For one week every winter, Art Deco haven Miami Beach becomes a little more stylish as the design world flocks to Design Miami, the global forum organized twice a year to coincide with Art Basel international art fairs. The five-day event is a veritable Who’s Who of design, with the world’s most influential designers, gallerists, and critics, as well as collectors and enthusiasts, attending everything from commercial projects to cultural programming. Panels and lectures on architecture, art, and fashion address industry hot topics, while an array of pieces, from objets d’art to furniture, trade hands and set new standards for collectible design.
As part of this year’s Design Miami Commission program, the Harvard Graduate School of Design will present a series of unrealized designs in 3-D model form suspended from steel supports outside the pavilion. Inside, most exhibiting galleries deal primarily in modernism, showing objects from the 20th and 21st centuries, while a handful of exhibitors will present 18th- and 19th-century antiques. In addition to the larger booths, “cabinets of curiosity,” or Curios, will be scattered throughout the fair: These installations—curated by select designers, curators, and gallerists—consider scientific or technological approaches to handcraft and design.
In short, Design Miami 2015 promises to be a jam-packed affair, with plenty to ogle, plenty to buy, and plenty to keep the design universe inspired until the fair’s next iteration. Click through the slideshow for a peek at some of the most exciting tastemakers and showpieces to keep an eye out for in Miami—and around the design world for many months to come.
