Design Miami/ Basel 2010
A Miami Original Heads to Europe
The fifth edition of Design Miami/ Basel brought its audience of collectors, curators and design enthusiasts together with rare originals, cutting-edge contemporary works and cultural programming.
“Design Miami/ Basel has reached a new level of maturity and consistency – collectors and cultural institutions have made the show an important destination, and that community grows with each successive fair,” said Craig Robins, Co-Founder of the fair.
Purchasing was swift from the onset, with sale confirmations on the first day. Galleries again benefited from the proximity to Art Basel and commented on the visibility of new collectors and clients – notably from Asia, the US, South America, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland and Lebanon. In total, Design Miami/ Basel attracted a record 16,600 visitors to this year’s fair.
During an opening-day roundtable, Design Miami/ Director Ambra Medda commented: “This was certainly our best fair to date. From the layout of Hall 5 to the caliber of the participating galleries and the quality of the work they presented, we are extremely pleased and overwhelmed by the level of interest, quality of visitors and the sales that have transpired during the course of the week.”
Participating galleries and exhibitors were equally pleased. Founding gallerists Patrick Seguin, who has participated in all 10 editions of Design Miami/, sold 12 pieces, totaling €1.4 million in sales. Seguin described this latest edition as “the best Design Miami/ fair I have ever done… there was a real improvement to the quality of the show.” The gallery sold the Charlotte Perriand dining table (circa 1955) and the Jean Prouve and Charlotte Perriand wall mounted book case went on the first day to an American collector.
London gallery Riflemaker was also pleased by the response. “The John Maeda projection, which was created for the Design Miami/ fair sold on the opening night,” said Tot Taylor, Co-Founder of Riflemaker. “We purposefully went for a very ‘art’ feel to our stand and I think that this different feel drew people in. The quality of visitors was as high as we expected and the fact that the projection was sold to two of the world’s major museums proved the point.”
“We have had a spectacular forum to interface with arguably the most sophisticated collectors in the world,” concluded Perry Rubenstein, “… many of Richard Woods’ collectors acquired new works (total sales amounted to approximately $800 – $1 million)… many others, significant in number and quality, have commissioned new work…”
“As always, Design Miami/ Basel exposes us to an amazing array of new clients from around the world,” said Zesty Meyers, Co Owner of R20th Century. “We were able to reconnect with a Swiss collector who first saw Greta Grossman’s work in the gallery earlier this year. He not only purchased the two Grasshopper lamps we showed in Basel, but three more that were shown in the exhibition in Stockholm.” Summing up the event as a whole, “Overall, the fair was very strong this year, with all the galleries’ exhibitions their best yet. Design Miami/ Basel is always a terrific opportunity for client development, and our experience so far is very positive.”
Nina Yashar, owner of Nilufar, one of Italy’s most active galleries in the fields of historical and contemporary design, noticed a significant increase in the number of very design-educated buyers who attended Design Miami/ Basel this year. “Many of these visitors could appreciate the works by contemporary European designers such as Andrea Branzi, Maarten de Ceulaer, Martino Gamper and Makkink & Bay,” explained Nina. Nilufar Gallery, a veteran of the Design Miami/ Basel show, sold the set of Rita Chairs by Italian contemporary designer Martino Gamper on the first day of the show as well as a BBPR lamp and pair of Albini armchairs.
Pierre Marie Giraud of the eponymous Brussels-based gallery sold a Ron Nagle ceramic to a US collector for $28,000. “We were very happy with the 2010 edition of Design Basel. We’ve received quite a lot of positive feedback about the overall presentation of our booth and the works of our artists. Especially the one piece by Takayuki Sakiyama, a new artist at the gallery, was sold in a matter of minutes after the opening of Design Basel,” explained Pierre Marie.
Attendees commented on the engaging mix of established and emerging designers, the museum-quality works on sale by Jean Royere, Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouve, and Serge Mouille, together with designs by contemporary talents, including Arik Levy, Maarten Baas, Konstantin Grcic, Studio Job, Aldo Bakker and Stefan Siegmeister.
