Design Miami/ Basel a Success

Marc Spiegler, Rene Kamm & Craig Robins
The sixth edition of Design Miami/ Basel saw a significant increase in sales and attendance throughout its five-day run in Basel, Switzerland June 14-18, 2011. Collectors, curators, critics, designers and enthusiasts from around the globe descended upon the fair to see stunning presentations of blue-chip historical and contemporary design, alongside new commissions from emerging designers.

Galerie Ulrich Fiedler

In total, the fair drew a record 20,500 visitors from throughout Europe, North America, South America and Asia, including collectors Jil Sander, Naomi Campbell, Will Ferrell, Jean-Pierre Lehmann, Peter Brant, George Lindemann, Larry Gagosian, Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz, Sir Norman Foster, Dasha Zukhova and Ulla Dreyfus-Best among many others. Numerous designers joined them to represent their work, including Aldo Bakker, Jurgen Bey, Ronan Bouroullec, Beatrice Brovia and Nicolas Cheng, Nacho Carbonell, Pierre Charpin, Formafantasma, Martino Gamper, Konstantin Grcic, Hella Jongerius, Arik Levy, Nicolas Le Moigne, Jerszy Seymour, Suzanne Tick as well as Catherine Prouvé and Marianne Panton of the respective estates.

Galerie BSL presenting Nacho Carbonell

Design Miami/ Basel’s audience of design devotees enthusiastically navigated the fair’s new layout, arranged in a “scatter” pattern by New York-based architects Aranda\Lasch. The arrangement embraced spatial eccentricities as a way to encourage guests to move about the show in an entirely new way. In addition, thousands of people from over 130 countries followed the unfolding of the show on the Design Miami/Basel blog at www.designmiamiblog.com.

Marianne Goebl, Director of Design Miami

“With this year’s fair, Design Miami/ Basel has once again demonstrated that it is the world’s most important destination for 20th- and 21st-century collectible design,” said Marianne Goebl, Director of Design Miami/. “The caliber of works shown in the gallery program combined with our strongest sales figures to date stand as a testament to the maturity and quality of this year’s show.”

 

First time participants Galerie Ulrich Fiedler, presenting work from Bauhaus and de Stijl movements, and Galerie Doria, specialized in work by the Union des Artistes Modernes, were enthusiastically received and complemented the early 20th century offering at the fair. Their sales include a Carlo Mollino chair for €100,000 and the Monofilio chair by Conti/Grassi/Forlani for €35,000 at Ulrich Fiedler and a table by Pierre Chareau for an undisclosed sum at Galerie Doria. Art Deco Galerie Anne- Sophie Duval from Paris sold a pair of Albert Giacometti wall scones and several pieces by Jean-Michel Frank for undisclosed amounts.

 

Going even further back in history, Paris-based Galerie Perrin sold furniture developed for the Napoleonic campaigns, including a set of two chairs for €45,000 each and a day bed for €100,000.

Galerie Patrick Seguin

Rare architectural structures by Jean Prouvé were also amongst the highlights of this year’s fair. Galerie Patrick Seguin presented a museum-quality exhibition of Prouvé’s pre-fabricated structures, including a stunning design performance: a 6x6m demountable house from 1944 was mounted in front of the visitors every day of the fair, revealing the intelligence and beauty of the structure.

 

Seguin sold Prouvé‘s Salle a Manger, for €140,000 to an American collector and two stools by Pierre Jeanneret for €10,000 each to a collector from South America.

 

In a booth partially constructed from a schoolhouse designed by Jean Prouvé in 1957, the Paris-based gallery Jousse Entreprise sold a Pierre Jeanneret table for €150,000 and a Charlotte Perriand table for €28,000.

Galerie Downtown-François Laffanour

Continuing the trend of strong sales for French design from the 1940s and 1950s, Galerie Downtown François Laffanour sold a Jean Prouvé table and six chairs to a Swiss collector for €120,000, and Galerie Jacques Lacoste sold a Jean Royere Ours Polaire sofa, armchair and pouf for €750,000 to an American collector.

 

Solo shows allowed the visitors to gain deeper insights in the work of specific designers. New York-based gallery Demisch Danant dedicated its presentation to the French post-war modernist Joseph André Motte and sold a pair of leather chairs (€26,000) as well as a pair of floor lamps for an undisclosed amount, amongst others.

 

Galerie kreo from Paris sold a bench and console (€28,000 each) as well as a coffee table (€24,000), all from the newly commissioned solo show by Pierre Charpin. The gallery also sold the Frozen Cabinet by Studio Wieki Somers for €38,000 and Konstantin Grcic’s Monroe Champion for €36,000.

Johnson Trading Gallery

Within the first minutes of opening, Johnson Trading Gallery sold two cast bronze tables ($20,000 each) to a US collector, as well as a chair ($35,000), pair of tables ($28,000) and vessel ($18,000) all part of the gallery’s Max Lamb solo show.

