Design Miami Basel 2015

A point of reference for art and design lovers, this year Design Miami/Basel celebrated its 10th anniversary by commissioning the prestigious “Design At Large” project to André Balazs.

Everyone knows that art and design lovers head for Basel in June. The Swiss city has been a point of reference on the international exhibition scene for quite some time now. This year, Design Miami/Basel (16–21 June 2015) celebrated its 10th anniversary by commissioning the prestigious “Design At Large” project to André Balazs. It filled the great void past the reception with a number of large architectural pieces, a designer selection of Unité d’habitation, old and new, of various kinds.

Design at Large exhibition view. From left to right: Paper Tea House, Shigeru Ban/ presented by Nilufar Gallery Flower House, Edouard François/ presented by Galerie Philippe Gravier

Design at Large exhibition view. From left to right: Better Shelter Housing Unit/ Volkswagen T2 Westfalia Helsinki Camper Van/

Design at Large exhibition view. Clockwise: Better Shelter Housing Unit/ Volkswagen T2 Westfalia Helsinki Camper Van/ Total Filling Station, Jean Prouvé/ presented by Galerie Patrick Seguin The Original Dwelling, Atelier Van Lieshout/ presented by Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Design at Large exhibition view. From left to right: Paper Tea House, Shigeru Ban/ presented by Nilufar Gallery Flower House, Edouard François/ presented by Galerie Philippe Gravier

Design at Large exhibition view. The Original Dwelling, Atelier Van Lieshout/ presented by Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Inevitable and unmissable is Jean Prouvé, the speciality of the French gallery led by Patrick Seguin. He presents Total Filling Station, a 1969 design for a round and transparent prefabricated petrol station. Not far away towers the gold facade of Edouard François’ Flower House, a sustainable architectural design of 2015 shown by the Galerie Philippe Gravier. Fans of Atelier Van Lieshout will have been fascinated by the Pool House, a white capsule-house reminiscent of Neolithic forms. Created this year, it includes a space for children’s play and a bar, and was brought by the Carpenters Workshop Gallery of London.

Nina Yashar, the force behind Milan’s Nilufar gallery, presented the 02 Paper Tea House, a Shigeru Ban project using cardboard tubes (2006). These micro-format houses seem to be all the rage with the most passionate collectors and look ready to be set on the top of a mountain, a beach or a house garden. In these intriguing but attractive “small houses”, the micro replaces the macro and their simplicity reduces all opportunities to add ornaments, in cities where the square metres are shrinking before our very eyes.

The bold and unpredictable choice at the start of a show designed for those who, by contrast, ought to have plenty of square metres available was a pleasant surprise. On the first floor, New York’s Demisch Danant gallery displayed a number of hand-knotted wool rugs by Sheila Hicks entitled Prayer Rugs, 1972 works created for an exhibition by the artist in Morocco.

German artist Renate Müller brought her delightful creations for Evan Snyderman and Zesty Meyers’ R & Company gallery: a number of soft embroidered children’s toys with adult prices developed in the 1960s. The horse-stools are all the same size but each one has its own personality and expression. The “Design Curio” section proposed a selection of curatorial exhibition designs and Max Lamb with Dzek (the expert Brent Dzekciorius, the drive behind the brand) presented a noire version of his domestic camouflage project (2014) entitled Marmoreal, this time adapted for the bathroom – complete with toilet bowl and flushing system tested by the designer himself; the Belgian gallery Maniera exhibited a selection of objects created by architects including the Wolfers Stools by Richard Venlet, silver-coloured stools-lamps for floor or ceiling.

All three special Swarovski designs were fresh and fascinating but it was 47° by Thomas Alonso that surprised most, with its piercing investigation of the angle of refraction and reflection of light, an intuition well conveyed in a series of multicoloured lamps. The Anglo-Japanese duo of Studio Swine explored a world that does not exist, via a story inspired by an imaginary crystal planet in Terraforming.

Elaine Yan Ling Ng created Sundew, three dancing macro-transpositions based on tropical carnivorous plants that drew visitors’ attention with their gentle movement, sparkle and fragrance. Speaking of tropics, the exhibition launched a capsule clothing collection to celebrate the anniversary in a dull and rainy Basel in June. Comprising an anorak, hat, sneakers and bag by Pierre Frey, it conjured up the warm beaches that hosted the first show in Florida in 2005. This original pattern was produced by superimposing three different vintage fabrics by the French house to create Chromatropic, a textile created in collaboration with Hentsch Man and J. Crew.

Design Miami Basel 2015

A point of reference for art and design lovers, this year Design Miami/Basel celebrated its 10th anniversary by commissioning the prestigious “Design At Large” project to André Balazs.

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