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15/6/2014

Design Miami/ Basel

Messe Basel, Basel

May 20, 2014 - Design Miami/ Basel returns with a gallery program that balances contemporary practice at its most cutting edge with strong historic works by some of the world’s leading designers and craft ateliers. More than 50 galleries from 13 different countries have been selected to participate, and this growing international scope in exhibitors is reflected in the increasingly diverse provenance of the works on show.

Compelling themes are already emerging from this year’s gallery program. These include resonant investigation of ancient materials in contemporary works, contributions to the field of design by twentieth-century sculptors, the crossover of craftsmanship and aesthetics between designers in Europe and Asia, and historic works of extraordinary provenance. A number of participating galleries have commissioned new pieces specifically for this June’s show, the first details of which are highlighted below.

Ancient Materials
Deploying ancient techniques for working with volcanic materials developed in the Mount Etna region of Sicily, Formafantasma’s De Natura Fossilium melds starkly contemporary forms with vital and expressive materials. Jewelry works by the artist Rebecca Horn likewise combine ancient materials and craft methods to new ends – fossilized snail shells are set using Etruscan-influenced lapidary to create spiritually potent new works. Fur, feathers, leather, cording and the symbolic arsenal of the shaman find their place in the works of young Icelandic designer Brynjar Sigurðarson, whose pieces for the home owe perhaps as much of a debt to anthropology as they do to design history. At the more purely sculptural end of the scale, Rowan Mersh uses tiny, tubular, tusk-shaped dentalium shells to create captivating architectural elements.

Exchange between East and West
From the meticulous embroidery and trompe l’oeil of Danful Yang’s Packing Me Softly stools, to the beautifully balanced kinetic energy of Reinier Bosch’s Hurricane and Skirt tables, to the fine porcelain of Bouke de Vries’s knowing modern figurines, Chinese craftsmanship brings a refined edge to contemporary design. The meshing of ancient and modern is also celebrated in the slick curves of Satyendra Pakhalé’s Roll Chair, which marries a ceramic body to a carbon fiber surface. Studio ceramics has long been the field of fruitful cultural exchange between Asian and Europeantechniques; and tradition continued in the beautifully ‘monstrous’ forms of the young Japanese designer maker Takuro Kuwata. Antique orientalist works shown by Steinitz and Jason Jacques Inc. hint at the long heritage behind this East-West fascination.

Between Sculpture and Design
Art Deco’s investigation of the sculptural possibilities of the machine age carried from architecture and sculpture through to domestic furniture and started a formal dialogue that stretched the length of the twentieth century. The rich interchange between the formal innovation that design has gained from sculpture, and the aesthetic of technical functionality that sculpture has fetishized in design is celebrated in this year’s Design Miami/ Basel, with works including Yonel Lebovici’s surreal Les Mains Chaude (1979) and Péter Pierre Székely’s anthropomorphic Bar (1950). The theme of Surrealism is picked up again in Claude Lalanne’s work, in which forms from the natural world are put to whimsical use as furniture, sculpture and jewelry.

Extraordinary Provenance
While storytelling has become an increasingly important feature of contemporary design, twentieth-century works have their stories to tell too, such as the Trapèze table (1954-56) by Jean Prouvé. Designed for the Résidence Universitaire Jean-Zay in Antony, France, the name references the distinctive shape of the table's paired legs and broad tabletop edges. A tribute to French designer René-Jean Caillette will include several unique works and rare prototypes acquired from the designer’s estate – many of which have never previously been exhibited. Other exceptional modern works on exhibition include the Minguren III table by George Nakashima, which was commissioned in 1976, and Jean Royère’s rare Liane floor lamp (c. 1955).

Works Commissioned for Design Miami/ Basel
This June will see the unveiling of gallery YMER&MALTA’s Marquetry: The Sleeping Beauty collection, for which French designers Sebastian Bergne, Benjamin Graindorge, Normal Studio and Sylvain Rieu-Piquet have been asked to collaborate with a Parisian Master craftsman to imagine new, contemporary approaches to marquetry. Carpenters Workshop Gallery has commissioned new pieces from a number of artists, including provocative South African conceptualist Kendell Geers. Other hotly anticipated commissions include Ramy Fischler’s monumental suspended marble works at Armel Soyer, alufoil laminated pieces by American designer Christopher Schanck at Johnson Trading Gallery, R & Company’s Haas Brothers Sex Room and a new suite of furniture by Studio Job at Mitterrand+Cramer.

Design At Large

Design Miami/ Basel 2014 sees the inaugural edition of Design At Large, a curated display of inspiring large-scale design installations stationed around the center oculus on Design Miami/ Basel’s first floor. Selected from proposals solicited from exhibiting galleries, the Design At Large program will reflect the diverse character of the fair itself, from the recreation of historic interiors to the latest in interactive technology. Dennis Freedman, Creative Director of Barneys New York will serve as curator of the 2014 inaugural program. "The Design At Large program provides a unique opportunity to show work outside the traditional boundaries of the gallery space," said Freedman. "The process was fascinating and results diverse, with installations ranging from a 1956 prototype methacrylate reinforced polyester living unit (Bulle 6 Coques) by Jean Benjamin Maneval to a more recent monumental scale “Drawing Machine” designed by Eske Rex, constructed out of wood, steel, concrete, paper and a ball point pen."

