Design Miami/ 2023 Now Open
Miami, 06 December 2023/ - Design Miami/ returns to Miami Beach for its 19th edition of the flagship fair, welcoming a range of thought-provoking presentations curated in response to the curatorial theme Where We Stand.
Exhibitor Highlights/
Award winners/
Design Miami/ is delighted to announce this year’s Best of Show award winners, selected by the Vetting Committee, including Simon Andrews, Al Eiber, Lee Mindel, Jeremy Morrison, and Grela Orihuela:
Curator’s Award: Omi Iyo, a Special Entrance Wall Piece by Nifemi Marcus-Bello
This year’s new Curator’s Award, selected by Curatorial Director Anna Carnick, is awarded to a special entrance wall piece by Nifemi Marcus-Bello, titled Omi Iyo. Conceived in response to the dangerous journey of undocumented migrants from Africa to Europe, Marcus-Bello has rendered a work that makes formal reference to the hull of a boat.The polished stainless steel work—though appearing as a solid mass— is hollow and filled with salt that, over the course of the fair’s five-day programme, will flow continuously to the ground from a small opening at the sculpture’s base, resulting in a self-patterning heap of crystals beneath the work, whose growth will cease at the close of the exhibition. The work is generously presented by LA-based Marta Gallery, which is also presenting a Curio at the fair spotlighting other works by Marcus-Bello.
Best Gallery: Gallery FUMI (London)
Gallery FUMI (London) wins Best Gallery with a presentation of whimsical, sculpted forms evoking a fantasy land. Sculpted forms are cast in bronze by Voukenas Petrides, and seating is crafted entirely from cardboard by Max Lamb. Illuminated sculptures resemble playful characters by Jeremy Anderson, and structures are wrapped in layers of wooden shingles, pigmented by hand in pastel hues, by Lukas Wegwerth.
Best Curio: Raise the Moral (Los Angeles)
Raise the Moral (Los Angeles) presents Becoming Familiar, an exhibition of work by Moral Turgeman and Kelsey Falter that invites a remembrance and reconnection within the human body through sensorially immersive functional design, offering a series of custom carved marble works that ritualize experiences of the senses.
Best Historic piece: S.A.M. Tropique no. 503 Table by Jean Prouvé, 1951, at Patrick Seguin (Paris)
Featuring an aluminum tabletop with exceptional patina, the S.A.M. Tropique no. 503 from Cameroon combines practicality with a minimalist aesthetic. Its central support with four inclined legs, designed for user comfort, gives it an almost sculptural dimension.
Best Contemporary piece: One-Seater Concrete Tree by Nacho Carbonell, 2022 at Carpenters Workshop Gallery (London/Paris/New York)
One-Seater Concrete Tree is an exceptional example of Nacho Carbonell’s dreamlike aesthetic and craftsmanship. Carbonell’s experimental approach, welding together the sculpture’s metal branches and spray painting its canopies in mixed pigments, gives the work a rich tactility.
Best Special Project: Villa Albertine & Mobilier National present Atelier George, Atelier d’Offard, Chloé Bensahel, Gala Espel and Dimitry Hlinka
Villa Albertine and the Mobilier National are delighted to present an exhibition curated by Alban Roger with an immersive installation by Atelier d'Offard, showcasing the work of five rising stars of the French design scene: Atelier George, Atelier d’Offard, Chloé Bensahel, Gala Espel, and Dimitry Hlinka. The designers are each participants in Villa Albertine’s residency program, and present a refined aesthetic that renews the legacy of age-old French craftsmanship. Each project is rooted in a reinvented artisanal technique, blending organic shapes and futuristic lines and curves.