Hostler Burrows

Design Miami/ Basel 2011 featured a high number of work with provenance from private and public commissions. Hostler Burrows saw a number of strong sales including a chandelier by Pavo Tynell ($50,000) that was a commission for the Helsinki Stock Exchange. R 20th Century from New York City sold a private commission by Joaquim Tenreiro for an undisclosed sum, as well as a rare dresser by Greta Magnusson Grossman for $60,000.

Todd Merrill Twentieth Century

Todd Merrill Twentieth Century sold a number of pieces including a towering Harry Bertoia gong sculpture, originally commissioned for a Norwegian music hall, to a Chinese artist/collector for an undisclosed sum.

Gallery Libby Sellers presenting Formafantasma

Exhibitors of the Design On/Site program, dedicated to solo shows of cutting-edge contemporary designers, will see their work go to institutional and private collections alike. Particles Gallery sold an Aldo Bakker stool to the Vitra Design Museum. The blankets of Formafantasma’s Colony series, presented by Gallery Libby Sellers, will be integrated in the permanent collection of the Dutch Textile Musem in Tilburg. And first-time participant Galerie Maria Wettergren received a number of site-specific commissions for Astrid Krogh’s high-tech textiles.

14 June/ The Power of Patronage: Pushing Boundries Through Private Commisions Participants/ Alexander S. C. Rower, President, Calder Foundation/ Max Lamb,Designer Moderator/ Felix Burrichter, Editor/Creative Director, Pin-Up

In addition to the gallery program, a regular highlight for Design Miami/ Basel attendees is the fair’s Design Talks, which shed light on topics at the intersection of art, architecture and design. This year’s talks included “The Power of Patronage: Pushing Boundaries through Private Commissions” with participants Alexander S.C. Rower, Max Lamb and Felix Burrichter; “Freedom and Function: Diverse Approaches to Design” with Jonathan Monk, Jürgen Mayer H., Piet Hein Eek, and Joseph Grima; and “Designers of the Future: Conversation Pieces” with Asif Khan, studio juju, mischer’traxler and Joseph Grima.

The 2011 “W Hotels Designers of the Future Award” winners, Asif Khan/UK, studio juju/Singapore and mischer’traxler/Austria, stunned the visitors with their sitespecific interventions, spanning from an artificial cloud to a tent-structure and a machine, which activated itself to produce a basket when shown attention by the visitors.

Sponsor exhibition highlights included the HSBC Connection Collection IV: Hella Jongerius’ “Daylight”, a new work by Dutch designer Hella Jongerius, commissioned especially for the fair; Swarovski Crystal Palace’s presentation of “Iris” by Fredrikson Stallard, a new collaboration with the London-based design studio; and “The Vitra Design Museum: Zoom: Italian Design and the Photography of Aldo and Marirosa Ballo,” an exhibition of the work of Milanese photographers Aldo Ballo and Marirosa Toscani Ballo.

16 June/ Designers of the Future: Conversation Pieces Designers/ Asif Khan/ Studio Juju/ mischer’traxler Moderator/ Joseph Grima, Editor-in-Chief, Domus

Design Miami/ Basel confirmed once again that it is the only fair that can assemble the highest caliber of international design galleries for an audience of experienced as well as new collectors. With a unique presentation spanning collectible design from around the world, the June 2011 show proved to be the most successful in the show’s history.

Swarovski

For more information please visit www.designmiami.com and www.designmiamiblog.com.

 

Design Miami/ is the most prominent and substantive forum for collectible design, representing a convergence of commerce and culture. Its annual shows in Basel, Switzerland (June) and Miami, USA (December) bring together the most influential galleries, collectors, designers, critics and curators from around the world. For more information please visit www.designmiami.com.

 

Design Miami/ Basel is presented in partnership with HSBC Private Bank, whose dedication to innovative international design is an example of its emphasis on the value of connections. HSBC Private Bank is committed to supporting the forum in Basel and to continuing to explore new opportunities together with Design Miami/ Basel into the future.

 

HSBC Private Bank values connections and its partnership with Design Miami/, initiated in December 2006, is at the heart of its expanding global commitment to design.

 

HSBC Private Bank is the marketing name for the private banking business conducted by the principal private banking subsidiaries of the HSBC Group worldwide. HSBC Private Bank and the private banking activities of HSBC Trinkaus as well as the HSBC Private Banking entities, known collectively as Global Private Banking, provide services to high net worth individuals and their families through 96 locations in some 43 countries and territories in Europe, the Americas, the Asia- Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa. Private Banking and Wealth Management Services in and from the United States are offered through HSBC

 

Private Bank Americas, a division of HSBC Bank USA, N.A., and HSBC Private Bank International in Miami. HSBC Private Bank draws on the strength of the HSBC Group, one of the world’s largest banking and financial services organizations, providing a comprehensive range of financial services more than 100 million customers.

 

For more information on HSBC Private Bank, please visit www.theworldsprivatebank.com

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