Freedman’s passion for collecting design began in the late 1990’s. While studying at university, he became fascinated by the Radical Italian Design movement of the late 1960’s featured in such influential magazines as Domus and Abitare and exhibited in Emilio Ambasz’s groundbreaking 1972 exhibition, “The New Domestic Landscape” at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), in New York. It was this interest, which would soon unfold with his first purchase; an early edition 1971 Capitello chair by Studio 65. His extensive collection includes a world-class assortment of prototypes and early editions of significant furniture and decorative objects spanning a period of over 50 years — beginning in the early 1960’s to more recent designers of today; which include: Superstudio, Ugo La Pietra, Offincina Undici, Martine Boileau, Archizoom Associati, Studio 65, Joris Laarman and Gruppo Strum.

The inaugural Design At Large program features:

Drawing Machine by Eske Rex presented by Galerie Maria Wettergren
Drawing Machine is a construction involving two pendulums, each suspended from a tower and connected through “drawing arms” and moveable joints that are set in motion by hand. A ballpoint pen resting on a drawing surface covered with the paper is mounted at the point where the pendulums come together and the force of the momentum is represented through drawings on paper, serving as a tool which investigates the relationship between time and movement.

Wood Ring by Chris Kabel presented by Galerie kreo
Wood Ring is a circular wooden bench by Chris Kabel, 118 inches in diameter and composed of wooden elements carved in a trapeze shape from a single tree trunk which can reach 33 feet long. Placing the different elements side-by-side, Kabel reproduces exactly the wood grain, which strengthens the majesty and the organic quality of the work. The round-shaped bench is both public and intimate, inviting users to share the internal space, or decide to isolate if facing outwards.

Thread Wrapped Architecture 020514 by Anton Alvarez presented by Gallery Libby Sellers
Commissioned for Design At Large, Alvarez will create 3m high free-standing open structures with his Thread Wrapping Machine. The work is inspired by architectural arches that have been formed through the thread-wrapping process, and is the next exciting stage of development of Alvarez’s highly successful wrapped furniture and objects.

Ice Angel by Dominic Harris presented by Priveekollektie
Ice Angel blends the act of youthful playfulness when creating snow angels with modern digital manipulations, making the viewer assume the role of both performer and portrait subject. As the user moves their arms a new wing shape appears, unfurling from the shoulders, moving and displacing virtual snow. The wings are created dynamically and are linked to the participant.

SÉANCE by Sheila Hicks presented by Demisch Danant
SÉANCE, an interactive ‘color lab’ installation by celebrated American artist Sheila Hicks, invites participants to actively engage in an act of color play, to discover and experiment with the juxtaposition of color and to gain insight into one of the most fundamental aspects of Hicks’ design process. Participants are invited to sit and experiment with color combinations guided by their own personal associations, and to share and trade with others to create a unique color narrative.

Bulle 6 Coques by Jean Benjamin Maneval presented by Jousse Entreprise
Presented at the Salon des Arts Ménagers in 1956, urban architect and theorist Jean Maneval’s housing unit made entirely of plastic remained a prototype until 1986 when Batiplastique invested in its industrialization. Maneval’s “six shell” bubble was used to equip an experimental holiday village set in Gripp in the Hautes- Pyrenees, with each pod is made up of shells joined together by waterproof, easily removable seals, and is suspended on a metal framework.

About Design Miami/
Design Miami/ is the global forum for design. Each fair brings together the most influential collectors, gallerists, designers, curators and critics from around the world in celebration of design culture and commerce. Occurring alongside the Art Basel fairs in Miami, USA each December and Basel, Switzerland each June, Design Miami/ has become the premier venue for collecting, exhibiting, discussing and creating collectible design. For more information, visit www.designmiami.com.

For Design Miami/ press inquiries, please contact:
Camron PR Judy Dobias / Adnan Abbasi +44(0) 20 7420 1700
Judy.Dobias@camronpr.com / Adnan.Abbasi@camronpr.com

Preview Day (by invitation only)/ Monday, June 16
Collectors Preview/ 12-5pm
Vernissage/ 5-8pm
Press Preview: Monday, June 16/ 2:30-5pm
Remarks by Executive Director Rodman Primack/ 2:30pm
RSVP to Valentina Giani
Valentina.Giani@camronpr.com
+44 (0)20 7420 1700

Hall 1 Süd, Messe Basel
Messeplatz - Basel, Switzerland
Public Show Days
Tuesday-Wednesday, June 17-18/ 11am-8pm
Thursday-Sunday, June 19-22/ 11am-7pm
Design Miami/ Basel 2014 Tickets
Tickets can be purchased for entry to the fair Tuesday- Sunday, June 17-22 General
Admission: CHF 25
Students & Senior Citizens: CHF 20
Combination Ticket to Art Basel: CHF 60
Talks
Free and open to the public; seating is first-come, first-served
June 17-19/
Designers on Site/ 2:30-3:30pm
Design Talks/ 5:30-6:30pm

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