Design Miami/ is delighted to present the 17th edition of it’s fair in Miami Beach from December 1 - 5, 2021, with the theme of Human Kind and how design can impact the world for the better. 

In addition, Design Miami/ will be presented in a hybrid physical and digital format. All exhibited works on the show floor will be available to purchase at designmiami.com for a limited time, alongside a robust online program of design talks and 3D virtual tours.
This year’s programming, the first curated by incoming Curatorial Director, Wava Carpenter, will explore the theme of Human Kind, shining a spotlight on design-led visions for a more equitable and interconnected future. Those operating at the cutting-edge of design thinking will bring together works, ideas, and presentations to spark conversations around the current state of the world and where we need to go. The galleries and partners have planned thoughtful and diverse responses to this timely theme.

Aesthetics Of The Moment: The Fantastical & The Primordial/
Perhaps as an escape from the realities of the world as it is now, designers and collectors are drawn to truly extraordinary forms that evoke another time and place. This larger trend finds two expressions: the fantastical and the primordial. The former aesthetic is exuberant, vibrant, surreal, as if created for a fairy tale or science fiction story, often inflected with a tongue-in-cheek wink. The second expression has a minimalist yet striking aura that calls to mind relics of the ancient past, prehistory and beyond time.

At Objective Gallery, ‘Reincarnation’ presents the work of Brecht Wright Gander, Fernando Mastrangelo, J McDonald, Vincent Pocsik, Eny Lee Parker, and Charlotte Kingsnorth, which as an ensemble conjures objects of past lives and nostalgia for bygone ways of living. In the age of industrial and mass production, it is less possible to commune with one’s environment and the art of everyday life. The works in Reincarnation revive pre-Industrial artisanal processes and mastery of materials. Jason Jacques Gallery presents ‘CEREMONY’, an Ayahuasca ceremony from the planet Zeefromzeglop. The ceremony posits that all that exists in the universe is connected through cracks in time-space that are universally opened by plant medicine. On show are tapestry depictions of great spirit animals and plants. Meanwhile, Volume Gallery presents new braided and draped woven works from renowned craftsperson Tanya Aguiñiga. Forming part of the designer’s ‘Extraño’ series, the objects are a craftful expression of the grief, gratitude, rage, and exhaustion Aguiñiga has felt in response to the constant threats faced by the BIPOC community, as well as the diverse effects and losses of the pandemic.

Material of the Moment: Ceramics/

Through their direct, hands-on and hands-in nature of production, ceramic works are an ideal medium for storytelling, especially autobiographical and sociological stories, which resonate deeply with audiences in this time of disruption and separation. It seems that, more than ever, ceramics artists are working with clay in new ways to share perspectives on and insights into who they are, where they came from, and where they want to see the world go. This has resulted in a thriving market for ceramics, and this year’s fair presents a strong representation of both contemporary and historical ceramics.



Southern Guild presents an exhibition of ceramics specifically commissioned for the fair from four of South Africa’s most accomplished artists working in clay - Andile Dyalvane, Zizipho Poswa, Madoda Fani and Chuma Maweni. These contemporary artists use the medium to explore aspects of traditional Xhosa culture and spirituality while drawing on their personal experiences and deep belief systems. Titled 'Studio Visit’, the booth will take visitors behind the scenes of the artists’ practices as they foreground new techniques and achieve some of their most technically ambitious work to date.

Moderne Gallery offers contemporary and 20th century ceramic pieces, including a masterful ceramic representation of the planet, Glazed Ceramic Globe (2021) by Japanese ceramicist Hashimoto Tomonari, presented alongside Estelle Halper’s 1960s organic sculptural work.



Karuizawa Chair/ George Nakashima, 1935/ Courtesy of Moderne Gallery

Design Miami/ 2021 Curios/

Curio is an exhibition platform that invites designers, architects, curators, innovators and gallerists to present total environments of objects, textures, artifacts and ideas that challenge and contextualize familiar design narratives. Curios are interspersed amongst Design Miami’s gallery program, infusing the fair with inventive snapshots of today's design landscape. The

2021 Miami fair presents a diverse range of 19 curios that question and respond to the theme of Human Kind, including 13 fresh faces this including: Apical Reform & ZEEL Studio, Bea Interiors Design, Bohinc Studio, James de Wulf, Objective Gallery, PELLE, Tuleste Factory, Twenty First Gallery and Verdi.

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