Additional Programming Highlights/
Partner Highlights/
BIRKENSTOCK presents Natural Instincts/ at Design Miami/ 2023
For the first time BIRKENSTOCK has partnered with Design Miami/, taking over a sprawling space within the fair environment, to form a lush, nature-laden installation. The takeover coincides with the launch of BIRKENSTOCK’s large global retail space, in the Miami Design District, which opens to the public on December 8, highlighting the German brand’s growing footprint in the US. The event is also timed with the release of a new collection celebrating BIRKENSTOCK’s 10-year collaborative journey with Concepts - a respected US heritage retail brand. The colorful collection draws inspiration from Miami and the Art Deco movement. At Design Miami/ BIRKENSTOCK will provide a serene space for respite within the busy environment of the collectible design event, offering foot massages and various interactive displays, including a showcase of the work of Californian-based timber sculptor Vince Skelly. Additionally, a curation of Black 1774 styles is showcased within the space including two new models, the 222 West and 33 Dougal launching February next year.
Design icon, lifestyle or health product: No matter how complex, captivating and divisive BIRKENSTOCK might be, its brand ethos is simple. BIRKENSTOCK makes really good shoes. Shoes based on tradition that are durable, made in Europe and perfectly handcrafted.
FENDI presents Fendibackfrontals by BLESS
For this year’s fair, FENDI has collaborated with BLESS - the transdisciplinary studio founded by Desiree Heiss and Ines Kaag, offering inventive connections between art and design, fashion and architecture. BLESS’ proposal for Design Miami/ 2023 is a playground of multifaceted approaches that bring out the strengths of FENDI in a conscious inventory of what the Maison embodies today. The booth is dominated by four double-sided paravents conceived by Bless and realized in partnership with FENDI CASA, organized in such a way that they create both frontside scenery and backside parcours. The frontsides of these large paravent elements host life-size photo documents (Wallscapes) of FENDI related interiors, while their backsides incorporate furniture, offering a functional approach in the form of seating, table and storage elements.
Special Project Highlights/
Aman, iconic hospitality and lifestyle brand, has launched Aman Interiors at Design Miami/ 2023. The brand’s new division offers made to order, handcrafted designs, by skilled artisans in locations across the globe. At Design Miami/ 2023 Aman Interiors debuts the Migumi Collection, designed in collaboration with Kengo Kuma.
Curated digital marketplace Basic.Space (Los Angeles) presents an exhibition of multi-hyphenate artists and designers, including works by artist Nick Thomm’s inaugural furniture line THOMME, and designs created in collaboration between South Korean designer niceworkshop and tattoo artist Dr. Woo. Meanwhile, HAADA (New York) presents Marina Abramovic: Chairs for Human and Spirit Use - a novel path in Marina Abramovic’s legendary body of work, the chairs presented at Design Miami/ foray into the world of collectible design, serving as a meditation on the value of functional objects beyond their physical dimensions, instead concentrating on their metaphysical qualities. Performance artists will bring the works to life, with demonstrations on Thursday 07 December (13:30-15:30), and Saturday 09 December (12:00-14:00).
Design Miami/ has also collaborated with Anava Projects and Books & Books to produce The Book of Love, a fundraiser supporting the right to read. The initiative has invited esteemed design creatives from around the globe to create works on paper that celebrate the most besieged titles from recent bans. The resulting works have been unveiled at Design Miami/.
Design Talks/ Theater presented by USM Modular Furniture/
Design Miami/ 2023 welcomes a robust talks program, curated by the fair’s 2023 Curatorial Director, Anna Carnick, in response to the curatorial theme Where We Stand. Each talk welcomes a panel of boundary pushing designers, curators, and industry leaders.
Highlights from the talks program include:
Creative Bridges and the Places They Lead: Creating Markets Through Cultural Exchange presented by Kohler
Wednesday 06 December, 14:00 - 15:00
Anna Carnick moderated a panel discussion with Samuel Ross (Artist and Designer), David Kohler (Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Kohler Company), and Craig Robins (CEO and President of Dacra, Co-founder of Design Miami/), exploring the values of collaborations between designers and brands, and the process of harnessing a brand’s place in society to enrich the future of design.
Cultivating Change: A Conversation on Biodiversity & Design
Wednesday 06 December, 15:45-16:45
Fernando Laposse (Artist and Designer) sat down with Perrier-Jouët’s Axelle de Buffévent (Culture & Creative Director), renowned maize genetics expert Denise Costich (Senior Research Associate, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences - Cornell University), and Friedman Benda’s Jennifer Olshin (Partner and Founding Director) to discuss the intersection of design and biodiversity—including the issue’s urgency, design’s potential to cultivate change, and the role that all living species play within the larger ecosystem.
