This year, Design Miami's 18th edition runs from June 10-16, coinciding with the Art Basel fair. More than 25 international galleries are participating, showcasing a blend of historical and contemporary design pieces. Noteworthy exhibitors include Galerie Patrick Seguin, Galerie kreo, Downtown-Laffanour, Lebreton, and Ketabi Bourdet Design. The show booths feature works by interior design luminaries such as Jean Prouvé, Gio Ponti, Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, and Philippe Starck. A special tribute is dedicated to the late Gaetano Pesce, who passed away in April. Swiss art gallery Eva Presenhuber makes its debut with a presentation of Franz West's furniture. My personal highlights include: 1. Galerie Meubles et Lumières (Paris, France) showcases Max Sauze's Cassiopée chandelier and Jean-Pierre Laporte's Anemone sofa, recipient of the Best Gallery Presentation Award. 2. Galerie Gastou (Paris, France) features Shiro Kuramata's “Ephemera” vases and Gaetano Pesce's "Senza Fine" armchair. 3. Angela Weber Möbel (Zürich, Switzerland) presents a furniture set by Gio Ponti from the 1930s. 4. Downtown+ gallery (affiliated with Downtown-Laffanour, under Luna Laffanour's ownership) highlights Japanese design in the Curio section. 5. Friedman Benda gallery (New York, NY) showcases the Rosa Tank Lamp by Enrico Marone Cinzano, made with real recovered tank prisms. Basel, Switzerland June 15, 2024
Tag: François-Xavier Lalanne
TEFAF New York 2024
The 10th edition of TEFAF New York returns to the Park Avenue Armory this May bringing together 89 galleries. Artworks range from antiquities to modern and contemporary. Surrealism reigns supreme this year. My three highlights are: - Galerie Jacques Lacoste presents Salvador Dalí's Mae West couch, - Galerie Mitterrand brings a rare work by François-Xavier Lalanne, the Bird rocking chair, - Beck & Eggeling features artist Aljoscha, whose large-scale Bioism sculpture is suspended from the ceiling in the Drill Hall. New York, NY May 10, 2024
Design Miami / Paris 2023
The French capital is busy this week of October not just because of the Art Basel. International collectors and art aficionados get to catch several design events in the Left Bank’s tony Saint-Germain-des-Prés neighborhood . Thema is a brand-new design fair housed in a historic Parisian townhouse. The show is small, 11 galleries on two floors featuring mainly up-and-coming artists and designers. According to the founder of the Thema, Michael Hadida, what distinguishes this fair is its commitment to sustainability and inclusivity. The long anticipated launch of Design Miami fair finally happened. The Art Basel's sister show is housed in a 18th century mansion with an interesting history, L'hôtel de Maisons. Many of the 27 participating galleries have to share rooms. Over half of the exhibitors are Paris-based displaying pieces by iconic French designers such as Jean Royère and Jean Prouvé. American galleries are presented here as well. I caught up with two New York galleries, Friedman Benda and Hostler Burrows. Design at Large section features oversized installations and sculptures in the garden in the back. And the icing on the cake are the sweet designs by the Milanese café Cova, which set up a temporary counter here and the deserts look delicious. Paris, October 18, 2023
TEFAF New York 2023
With nearly 100 galleries participating, TEFAF New York is back at the Park Avenue Armory. It's about one-third the size of the Maastricht fair. The focus here is on modern and contemporary art with lots of familiar galleries: Van de Weghe, Axel Vervoordt, David Zwirner, Pace, Di Donna, but there's something for everyone's taste, like fine art paintings at the Richard Green gallery from London. This year, I am particularly interested in the design aspect of this fair. Galerie Mitterrand from Paris is showcasing a stunning collection of works by Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne. Fun fact: the gallery’s owner is a relative of the former French president. And if you want to learn about ceramics, take a listen to my interview with artist Kate Malone at the Adrian Sassoon gallery booth. Lastly, Edmondo di Robilant speaks about his gallery Robilant+Voena. New York, NY March 16, 2023
TEFAF New York 2022 | Part II
On the closing day of the TEFAF New York fair, I returned to the Park Avenue Armory to view some galleries upstairs in the period rooms. Michael Beck and Ute Eggeling, the founders of the eponymous gallery from Düsseldorf, talked about the gallery's origin in East Germany and their cooperation with John McEnroe in New York. Michael Beck explained why they are not Basel people, but TEFAF people, and gave me some background on their current presentation "Cómo pretexto Picasso" by Manolo Valdés. Next, I spoke with art historian from Axel Vervoordt, a Belgian gallery. I also was pleasantly surprised by my new discovery - a beautiful gallery from Munich, Galerie Thomas. Silke Thomas, the founder's daughter and art historian, gave me a glimpse into the art scene of the last century, the German Expressionism, Wassily Kandinsky and The Blue Rider, et al. All three galleries weathered the pandemic pretty well, and have had a successful show in New York. And my final note is on Creative Spaces, the initiative at TEFAF designed for displaying select artworks in the areas throughout the show to "increase the visual excitement of the fair environment."
Greaves Productions 