This week, cultural cognoscenti from around the world descend on Miami Beach for the city’s annual extravaganza of art fairs, parties, and high-design programming. A must-stop, of course, is Design Miami, the celebrated showcase of furniture, lighting, and assorted treasures by talents both established and emerging. Now in its eighth year, the forum features wares from more than 35 leading dealers. New York’s Demisch Danant, for example, is presenting a solo show devoted to Pierre Guariche, a French architect noted for his 1950s and ’60s interiors. Carpenters Workshop Gallery of London and Paris, meanwhile, has assembled a trove of cutting-edge works by Johanna Grawunder, Random International, and Vincent Dubourg, among others. And at the booth of Brussels-based Pierre Marie Giraud, pristine glass vessels by Ritsue Mishima promise to dazzle collectors.
Impossible to overlook is the entrance pavilion created by Brooklyn studio Snarkitecture for this year’s event. Composed of inflated tubes at staggered heights, the eye-catching installation offers a clever riff on the typical white vinyl tent. No less striking is Parhelia, an experimental structure conceived by British designer Asif Khan for Swarovski Crystal Palace that re-creates the visual sensations of ice halos—an environmental phenomenon in which light reflects and refracts off ice particles suspended in the atmosphere, creating ethereal rings of light. And be sure to venture across the causeway to Miami’s Design District, where a satellite exhibition pays homage to Vito Acconci of Acconci Studio, named winner of this year’s Design Miami/Designer of the Year Award. December 5–9; designmiami.com
Click here to see ten highlights of this year’s Design Miami.