Upcoming highlights from the talks program include:
The Story of Us: Women design voices on the pleasures —and power— of rising together
Wednesday 06 December, 17:30-18:30
This panel conversation will bring together a lineup of women design voices - Crystal Williams (President, Rhode Island School of Design), Dominique Petit-Frère (Spatial Designer), Lora Appleton (Executive Director and Founder of the Female Design Council (FDC) and Founder and Principal of kinder MODERN), Dejha Carrington (Co-Founder of Commissioner), Cristina Grajales (Cristina Grajales Gallery Founder ) and Trevyn McGowan (Founder, Southern Guild). From championing more and better opportunities for underrepresented voices to cultivating a culture of care and supporting the next generation, this revealing discussion draws on participants’ experiences of the work needed to shed light on the tools and models to support women in the design field.
Expanding the Design Canon: Acquisition, Activism, and Data, presented by Wexler Gallery
Thursday 07 December, 15:45-16:45
This panel will focus on the current state of the design field and explore what a more inclusive design community might look like — one which is capable of producing works worthy of collecting, sharing, researching, and documenting. Alisa Chiles (Assistant Curator of European Decorative Arts and Sculpture at Philadelphia Museum of Art), Jomo Taiku (Artist and Industrial Designer), Julia Halperin (Journalist, Editor and Co-Founder of the Burns Halperin Report), Malene Barnett (Award-Winning Multidisciplinary Artist, Textile Designer, And Community Builder), Hamed Ouattara (Artist and Designer), and Norman Teague (American Social Practice Artist, Designer, Furniture Maker, And Educator) will explore questions that include: What changes do Black creatives hope to see in the coming years to make the field more inclusive? And how can institutions and industry professionals hold themselves accountable for progress?
Perfectly in Sync: Paula Wallace in Conversation with Kelly Wearstler presented by SCAD
Thursday 07 December, 17:30-18:30
Paula Wallace (SCAD President and Founder), member of Interior Design’s Hall of Fame, and AD100 Hall of Fame interior designer Kelly Wearstler will discuss Wearstler’s latest book, Synchronicity, her design philosophy "old soul, new spirit," and her credo that when it comes to design, "everything goes back to love."
Healing Through Design
Friday 08 December, 14:00-15:00
This panel conversations will spotlight outstanding creatives whose practices harness the power of design to heal: to reclaim space, resist divisive forces, honor heritage, and nurture hope and community. Finding inspiration and even material source from their immediate environments, these creatives - Victoria Yakusha (Architect, Designer & Artist), Andile Dyalvane (Ceramic Artist), and Nifemi Marcus-Bello (Designer) - speak with Anna Canick about how they embrace design as a tool to transform and empower.
MONUMENTAL presented by Design Akademie Saaleck
Saturday 09 December, 14:00-15:00
At this pivotal moment, as we reckon with and reimagine public monuments around the globe, Studio Barnes (Featuring Architect and Designer; Founder), Germane Barnes (2023 Artistic Director of dieDAS), Nina Cooke John (Architect & Designer), Adam Nathaniel Furman (Artist & Designer), and Jha D Amazi (Principal of Public Memory & Memorials Lab at MASS) reflect on the responsibility of communicating complex histories and creating spaces for healing. What stories do the monuments we erect tell? And whose voices are excluded or included? The panel conversation delves into the future of monuments in public spaces and the ways they can represent a more inclusive story of humankind—past, present, and future.
Queer Spaces
Saturday 09 December, 15:45-16:45
Rene Gonzalez (Principal, Rene Gonzalez Architects), Charles Renfro (Partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro), Adam Nathaniel Furman (Artist & Designer), and Marianne Lamonaca (Director, The Humanities Edge, Florida International University) will discuss questions centered around queer spaces within the design field. This conversation will explore the term’s fluid definition, while considering an array of architectural structures designed specifically for members of the queer community.
Browse the full program here.
