Design Miami celebrates collectable design – we unearth some of the highlights from this year’s Basel edition. Elana Castle writes.
June 29th, 2016
Curio
Design Miami’s newest exhibition platform invites designers, curators, innovators and gallerists to present cabinets of curiosity throughout the fair that expose inventive snapshots of life, innovative, scientific and technological research and creative production.
A Future Made (an initiative from the Crafts Council and The New Craftsmen) presented Nature Lab. Each wondrous object was created by pushing the natural boundaries of wood, sand, salt, clay, flowers or ice, which trialed radical new techniques and proposed new ways of working with nature.
A Future Made presents Nature Lab
SO-IL presents it’s not what it is
Etage Projects presents Soft/Hard by Soft Baroque
Design at Large
Design at Large, curated by founder and editor in chief of Cabana Magazine, Martina Mondadori Sartogo, presented large-scale architectural limited edition dwellings that ranged from functional pavilions to modular homes. The structures explored the connections between the built and natural worlds, demonstrating how architecture and design can accommodate and enhance its natural surroundings.
Ron Arad presented Armadillo Tea Pavilion Shelter (constructed by Revolution Precrafted Properties), an independent structure composed of five (or more, if desired) mechanically-fixed modular components. The moulded shells are made in a range of finishes (from durable PVDF-coated timber composite for outdoors, to oiled hardwood-veneered plywood for indoor use), depending on their intended purpose. Whilst not airtight or designed to withstand extreme climatic conditions, the structure gives one loose shelter from sun, wind and noise.
Ron Arad’s Armadillo Tea Pavilion presented by Revolution Precrafted Properties
Etnea Landscape Architecture presents In a Silent Space the Landscape is the Sound
Satellites
Design Miami invites institutions to create unique exhibitions with strong curatorial and educational perspectives. This year, a highlight was an exhibition of Zaha Hadid’s work, commemorating her contribution to the field of design. Known for her fluid form-making, the focus of this particular exhibition was on her memorable design objects, including her Liquid Glacial range of acrylic stools and tables, and her black granite Valle shelves.
Presentation of Zaha Hadid’s work
Hess Classic presents 20 years of Italian Chefs d’oeuvre – Design Meets Innovation
Awards
This year, the 2016 Swarovski Designers of the Future Award was awarded to sound artist Yuri Suzuki, glass artist Anjali Srinivasan and German-Icelandic design duo Studio Brynjar & Veronika.
Srinivasan created an undulating wave of special, touch-sensitive interactive tiles, Suzuki produced a musical instrument that makes sound by tapping crystals, and Studio Brynjar & Veronika designed crystal blinds that cast rainbows when hit by the sun (see their projects here).
Design Miami
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