Design Miami

I am not a collector, but I enjoy attending this show every year. The «furniture“and art objects really push the limit. I thought it was better when it was held in the Design District, but apparently that piece of land is being developed. Now it takes place on Meridian Ave. & 19 Street in Miami Beach.
Had an invitation to attend the opening night «Vernissage» and enjoy free Veuve Cliquot champagne. Best thing about it are all the fabulous people… major wow factor!

This fair was a total disappointment. I attended last year and knew that it was going to be on the smaller side, but i shouldn’t have been able to walk the fair, talk with exhibitors, and check out every piece being shown within 15 minutes… for $ 25. The larger venue just meant the booths were more spread out, not that they had more to offer. Honestly, the only memorable part was the hammock installation at the entrance.
For a better experience, check out the International Furniture Fair at the Javits Center in NYC in May. It blows Design Miami out of the water.

«…the show’s program will be announced soon.» Soon? The show starts in 2 days! So when will they announce the program? And the vendors? Having seen the show two years ago, I can say that it has interesting (and VERY espensive) twentieth century designer furniture from around the world, mostly mid-​century. Worth a visit if for nothing else to admire the designs and note the cost.

Design is being peddled, hoarded and traded on a grandest scale – Can anyone smell the tulip trade insanity all over again? As if it’s not enough to make fine art greed’s victim. In this bi-​annual fair, touted as the Olympics of modern design, galleries, curators, collectors and design literatis converge in Florida and in the next 6 months somewhere in Europe (this year in Basel, Switzerland) to showcase, buy, sell, and discuss design for the so-​called goal of furthering its future. But furthering it towards what? Whorification of designers and Pimpimizing of design houses? It’s true that good design, exceptional design don’t come cheap because craftsmanship, materials and rarity come to play but… will it really move design forward if such design products fetch for insane amounts of money. Is it in the quantification of value that people will actually appreciate and respect design; collecting and hoarding it like chips in a poker game, or worse, like trophies, as if its ownership validates one’s sense of style. In this fair, an Axel Salto vase covered in breasts sold for $ 75K, an Yves Behar chandelier sold for $ 434K and a Hadid table for $ 300K. If they really want to push forward the future of design, regular consumers like you and I should have access to good design at affordable pricing. Whether we’re opening our good ol Heineken, and not a bottle of Dom Perignon, our hardworking hands deserve a well-​designed opener. That is why, Target and Ikea rules, and this Design Fair nothing but a big fat orgy.