calendar year, we believe that a successful fair is not only a gallery of art and design objects. Moreover it is a forum for relevant dialogue, a workshop that instructs and inspires, and a multi-sensory exhibition that evokes feeling and promotes balanced interaction between design and life. This is precisely what Design Miami set out to do, and we think it was a hit.
Taking place from Dec 7-9 and running parallel to Art Basel/Miami, Design Miami just closed out its 3rd year and is quickly shaping up to be the premier design exposition in the US. The show included galleries, design talks, demo performances, satellite installations and, of course, after parties.
In the dense jungle of a design exposition, some of the things that stood out to us included big names, little names, novelties and practicalities. Our favorites included the GlassLAB, The Farm Project, LightShowers, Artek Pavillion, Wieki Somers, One Laptop Per Child, and Moss.
The GlassLAB, a collaboration with Vitra, the Corning Glass Museum, and a renowned team of international designers, was an exciting and playful way to spend an afternoon in Miami. We rubbed some elbows as we watched the Campana Brothers pull and contort molten glass like confectioners in a candy factory.
The Farm Project by Mike Meiré was a refreshing and down-to-earth set in the chaos of a design fair that inspired us to stop and smell the pigpen. The study and exhibition on culture and the feelings and objects that define it included a full-scale farmer’s kitchen that emphasized the spiritual qualities of a living, working space. It contained all necessary elements including fresh food, utensils, a large inviting table, and yes, a living pig corral. Through this exhibition, one of many Dornbracht Culture Projects, Mike Meire is challenging the idea of the hidden or pristine kitchen of modern homes and hoping to arouse a new influx of functional family kitchens and bring cultural identity back into the home.
We were also delightfully intrigued by the multi-sensory installation by Morris Sato Studio that gracefully joined together light, water, texture, movement and sound on a field of LED sprinkles and marble tuffets.
As for designer of the year Tokujin Yoshioka, an impressive portfolio was enough to lure us in, however, the installation may have been more appropriate at neighboring Art Basel/Miami. While two million plastic straws around a circular path made us want to dive right in we were left with the question of where all that plastic will end up after its 15 minutes of fame.
All in all, you really can’t go wrong with a December weekend in South Florida and we made the most of it at Design Miami. A stimulating round up of designers, discussions and installations give this fair a promising future and a plethora of insight.
Zoe Melo
