10 unforgettable moments from Design Miami/ 2019
An external shot of Daniel Arsham’s Ideal Room installation for Friedman Benda. Photo by Julia Kristina Ardila Zurek.
LEE ESTE POST EN ESPAÑOL.
Miami Art Week is known for bringing together the art community’s biggest buyers, gallerists, and some of the world’s heftiest price tags. But just opposite the Miami Beach Convention Center, home to Art Basel Miami Beach, art and design enthusiasts can wander over to Design Miami, a smaller gathering of design connoisseurs featuring immersive collectible design exhibitions alongside museum-quality solo shows.
The fair’s fifteenth anniversary edition drew collector and visitor numbers totaling 42,000, rounding out a defining decade for the collectible design market. Often dubbed the ‘Capital of Latin America,’ Miami has become the ideal platform for Latin American designers looking to broaden their audience.
Notable fair attendees included none other than Bella Hadid, Leonardo DiCaprio, Pharrell Williams, Elle Macpherson, Nina Dobrev, Rosario Dawson, and designers India Mahavi and Piero Lissoni. To follow is a recap of some of the most unforgettable moments from the week, highlighting the galleries and designers that are setting the trends in collectible design. miami2019.designmiami.com
The Debut of Ago Projects
Photo courtesy of James Harris.
For the first time at Design Miami/, Mexico City-based design-centric hub, AGO Projects, founded by Rudy F. Weissenberg and Rodman Primack, presented artists and designers with a heightened level of social and environmental consciousness that strives for a more equitable society. The colorful booth presented pieces by a diverse group of Latin American designers, using contrasting hues and textures to create a sensory experience.
According to a report by the Design Miami press office, the gallery saw sweeping sales, selling a Pedro Reyes chair to a New York–based collector for $20,000, an Emmett Moore shelf to a major Chicago collection for $20,000, a Daniel Valero rug to a prominent art advisor, and all their Fernando Laposse pieces. Plus, the unique pieces by Agnes Studio, Lanza Atelier and Fernando Laposse are a reminder of why we love Latin American Design. ago-projects.com
2. Following Matter by Atraform Studio
Photo by Julia Kristina Ardila Zurek.
The new series of sculptural objects by Swedish-Mexican designer Alexander Díaz Andersson and his brother, artist Andreas Díaz Andersson, blends clean Scandinavian lines and whimsical elements of traditional Mexican design in everyday industrial and reclaimed materials. atraform.com
3. Cristina Grajales’ Presentation of Robert Wilson’s Glass Work
Photo courtesy of James Harris.
New York gallery Cristina Grajales has become an established name in contemporary design by consistently blurring the line between art and design. On display at this year’s unconventional booth was a showcase of scenography and glassworks by director Robert Wilson, made in collaboration with the Corning Museum of Glass. The cast glass pyramids and blown glass deer—the largest of which take seven glass masters to make— are intended to capture the artist’s complicated feelings about deer hunting as a child with his father. cristinagrajalesinc.com
Photo courtesy of James Harris.
4. Fendi’s Roman Molds by Kueng Caputo
Photo courtesy of James Harris.
Iconic Italian brand FENDI commissioned Zurich-based design studio Kueng Caputo to create a series of pieces to decorate the exterior of its headquarters at Palazzo Della Civiltà Italiana, outside of Rome. Titled Roman Molds, the collection combines two ancient materials—cow leather and brick— and looks at the relationship between the two. The collection used the visual impact of FENDI’s Selleria Romana leather in saturated hues and juxtaposed it with glazed terra-cotta brick to make desks, benches, screens, stools, tables, and even a decorative palm tree. fendi.com
Photo courtesy of James Harris.
5. Pink Beasts by Fernando Laposse
Photo courtesy of Miami Design District.
The Miami Design District chose London-based Mexican designer Fernando Laposse for its 2019 Neighborhood Commission, where he debuted Pink Beasts, an installation featuring long, pink sisal tassels, hammocks, and sloths suspended through the trees. Laposse explores materials and techniques native to Mexico and has collaborated with likeminded designer Angela Damman as well as local artisans in Sahcabá, Yucatán in Mexico. fernandolaposse.com
Photo by Julia Kristina Ardila Zurek.
6. Daniel Arsham’s Ideal Room for Friedman Benda
Photo courtesy of James Harris.
New York-based Friedman Benda made its return to Design Miami/ with an installation made entirely by artist Daniel Arsham. The collection, which sold out completely in the first hours of the fair, comprises furniture pieces that the artist would want to live among and use himself. And adding an even greater personal touch, the artist named each piece after a person or place that’s meaningful to him. friedmanbenda.com
7. The Future Perfect’s Bestsellers
Photo courtesy of James Harris.
Contemporary New York gallery The Future Perfect also saw sweeping sales during this edition of Design Miami/, exhibiting some of their bestsellers, like Floris Wubben’s ceramic confections, a fleet of wicker Nalgona chairs by Chris Wolston, plus Seungjin Yang’s clever balloon chairs. thefutureperfect.com
8. MErcado Moderno Celebrates brazilian Modernist design
Photo courtesy of James Harris.
The Rio de Janeiro gallery celebrated Portuguese-born Joaquim Tenreiro, the forefather of Brazilian modernist design, showcasing a number of signature furniture pieces—a solid wood coffee table, a hand-woven cane seat and an array of other pieces in dark wood, complemented by lighting by Mameluca Studio and Ale Jordao. memobrasil.com
9. Louis Vuitton’s Objets Nomades
Photo courtesy of James Harris.
Louis Vuitton debuted the Swell Wave Shelf by Andrew Kudless—undulating, smoothly polished oak shelves—the designer’s first piece created for the Louis Vuitton Objets Nomades collection, an ongoing series of limited-edition, collectible furniture imagined by some of the most creative designers of our times. us.louisvuitton.com
10. White Perma Collection by Marcin Rusak for Sarah Myerscough
Photo courtesy of James Harris.
Marcin Rusak explored the beauty of botany in the latest variation of his ‘White Perma’ furniture collection. Off-white resin is sliced lengthwise to reveal a world of natural adornment: petals, stems, and buds appear like veins in marble or cavities in fossilized stone. sarahmyerscough.com
