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Design Miami/ 2016 Highlights: Maison Perrier-Jouët Strand Garden by Andrew Kudless

The Maison Perrier – Jouët Strand Garden by Andrew Kudless  at  Design Miami/ was an oasis of serenity and calm in the midst of the biggest design show in North America.  

Drawing from Perrier-Jouët’s  history with Art Nouveau,  San Francisco based designer Andrew Kudless combined those elements with those involved in the ritual of serving champagne: 

“I was interested in the way that strands, fibers, branches and vines were applied across every aspect of Art Nouveau, from paintings to architecture, says Kudless. “The curving strand motif evokes nature and movement over time. I wanted to look at four of Perrier-Jouët’s emblematic materials – wood, chalk, glass and grapes – and see how I could create strands out of each one.”

The three screens of 8′ curving strands were meant to evoke tree trunks or vines.

The interlocking oak-top benches were meant to evoke the riddling racks and wine wine presses while their concrete legs resemble the chalk that shelters the cellers and nourish the vines.

This table placed in the center of the space was made from bio plastics and was illuminated from within thus evoking the radiant clarity and vibrant personality of Perrier-Jouët wines .

And placed on top of this magnificent table was this extraordinary ice bucket 3D-printed from ground Chardonnay grape skins! Entitled The Perrier-Jouët Marc Metamorphosis, it is a fitting tribute to the freshness, subtlety and sophistication of the Perrier-Jouët Belle Epoque cuvée using the cognizant metaphor of the wrinkled raisin.   

So happy I was able to spend some time in Strand Garden!

More images from this wonderful installation courtesy of Perrier-Jouët: 

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Upcoming Event: Design Miami/ 2016 Nov 30 – Dec 4

This year’s edition of Design Miami/ brings the best in design from galleries and exhibitors from across the globe and includes such highlights as:

  • The launch of Building Legacy: Designing for Sustainability, a partnership between Design Miami/ and the United Nations
  • Dean & DeLuca unveil Stage by German architect Ole Scheeren, a new food retail concept
  • Design Miami/ x Maison Kitsuné launch a limited edition mini-capsule collection at this year’s fair
  • Audi presents The Extra Hour by Lego
  • Maison Perrier-Jouët partners with American artist Andrew Kudless to present L’Eden
  • FENDI reaffirms its commitment to design at the fair and presents THE HAPPY ROOM by Cristina Celestino
  • Airbnb presents Sobremesa, a lively exploration of shared space, by Mexico City-based design studio Pedro&Juana
  • Louis Vuitton presents new additions to the Objets Nomades series which have been specially commissioned for Design Miami/
  • COMPAC will present ICE, a collaboration between the leading Spanish surfaces company and renowned artist and designer, Arik Levy
  • CNN Style joining Design Miami/ as the official news outlet of the fair with an on-site newsroom

A definite must-see!  Continue reading “Upcoming Event: Design Miami/ 2016 Nov 30 – Dec 4”

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Design Miami/Basel 2016

Design Miami/Basel 2016, which took place June 14-19, had its strongest showing so far!

This 11th edition featured strong programming, like the Design Talks/ panel with designers Formafantasma, rugmaker Alexandra Kehayoglou and jewelry maker David Bielender moderated by Christian Larson, associate curator of modern and contemporary art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

There were also epic collaborations like the Collectors Lounge/ designed by Kuehn Malvezzi with the support of Artek and Kvadrat.  And wonderful satellite exhibitions, including one that featured innovative works by the iconic Zaha Hadid.

And if you weren’t able to be at this year’s spectacular edition,  watching the updates from the forum on Instagram , Facebook, Twitter was almost as good as actually being there.

Looking at this year’s highlights, via Camron PR, I cannot wait for December’s Design Miami/ 2016 in South Beach! Continue reading “Design Miami/Basel 2016”

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Zaha Hadid Dies At 65

Even as I type these words, I cannot believe that one of the greatest architects in the world, Zaha Hadid, died today at age 65. It seems impossible that this powerful, talented phenomenon of a person can be stilled.

It is also striking to me that one of my most cherished idols, passed away here in South Florida, in Miami, closer in proximity to where I live than I ever would have thought.  After all don’t giants pass from this world in far off places, like Mount Olympus.

This past December, I was invited to celebrate the launch of REVOLUTION PAVILIONS at Design Miami/ –a collection of limited edition pre-crafted home and pavilions designed by 30 of the world’s most acclaimed architects and designers introduced by real estate impresario, Robbie Antonio.

One of the two fully constructed pavilions there at the Design Miami/ was Zaha Hadid‘s curved VOLU Dining Pavilion.

A masterful fusion of lightweight engineering and precision fabrication, this pavilion elevated outside dining to an innovative level I have never seen before. As a born and raised New Yorker, who regularly fronts a wary sangfroid, I was awestruck.

For almost an hour I examined it – I walked around it, I sat around it, I took photos of it, I walked in it and finally sat in it.  Simply out, it is a spectacular structure that I love to own much less dine in.

