Frank Lasry of MCH Group (Parent Company of Design Miami/) said, “Design Miami/ continues to be the most premium platform for historic furniture and decorative art, while offering some of the most exciting new material from the world’s leading galleries. As we conclude the fourteenth edition of the fair, it is a pleasure to see the Basel edition continuously gain strength."

Jennifer Roberts, Chief Executive Officer, Design Miami/, said, “Our fourteenth edition was a tremendous success thanks to the strong exhibitions brought by our gallerists and Curio program. We were pleased to include A Plastic Planet in an important dialogue with Aric Chen’s debut exhibition, Elements: Earth. We are proud that Design Miami/ is ushering in a generation of designers who follow the greats of the twentieth century and bring with them a following of engaged and influential collectors.”

Aric Chen, Curatorial Director, Design Miami/, said, of his first fair in the position, “I have admired Design Miami/ Basel since its beginnings and to have contributed to it this year has been an honor. It is a meaningful platform, with an engaged audience, for having dialogues about many pressing topics around design and its future."

This year’s fair demonstrated that it is often the challenges faced by society that produce the most influential art and design. During the Design Miami/ Basel Talks program, Serpentine Galleries Artistic Director Hans Ulrich Obrist said, of the environmental crisis, “We live in a situation of urgency . . . and that means that there is no time to lose. We now basically need to break down the silos and find ways to bring art into society. That is not only about the exhibitions, but about how we can produce reality.”

Gallery Program/Movements and common narratives found throughout the gallery program emerged with confidence this edition, showing forms, functionality, and social messages shared across galleries, designers, and territories. Fine Japanese-inspired decoration in porcelain and sterling at Oscar Humphries’ Curio Japonism were met with important historic Japanese woven baskets at the gallery of first-time exhibitor Erik Thomsen. Equally historic bamboo vessels by master weavers made an impression with collectors at LAFFANOUR–Galerie Downtown, where the intricate ikebana vases were juxtaposed with postwar French design from masters Charlotte Perriand and Jean Prouvé.

Of note for their rarity this year were works by Jean Royère on show at both Galerie Jacques Lacoste and Galerie Chastel-Maréchal. Both galleries debuted and sold previously unseen works discovered in the homes of original collectors, commissioned in the mid-1950s. A set of four bar stools and an undulating sofa in yellow velvet at Galerie Chastel-Maréchal made stark contrast to the gallery’s one-of-a-kind Jose Zanine Caldas sofa fashioned from a reclaimed abandoned wooden canoe, which was discovered outside Rio de Janeiro in 1976 and shown for the first time at Design Miami/ Basel. Examples of collectible upcycling emerged elsewhere on the gallery floor, however, with reused plastics, fishing line, coconut fibers, and hosiery making fine examples of the planet’s material future.

Discoveries were available not only in the contemporary program, however, with historic works by lesser-known and equally influential designers of the mid-twentieth century at galleries like New York’s Demisch Danant. The gallery’s cofounder, Suzanne Demisch, one of Design Miami/’s founding exhibitors, said, of such works, “The most important design of the twentieth century finds its collectors in Basel, but the most rare and influential pieces are often from the great designers whose names are lesser known. The postwar generation of French designers, influenced by their UAM mentors and challenged by postwar society, for example, proposed a new modern lifestyle that propelled French modernity into the 1960s. Those works can be seen as triumphs in mid-century design today.”

Notable Sales/Shortly following the death of the great designer and sculptor Claude Lalanne on April 11, 2019, Galerie Mitterrand of Paris sold nearly its entire exhibition of the late artist, with sales totaling more than $1 million. Erik Thomsen Gallery of New York sold sixteen rare Japanese woven bamboo baskets that ranged in price from $5,000 to $85,000, the first of their kind at Design Miami/ Basel. Paris’s Galerie Jacques Lacoste sold much of its exhibition of Jean Royère and Charlotte Perriand, including a lamp, mirror, console table, two chairs, coffee table, and custom Royère wall paneling in the first two hours of the Collectors Preview. Oscar Humpries sold the entire collection of fourteen porcelain works by Christopher Dresser, ranging from $3,700 to $7,500. Functional Art Gallery, a first-time exhibitor, sold two pieces to major institutions.

Notable Attendees/Arthur Mamou-Mani, architect; Benedikt Taschen, publisher and art collector; Boris Vervoordt, art dealer; Catherine Lagrange, art collector; Craig Robins and Jackie Soffer; David Mugrabi, art collector; Domenico and Eleanore de Sole, art collectors; Douglas Durkin, interior designer; Edward Tyler Nahem, art dealer; François-Henri Pinault, businessman; Helen Schwab (of Charles Schwab Corporation), art collector; Howard and Cindy Rachofsky, art collectors; Iwan Wirth, art dealer; Joe and Marie Donnelly, art collectors; Jonathan Gray, Leon Black, investor and art collector; Luis Laplace, architect; Maja Hoffmann, art collector; Mary Zlot, art advisor; Mick Flick (Friedrich Christian Flick), lawyer and art collector; Petch Osathanugrah, art collector; Peter Soros, investment banker; Rachel and Jean-Pierre Lehmann, art collector and financier; Rafael de Cárdenas, architect; Raf Simons, designer; Mera and Don Rubell, art collectors; Studio Swine, designers; Tyler Brûlé, journalist and entrepreneur.

Design at Large/Presented annually at the entrance to Design Miami/ Basel, Design at Large showcased historical and contemporary works in ambitious, large-scale displays that exceeded the spatial confines of a traditional gallery booth. For this edition the exhibition was curated by Curatorial Director Aric Chen around the theme of Elements: Earth. Nine galleries showcased the future of materials, resources, and making in the age of the Anthropocene, the current geological epoch in which human activity has been the dominant force in altering the planet.

