Design Miami/ 2018
DesignMiami/ opens its doors to this year's exhibition with an incredible selection of contemporary furniture and design brands.
One of the final shows of the year, DesignMiami/ is a staple of the design calendar, attracting art and design lovers from across the globe to a series of presentations and exhibitions that take over Miami Beach and the surrounding areas. Now in its fourteenth edition, guests were treated to an excellently curated exhibition, showcasing thirty-three luxurious design and gallery spaces from some of the best design communities in the world. Discover just a few of the top highlights, brands and discoveries from the latest show below.
J. Lohmann Gallery
It was Ahryun Lee's instantly recognisable 'candy' style designs that immediately attracted attention to the J. Lohmann Gallery's beautiful pastel pink stand. Enticing visitors to explore more, the theme for this year's display was “Breaking the Mold: Contemporary Korean Ceramics”. Showcasing impressive Korean designs the stand included Jongjin Park's colourful layered vases mimicking multiple layers of paper, cardboard and materials to create abstract vases. Bae Sejin’s intriguing textured vessels were formed with hundreds of small ceramic elements, hand-applied, each of them numbered by the designer to document the lapse of time.
The Future Perfect
Having showrooms in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles, The Future Perfect is a gallery that showcases colour, vibrancy and texture like no other. Contemporary works that blur the boundaries between art, sculpture and functional furniture filled this year's stand. It was bold creations of the Tropical chandelier and Cocorná Mirror by Chris Wolston that proved incredibly popular with visitors, moving in for closer inspection. Seattle based artist John Hogan was able to mesmerise with a series of water lenses created exclusively for The Future Perfect, when, filled with water, create a hypnotic colourful magnifying effect.
FENDI
It was more than just gallery spaces on display. Celebrating their tenth anniversary with Design Miami/, FENDI presented the wonderful exhibition 'The Shapes of Water'. In a project by Sabine Marcelis, the designs rediscover one of the elements FENDI cherishes most; water. Visitors were invited into an enclosed space, away from the busyness of the show to engage with the ten fountain designs, inspired by the most iconic symbols of craftsmanship and the logo of the historic Roman house.
Etage Projects
Specialising in limited edition contemporary design, Etage Projects caught visitors' eyes with the weird, the wonderful and the abstract. Guillermo Santoma's fully functioning 'Miami Sound System' and 'Miami Sabine Marcelis Chandelier' created intrigue at the show with their stripped-back appearance covered in dripping resin. Fredrik Paulsen's Anodized tables added beautiful hues to industrial furniture design while Sabine Marcelis, also showcasing at FENDI, created abstract lighting sculptures that combine the use of highly textured materials such as ceramic, neon and hammered resin.
Todd Merrill Studio
Creating a stand that was a piece of artwork in itself, Todd Merrill Studio introduced new collections of sculptural furniture, lighting and vessels from artists Brecht Wright Gander, Marc Fish, Jean-Luc Le Mounier and Markus Haase. Each with its distinctive looks and styles, the studio managed to provide something for everyone. Brecht Gander displayed a collection of captivating furniture and lighting designs that conceal their exact functions within an impressive form that resembles molten rock. Marc Fish's 'Etheral Desk' used new and innovative techniques to combine resin with his signature wood laminations to produce a desk that appears caught in motion.