NOTES TO EDITORS
Design Miami/ 2023 Galleries/
Adrian Sassoon, London
Aequo Gallery, Mumbai
Ateliers Courbet, New York
Atelier Ecru Gallery, Ghent
Bernard Goldberg Fine Arts, New York
Carpenters Workshop Gallery, London/Paris/New York/Los Angeles
Charles Burnand Gallery, London
Cristina Grajales, New York
David Gill Gallery, London
Diletante42, São Paulo
Friedman Benda, New York/Los Angeles
Galerie BSL, Paris
Galerie Mélissa Paul, London
Galerie Negropontes, Paris
Galerie Patrick Seguin, Paris
Galerie SCENE OUVERTE, Paris
Gallery FUMI, London
Hostler Burrows, New York/Los Angeles
Ippodo Gallery, New York
Jason Jacques, New York
Lebreton, Monaco
Magen H Gallery, New York
Maison Gerard, New York
Mercado Moderno, Rio de Janeiro
Mindy Solomon Gallery, Miami
Moderne Gallery, Philadelphia
Ornamentum, Hudson, New York
R & Company, New York
Sarah Myerscough Gallery, London
SIDE Gallery, Barcelona
Southern Guild, Cape Town
The Future Perfect, New York/Los Angeles
Todd Merrill Studio, New York
Twenty First Gallery, New York
Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia/New York
Design Miami/ 2023 Curios/
AGO Projects, Mexico City
Aqua Creations, Bat Yam/Englewood
Bea Interiors Design by Bea Pernia, Miami
Elisabetta Cipriani, London
Emma Scully Gallery, New York
Harry Nuriev, Paris/New York
J. Lohmann Gallery, New York
Marta, Los Angeles
Rademakers Gallery, Amsterdam
Raise the Moral, Los Angeles
Room 57 Gallery, New York
Superhouse, New York
Tuleste Factory, New York
Victoria Yakusha, Kyiv and Brussels
Design Miami/ 2023 Partners/
Alkemis Paint
Audi
B&B Italia
Birkenstock
Crozier Fine Arts
Evian
Fendi
Ginori 1735
Kohler
JUSTIN Vineyards & Winery
Maestro Dobel
Maison Perrier-Jouët
Marriott Bonvoy American Express
Miami Design District
Michael’s Genuine Bistro
Panerai
Private Client Select
SCAD
Sevan Biçakçi
Soho House
Stephen Webster
Tuuci
USM Modular Furniture
Design Miami/ 2023 Special Projects/
Aman
Anava Projects and Books & Books
Basic.Space
HAADA
Inspired in Barcelona and Illacions Gallery
Villa Albertine and Mobilier National
Schedule of Events/
Tuesday, December 5, 2023
Members Preview/ 11am–12pm
Collectors Preview/ 12pm–7pm
Press Preview/ 2pm-7pm
Wednesday December 6, 2023
VIP Preview/ 11am–1pm
Public Show Days/
Wednesday December 6/ 1pm–7pm
Thursday December 7/ 11am–7pm
Friday December 8/ 12pm–7pm
Saturday December 9/ 12pm–7pm
Sunday December 10/ 12pm–6pm
Visiting the fair/
To learn more about the 19th edition of Design Miami/, please visit www.designmiami.com.
Tickets are available for purchase HERE.
To register for a press pass, please visit here.
About Design Miami/
Design Miami/ connects the world through extraordinary collectible design, with live fairs that bring together galleries, designers, brands, experts, collectors, and enthusiasts. Each edition of Design Miami/ features museum-quality 20th and 21st century furniture, lighting, and objets d’art from the world’s top, expertly vetted galleries, in addition to showcasing immersive design collaborations with celebrated brands. Design Miami’s flagship fairs take place alongside Art Basel in Miami, Florida, each December, in Basel, Switzerland, each June, and in Paris, France, each October in conjunction with Paris+ par Art Basel. Design Miami/ is also accessible 365-days a year through designmiami.com, a content-rich digital marketplace featuring works from leading galleries and original editorial and video content on Forum Magazine.
Press inquiries, please contact/
CAMRON
+44 (0)20 7420 1700
Hannah Perry/ [email protected]
Grace Englefield/ [email protected]