The Profile: The companies making artificial wombs & Taylor Swift’s engagement ring designer

This edition of The Profile features Martha Nolan, Ariana Grande, Kindred Lubeck, and others.

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— Polina

PROFILES.

— The fashion star whose life ended in tragedy
— The pop superstar reinventing herself
— Taylor Swift’s engagement ring designer
— The vacuum maker-turned-beauty titan [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**]
— The companies making artificial wombs

PEOPLE TO KNOW.

The fashion star whose life ended in tragedy: Martha Nolan built a Hamptons dream by launching a beachwear brand, courting influencers, and chasing investors while privately scrambling to stay afloat. Her mysterious death aboard her funder’s boat exposed the gritty underside of that world, which involved fast money and questionable characters. What looked like a glamorous rise was actually a risky tightrope, and Nolan’s pursuit of success ended in a tragedy still under investigation. (New York Magazine; alternate link)

“She was manifesting a beautiful and luxurious life.”

The pop superstar reinventing herself: Ariana Grande is stepping out of the pop spotlight and into her power. At 32, the former Nickelodeon star and chart-topping singer is earning raves for her raw, transformative performance as Glinda in Wicked: For Good. The project helped her heal her fraught relationship with fame and rediscover her love of performing. “There was something broken about my relationship to pop music that was healed through the time away,” she says. Now, newly independent and creatively recharged, Grande feels “exactly where I’m supposed to be.” (The New York Times; alternate link)

“Where do I feel I am now? Exactly where I’m supposed to be.”

Taylor Swift’s engagement ring designer: Kindred Lubeck went from a metalwork hobbyist told she’d “never be the next big jewelry designer” to the unexpected creator of Taylor Swift’s instantly iconic engagement ring. Her ornate, hand-engraved, antique-inspired pieces exploded in demand the moment Swift’s post went up, doubling Lubeck’s following and sending her inventory and new auction pieces soaring. Self-taught and self-funded, Lubeck is now the jewelry world’s newest phenomenon. Her mission is to make work so intricate and romantic that it stops you in your tracks. (WSJ; alternate link)

“I want your jaw to drop. That’s the only criteria.”

COMPANIES TO WATCH.

The vacuum maker-turned-beauty titan: Dyson’s engineers — once focused on vacuums and airflow — accidentally built a beauty juggernaut, reinventing the hair dryer and curler with the Supersonic and Airwrap. Backed by James Dyson’s obsession with detail and hundreds of millions in R&D, the company now studies hair like a science lab. Its next frontier is styling products, blending engineering with agriculture to create oils, creams, and serums as meticulously designed as its machines. Here’s how Dyson plans to create a full-fledged beauty universe. (Bloomberg; alternate link)

“What creates a great hair experience is consistency.”

The companies making artificial wombs: At 23 weeks, Beth Schafer’s son was born on the razor’s edge of viability, needing the one thing medicine couldn’t give him: more time in the womb. Now, as scientists race to perfect “artificial wombs,” parents like Beth are left wrestling with impossible what-ifs. Could this technology have saved their children, or only prolonged their suffering? When artificial wombs finally arrive, the hardest questions won’t be technical, but parental: not just can we use them, but should we. (The Guardian)

“This kind of device would create a new stage of human development, something we’ve never had to describe or regulate before.”

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