This was just a tiny example of her work. Fortuitously, a much greater example, will be located here in Miami – the One Thousand Museum luxury residential skyscraper. Got fingers crossed that I will be invited to the preview when it opens in 2018 as I would love to take a closer look at this singular mind of genius that has left us foolish mortals behind.

 

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DESIGN MIAMI/2015: GALLERY HIGHLIGHTS

This year’s DESIGN MIAMI/ celebrates diversity in design as the following highlights from this year’s gallery programme show!

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Latin spirit/

Cangaço – bookstand/ Fernando and Humberto Campana, 2015/ Courtesy of Campana Studio and Fernando Laszlo/

Design Miami/ welcomes Firma Casa, its first participating gallery from Brazil (São Paulo), into a program that is notably strong in design from Latin America. The distinctive and innovative work of the Campana Brothers – Design Miami/ Designers of the Year in 2008 – are represented at both Firma Casa and Friedman Benda. A rare jacaranda wood bench by Modernist pioneer Joaquim Tenreiro is showing at R & Company. Cristina Grajales Gallery exhibits a spectacular coffee table by Gloria Cortina topped with golden obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass. ADN Galeria of Mexico participates in the Design Curio program with a project by the Mexico-based sculptor and furniture designer Eduardo Olbés. Continue reading “DESIGN MIAMI/2015: GALLERY HIGHLIGHTS”

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Looking Back: Design Miami 2014 and Design Miami 2013

Design Miami 2014 and Design Miami 2013

With almost 40,000 visitors, the Design Miami/ 2014 Tenth Anniversary Edition was it’s most successful iteration to date.  35 galleries from as far as Seoul, Lebanon and South Africa and, for the first time, from Miami’s own Wynwood art district, shared their distinctive individual visions and beautifully curated displays featuring the best in both vintage and contemporary collectible design.

As fashion icon supreme Diana Vreeland said, “…The eye has to travel…” and mine sure did as you can see in the following video collection of photos I took there:

In attendance were notable visitors including collectors like Patricia Cisneros and Adriana Cisneros Griffin, Peter Brandt, Tico Mugrabi, Aby Rosen, Barry Friedman, Beth DeWoody, George Lindemann, Paula Crown, and Svetlana Uspenskaya, architects Zaha Hadid and David Adjaye, artists Tracey Emin, Theaster Gates, Marina Abramović and Trevor Paglen, magazine editors Glenda Bailey and Margaret Russell, model and business woman Elle Macpherson, actors Owen Wilson and Jane Fonda, gallerist Emmanuel Perrotin, designer Ron Arad, musician André 3000 Benjamin and hotelier André Balazs.

For my complete event photo/video album with over 100 photos and 3 videos, go here!

Looking further back to 2013, it was evident that this design event had set the bar for design events in the U.S.

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Art Basel Miami Beach 2014 Wrap Up

Art Basel Miami Beach 2014 has wrapped up another successful edition. As their latest press release states:

Art Basel’s 13th edition in Miami Beach closed today, Sunday, December 7, 2014,
amidst strong praise from gallerists, private collectors, museum groups and the
media. Highlights of the show included the introduction of the new Survey sector,
which brought 13 art-historical projects to the fair, including many rare works
never before exhibited in an art fair context; and Art Basel’s staging with Performa
of Ryan McNamara’s ‘MEƎM 4 Miami: A Story Ballet About the Internet’ at the Miami
Grand Theater. Solid sales were reported across all levels of the market and
throughout the run of the show. Featuring 267 leading international galleries from
31 countries, the show – whose Lead Partner is UBS – attracted an attendance of
73,000 over five days. Attendees included representatives of over 160 museum and
institution groups from across the world – and a surging number of new private
collectors from the Americas, Europe and Asia.

Miami Beach’s leading museums and private collections also timed their strongest
shows of the year to coincide with Art Basel in Miami Beach. The Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (CIFO) presented ‘Impulse, Reason, Sense, Conflict/Abstract Art in the Ella Fontanals-Cisernos Collection’ while the de la Cruz Collection Contemporary Art Space showed ‘Beneath The Surface’. It was a year of anniversaries as The Margulies Collection at the Warehouse marked its 15th anniversary, and the The Rubell Family Collection presenting ’50 Years of Marriage’, celebrating Mera and Don Rubell’s half a century of marriage and collecting.

Design Miami, the leading global forum for collectible design, also celebrated its 10th anniversary and also presented their inaugural Design Visionary/ Award to Peter Marino. See more posts about Design Miami here.

The Pérez Art Museum Miami presented Mario Garcia Torres, Beatriz Milhazes and
Geoffrey Farmer. The Norton Museum of Art presented ‘RAW: Klara Kristalova’, while the Bass Museum of Art showed ‘One Way: Peter Marino’. The NSU Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale showed ‘Café Dolly: Picabia, Schnabel, Willumsen’.

Also, Art Basel and BMW announced a new partnership supporting emerging artists. Starting in 2015, the BMW Art Journey will enable emerging artists to go on a journey of creative discovery to a destination of their choice. Functioning
as a mobile studio, the BMW Art Journey is open to artists from Positions and
Discoveries, Art Basel’s sectors for emerging artists in Miami Beach and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit http://bmw-art-journey.com.