CAdditional Programming/The Swarovski Designers of the Future Award returned to Basel with its exhibition debuting the work of the winning emerging designers, leading a varied program of satellite exhibitions at the fair. The three-day Talks program, developed by Curatorial Director Aric Chen, took place in the Broadcast Theater. Furthering their partnership with Design Miami/’s Talks program, Therme Group once again collaborated with the fair to bring together leaders from the worlds of art, design, and architecture, including Hans Ulrich Obrist, Maja Hoffmann, Studio Swine, and more alongside a successful roster of curated panels featuring luminaries such as Deyan Sudjic, Mathieu Lehanneur, and Maria Cristina Didero, to name a few.

The fair once again shared a connecting entrance with Art Basel Unlimited. This thoroughfare saw a range of interactive and exploratory projects, such as Stuart Parr’s playful, nostalgic vision of the French Riviera, Connie Hüsser’s eccentric personal collection of decorative and utilitarian objects, First Stone’s designer showcase of sustainable and ageless materials, and a retrospective of Jean Prouvé’s architecture from Galerie Patrick Seguin. In the spirit of the theme Elements: Earth, Design Miami/ Basel partnered with A Plastic Planet to drastically reduce its consumption of single-use plastic. The formerly plastic cards issued to VIP members were replaced with paper and biodegradable PVC and the food offerings by Beschle, located on the fair’s ground floor and second level, were designated free of single-use plastics.

On the gallery floor, Brasilea Foundation and Laufen showcased their collaboration between the countries Brazil and Switzerland while Citco featured sculptural furniture by leading international designers. USM presented the Collectors Lounge in collaboration with Verpan, and Perrier-Jouët returned as the fair’s exclusive champagne sponsor. One All Every presented See A Clean Future with Ugo Rondinone and RVS Eyewear, a line of sunglasses that are sustainable from frame, to lens, to packaging. Pop-up stores do you read me?! and June Basel returned and, for the first time, Dr. Hauschka welcomed visitors outside the fair in an Airstream trailer dedicated to its 100 percent natural skincare and cosmetics.urio/With fourteen Curio presentations, Design Miami/ Basel’s 2019 program was the most extensive in the fair’s history. The objects on view ranged from 300 AD to the present day, including experimental and rare design and decorative art from emerging and established makers, artists, and galleries.

Paul Hughes Fine Arts celebrated Josef and Anni Albers’s admiration of historic Andean textiles and their kinship with indigenous weavers in a striking presentation. Alongside their main gallery booth, Nilufar Gallery presented FAR, a showcase of individual contemporary designers who often work collectively, including works by Bram Vanderbeke, Destroyers/Builders, Odd Matter, and Wendy Andreu. Boghossian, six-generation family jewelers, revealed a modern cabinet of curiosities with pieces inspired by silk weaving practices and crafted from the last remaining pieces of an 18-karat gold silk. Milan-based Camp Design Gallery continued its collaboration with Adam Nathaniel Furman, a colorful collection realized in partnership with Abet Laminati.

Design Miami/ Basel 2019 Exhibitors/ Galleries/ammann//gallery/ Cologne Carpenters Workshop Gallery/ Paris, New York, San Francisco, and London Caterina Tognon/ Venice CONVERSO/ Chicago Cristina Grajales Gallery/ New York Demisch Danant/ New York Erastudio Apartment-Gallery/ Milan Erik Thomsen Gallery/ New York Friedman Benda/ New York Functional Art Gallery/ Berlin Galerie Chastel-Maréchal/ Paris Galerie Eric Philippe/ Paris Galerie Jacques Lacoste/ Paris Galerie kreo/ London and Paris Galerie Maria Wettergren/ Paris Galerie Matthieu Richard/ Paris Galerie Meubles et Lumières/ Paris Galerie Mitterrand/ Paris Galerie Pascal Cuisinier/ Paris Galerie Patrick Seguin/ London and Paris Galerie Philippe Gravier/ Paris Galerie Regis Mathieu/ Paris Galerie VIVID/ Rotterdam Galleria Antonella Villanova/ Florence Galleria Rossella Colombari/ Milan Galleri Feldt/ Copenhagen Gallery ALL/Beijing and Los Angeles Gate 5/ Monaco Giustini / Stagetti/ Rome Gokelaere & Robinson/ Brussels and Knokke Hostler Burrows/ New York Jousse Entreprise/ Paris LAFFANOUR–Galerie Downtown/ Paris LEBRETON/ San Francisco Magen H Gallery/ New York MANIERA/ Brussels Marc Heiremans/ Antwerp Mercado Moderno/ Rio De Janeiro Nilufar Gallery/ Milan Patrick Parrish Gallery/ New York Pierre Marie Giraud/ Brussels Salon 94 Design/ New York Side Gallery/ Barcelona The Future Perfect/ Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco Thomas Fritsch–ARTRIUM/ Paris

Curios/Atelier Swarovski presents Crystal Blind by Studio Brynjar & Veronika and Slanted Tiles by Study O Portable Armel Soyer presents Remember by Olga Engel Boghossian presents Gold Thread Camp Design Gallery presents Three Characters in the Second Act: The Royal Family by Adam Nathaniel Furman Caroline Van Hoek presents TOAST Didier Ltd presents Paint it Black by Louise Nevelson DIMOREGALLERY presents PIERO! Galerie SCENE OUVERTE presents Phantasmagoria Lindsey Adelman Presents Paradise City Mathieu Lehanneur presents Inverted Gravity Nilufar Gallery presents FAR Oscar Humphries presents Japonism Paul Hughes Fine Arts presents Confluences: From Ancient Andes to Bauhaus Syz Art Jewels presents Dino Runes by Kerstin Brätsch