle appreciates that DINK life allows her to provide for family, including her mother, who raised her and her brother as a single parent. She has given her mother a new washer and dryer, house floors, an almost new Toyota RAV4 and more.

The couple posted a video on TikTok about the benefits and quirks of being DINKs, such as, “When we tell people we’re going to Disneyland on vacation, they think we’re weirdos.” It drew nearly 4,000 commenters, including some critics, but many declaring themselves DINKs.

“That TikTok has solidified my feelings about being a DINK and knowing that it’s OK,” says Norelle. “Family doesn’t have to be bloodline,” Robert adds.

Ultimately, whether to have children is a decision that can evolve, says Holly Hummer, a Harvard University Ph.D. candidate who studies women without children.

“We’re all sort of a SINK or a DINK for a portion of our lives,” she says.

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Airlines Need to Boost Revenue. They’re Coming for Your Bags.

Airlines facing tough financial comparisons after a bumper year have a plan to boost revenue that fliers will hate. They’re raising the price of checking your bag.

Delta Air Lines , the latest company to announce a price hike, announced last week it was increasing the cost of a passenger’s first checked bag to $35 from $30 and a second bag to $45 from $40. The company last increased checked baggage fees in 2018. American Airlines and United Airlines made similar changes, raising baggage fees by about $5, and JetBlue Airways and Alaska Airlines have also raised prices.

Airline companies are dealing with a double whammy. Higher labor costs and an uptick in maintenance costs are eating into revenue. Meanwhile, domestic demand has softened , hitting pricing power for airlines.

Fees are a significant and growing source of revenue for airlines. U.S. airlines generated $6.8 billion from bag fees in 2022, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics , up from $5.3 billion in 2021. American Airlines generated $1.4 billion from baggage fees that year, which accounts for less than 3% of its 2022 revenue. United made $1.1 billion, or 2.6% of its 2022 revenue; Delta pocketed $980 million, or 2.1% of its 2022 revenue.

It’s likely those figures grew in 2023, a record-breaking year for travel with six of the 10 busiest days in U.S. aviation history, according to the Transportation Security Administration. With airlines hiking prices on the first checked bag by an average of 17%, that number could rise again this year.

That should help offset the decline in airfare. Ticket prices were 6% lower in January compared with the year-ago period, according to January’s consumer price index data. Online travel agency Hopper expects domestic fares to remain below 2023 and prepandemic levels for at least the first half of the year.

Hopper’s lead economist Hayley Berg said more planes in the air have helped bring prices down. “Price relief on domestic airfare comes as domestic seat capacity has maintained at least a 5% lift over 2019 levels throughout 2023,” she said.

Ultimately, baggage fees account for between 2% and 3% of revenue for the largest U.S. airlines. But the market will be judging United, American, and Delta against a strong 2023, so every little helps. All three stocks have risen between 7% and 10% in 2024. And there are other more important factors, such as costs, demand, and capacity constraints, that will have a larger impact on earnings.

Of course, earnings aren’t the first thing on the minds of travelers who are now getting hit with higher fees.