Design Miami/ 2019 Special Highlights

December 17, 2019

Alongside 34 gallery exhibitions and 15 Curio presentations from the world’s most distinguished collectible design galleries and most significant designers, Design Miami/ unveiled a series of creative brand collaborations and satellite exhibitions from 3 to 8 December, 2019.


Many of the Design Miami/ collaborations and satellites have embraced this edition’s curatorial theme of Elements: Water. These include initiatives such as the ROOTS pavilion curated by Ximena Caminos, Swarovski’s Waterschool, and Nao Tamura’s Sunshower installation at Lexus. Elements: Water will also take center stage at the Design Forum, with talks such as Sustainability as the New Business Model presented by Lexus and Whitewall which explores how creative industries and consumers are approaching climate change and the A/D/O presented Designing Water Futures panel with Alexander Groves, artist and founder, Studio Swine; Vincent Lee, associate principal of Arup; and Jane Withers, founder Jane Withers Studio. Swarovski will also host a special screening of the brand’s feature documentary film Waterschool as well as a Waterschool workshop for children of all ages.


Instagram’s @design presented #designforall
Instagram’s @design is shining a spotlight on designers whose work reflects the company’s values of simplicity, craft, and putting their community of more than one billion people first. Working with Studio Swine, @design will create a gallery that uses air as the underlying structure of the exhibition. The space references how community, connection, and support can contribute to revolutionary ideas. Four designers who have been featured on @design are exhibited as part of #designforall, dedicated to designers pioneering a more inclusive, accessible, and sustainable world. The designers include: ALLELES Design Studio, Yona Care, Kano in collaboration with Map Project Office, and Deva Pardue.


Perrier-Jouët presented Metamorphosis by Andrea Mancuso of Analogia Project
Maison Perrier-Jouët and Design Miami/ have collaborated for the past eight years to offer emerging artists and designers an opportunity to interpret the House’s iconic Art Nouveau heritage through the prism of the twenty-first century. This year, they are working with Italian designer Andrea Mancuso of Analogia Project, who has imagined Metamorphosis, a collection of six glasses that unite traditional craftsmanship with modern technology. The collection will be displayed in a singular setting created from thousands of ceramic pieces mimicking the scenography of the House’s renowned vineyard cellars.


FENDI presented Roman Molds by Kueng Caputo
FENDI has commissioned the Zurich-based design studio Kueng Caputo to create ten design pieces intended to decorate the exterior colonnade of its iconic Roman headquarters, the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana. The resulting collection, Roman Molds, captures the tension that has historically informed much of the house’s best output—traditional craft disrupted by innovation. The collection of ten pieces are meant to be building blocks that in multiplication would create a series of intimate “rooms” for socializing, escaping, and working on the grand loggias of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana. The pieces combine FENDI’s iconic, supple Selleria Roman leather and versatile, unpretentious terracotta brick.


Lexus presented The Sunshower by Nao Tamura
The installation—curated by Design Miami/ Curatorial Director Aric Chen and Milan-based curator Maria Cristina Didero—will evoke the magic of sunshowers and reinforces the brand’s commitment to omotenashi (hospitality), takumi (artisans), and the indoor-outdoor philosophy of engawa. Guests are invited to experience The Sunshower, relax in the space, use its charging stations, and sample Ooho, the innovative new water capsules made of edible seaweed extract. The sunshowers will highlight the same qualities in the Lexus LC Convertible Concept, a vehicle that dazzles in rain, sun—or both.


Savannah College of Art and Design presented the Design Forum
SCAD has conceptualized and curated the interior environment of the Design Forum, an immersive landscape for discussion among today’s visionary thought leaders, artists, designers, and media partners. The Design Forum will also incorporate a state-of the-art Media Suite to promote original, social-first content, including podcasts, live-streamed conversations, and interviews, in a celebration of design innovation, contemporary art, and creative education. In addition to visiting the Design Forum, you can also view new work by talented SCAD alumni artists from around the world at SCAD’s booth in the Design Miami/ fair.


Swarovski presented Water
Water is fundamental to the Swarovski business, which was founded in 1895 in Wattens, Austria, near the Alpine rivers that provided the energy and fresh water supplies essential to crystal production. In 2000 the company established Swarovski Waterschool, a community investment program that inspires present and future generations to practice sustainable water use. This installation explores Swarovski’s longstanding and extensive work in water stewardship and education.


Louis Vuitton presented Objets Nomades
Louis Vuitton Objets Nomades is an ever-expanding collection of limited-edition, collectible furniture. Pieces from the collection have been imagined by some of today’s most creative designers: Patricia Urquiola, India Mahdavi, Atelier Oï, Atelier Biagetti, Barber and Osgerby, Fernando and Humberto Campana, Damien Langlois-Meurinne, Raw Edges, Zanellato/Bortotto, Marcel Wanders, Tokujin Yoshioka, Nendo and André Fu.


ONE, ALL, EVERY presented See A Clean Future with Ugo Rondinone and RVS Eyewear
ONE, ALL, EVERY is an art and environment initiative born out of the belief that art can and will move mountains. OAE at Design Miami presents See A Clean Future - a line of sustainable eyewear designed by Vidal Erkohen of RVSSustain and internationally renowned visual artist Ugo Rondinone. Three frame shapes have different color lenses representing the four elements: Earth (green), Fire (red), Air (grey), and Water (blue) and each is inspired by the work of an environmental pioneer, including Jane Goodall, E.O. Wilson, Sylvia Earle, and Wangari Maathai.


Gemfields presented GEOCHROM by Sebastien Leon
Gemfields, a world-leading supplier of Zambian emeralds and Mozambican rubies, partners with Whitewall to present ‘GEOCHROM’ by Sebastien Leon. An immersive installation set to captivate and educate visitors through a multitude of sensorial elements. The result is an artistic experience that brings to life the inimitable beauty of responsibly sourced gems, celebrating the story in every gemstone.


Miami Design District presented Pink Beasts by Fernando Laposse
The Miami Design District has chosen the London-based Mexican designer Fernando Laposse for their 2019 Neighborhood Commission, where he will be debuting Pink Beasts: long, pink sisal tassels, hammocks, and sloths suspended through the trees. Laposse explores materials and techniques native to Mexico and has collaborated with like minded textile designer Angela Damman as well as local artisans in Sahcabá, Yucatán. Visitors at Design Miami/ will have a chance to encounter members of the sloth family up-close.


Sevan Bıçakçı presented the Inspiration Room
This installation was Sevan Bıçakçı’s attempt to deconstruct his soul and share it through art. The Craftsman designated Interiors Designer Yesim Dilaver to curate a space that takes visitors through visual vignettes which bring his homeland to life. Nestled within are Bıçakçı’s one-of-a-kind jewels and timepieces, which are infused with the nostalgia surrounding both modern day and ancient Istanbul and the stories they tell. The “Inspiration Room” includes photographs and illustrations, rare Ottoman toys, tiles, collections of locks and keys, calligraphic art, antique textiles and shoes, furniture, and jewelry boxes

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