Design Miami 2015

The theme of hospitality tolerance, togetherness and sharing was the main feature of the 2015 editon of Design Miami, the most seductive fair for collectible design.

The theme of hospitality, of reception, the home in all its variations including the temporary one, was the driving force behind the most seductive fair for collectible design (2-6 December 2015) where many buy in order to live among beautiful things while the most passionate (and maniacal) collectors make purchases to enrich their precious private warehouses – this year the visitor is indulged with a series of extras to prolong their stay inside the tent near the Convention Centre and make it an even more stimulating experience.

Not only that, the attention dedicated to the guest is sacred but the fact that even someone you don’t know can become one is in itself a gesture of faith 2.0 that renders the contemporary modality of travel and vacationing. This concept of hospitality and altruism towards one who arrives, who comes to visit, should be increasingly common and therefore we welcome operations akin to tolerance, togetherness and sharing. “Belong. Here. Now.” was the title of the 1,500 square-metre open-air installation presented by the unstoppable giant, Airbnb, founded in 2008 in San Francisco by Joe Gebbia and Brian Chesky (the website’s slogan is Belong Anywhere) designed by Chicago architecture practice Design With Company made up of Stewart Hicks and Allison Newmeyer; a space dedicated to welcome and performance, driven by an agenda of creatives including the Chilean Great Things to People and the artist Emilie Baltz (and especially by some surprising improvisations) and characterised by large architectural elements juxtaposed and decomposed, right in front of the main entrance to Design Miami.

Continuing the theme, Revolution Precrafted Properties was instead a collection of prefabricated pavilions and living spaces by designer and entrepreneur Robbi Antonio with ETN Design: two of the thirty examples are by Zaha Hadid and Gluckman Tang. The Milan gallery Rossella Colombari presented a stand featuring the most prestigious names of Italian design (Ponti, Mollino, Borsani and Mangiarotti) conceived as the living room of a refined house in tones of sky blue, completed with a fireplace drawn on the wall.

From the home to the office – for many a second home: since last October Fendi has taken up new premises inside one of the most extraordinary examples of architecture from the last century. The maison has moved to Rome to the EUR district, in the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana (1942) and presents a project of the evocative title, The Other half of the Dream Rome 1940-2015. It consisted of furniture designed in the 1930s by Guglielmo Ulrich, never produced, made now by the fashion house using the finest leathers and all-Italian manufacturing. After seven decades these objects will finally go to furnish the new Palazzo Fendi.

Led by Yu Wang, only two years old and already with a second home was the young Gallery ALL, based in Beijing and Los Angeles showing the Off-Railing Series. This series of convoluted, tangled chairs (singularly comfortable but it is necessary to try them out) has been designed by New York architects Aranda/Lasch, inspired by the metro of their city along with a series of mirrors in silver with maps taken from Google Earth by Naihan Li (City Landscape Mirror Series), an architect trained at the Bartlett School of Architecture in London with a studio in the Chinese capital who has worked with artist Ai Weiwei on projects linked to the world of architecture. Sold Out for the gallery of Evan Snyderman and Zesty Meyers and their golden-duo The Haas Brothers (Niki and Simon): the Afreaks collection – made up of giant mushrooms with a bronze stem and large cap in multilayered beads, colourful chaise-longues painstakingly crafted and ottomans with anthropomorphic forms of unreal animals, produced in South Africa in collaboration with the creative platform Southern Guild – found a “new home” just a few hours after the doors were opened.

The Iosanglelini brothers who divide critical opinion, have an original way of responding to the world of limited editions; what is striking is the joy and happiness of their productions as well as the fervid imagination and obsessive research for the perfect making of the pieces, of great visual impact. A volume published by Damiani accompanies the collection. Gorgeous illustrations commissioned by the fair to Pierre Le-Tan of France, inspired by classic Miami mythology with crocodiles, bikinis and slices of lemon cake; in this edition Design Miami comes even closer to the world of retail with a small collection of designer scarves, umbrellas and small bags for J-Crew – these too sold out quickly. Another tribute to Florida and its carefree lifestyle, the design agency of Giovanni Beltran, based in Miami, presented The Storefront by Jonathan Gonzalez, a designer who grew up in Key West and is co-founder of Everything Inc with Jieun Yang; it is a series of sun-loungers with parasols (Over Under Chaise) deconstructed and modular benches (Bench X/C), chaise longues in pastel shades with austere lines and retro styling dedicated to outdoors – especially by the pool.

The stand itself was designed like a real shop. Other news to testify the huge turnout (36,500 people including Elle MacPherson, Sylvester Stallone and Leonardo Di Caprio), was the Design Miami/Market, a glossy market (designed by Emmett More) where you don’t just buy exceptional books selected by Artbook D.A.P. but you can choose between sunglasses (after all we’re in Miami) created by Brazilian Vik Muniz and a selection of articles from the famous Dean & Deluca with a dedicated installation – Cheese by Adam Charlap Hyman and Andre Herrero with big slices of cheese, a symbol of gastronomy and epicurean products, sitting on a podium covered in wallpaper by Wallpaper Projects in white marble – fake, unlike the cheese on display with its inviting aroma.

A design-oriented homage to the first shop founded in 1977 by Giorgio DeLuca in Soho at 120 Prince Street in the heart of Manhattan with the explanatory sign The Cheese Store. The intersection between design and food is not new but it is interesting to note that brands in this sector are investing in creativity – the talk FOOD+DESIGN/ was also sponsored by Dean & Deluca. Design Miami looks then to the world of the everyday: products at reasonable prices share the same stage as a ceramic bathtub for 60,000 euro by Korean Lee Hun Chung presented by Seomi International.

Design Miami 2015

The theme of hospitality tolerance, togetherness and sharing was the main feature of the 2015 editon of Design Miami, the most seductive fair for collectible design.

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