A riot of colorful, abstract, geometric tufted pattern carpets the palatial, 18th-century staircase winding through this year’s Design Miami/ Paris fair, held through Oct. 19.
An immediate showstopper, the fiber artwork is the newest site-specific creation of the Georgia-based Trish Andersen, one of four alumni from the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) unveiling their latest works at the Hôtel de Maisons this week.
“I fell in love with all the ornamentation and excessive, Rococo detail in this house, which directly inspired this installation,” says Andersen. The fiber artist, who specializes in tufting, used digital technology to patch together abstracted, pixelated forms based on sketches of decor seen throughout the gilded mansion. “I’m very much 'more is more,'" she adds. "I'm drawn to that excessive ornament, pattern, and color. I really feel like we’re lacking that, and I thought, What a wonderful opportunity to do my own version!”
Design Miami's longtime official university partner in Miami, SCAD is now extending their collaboration to Paris, where the leading design fair is in its second edition. For the occasion, the institution also installed a monumental sculpture in bubbling puffs of organza in pinks and reds, which hangs from the ceiling above the central staircase. That intervention is courtesy of yet another alum, Danish fiber artist Lærke Lillelund. Nearby, a vintage sofa upholstered in Rothko-like gradients of blues-to-greens-to-cream, by Bradley Bowers, has staked its quarters, flanked by ceramic sculptural tables by Eny Lee Parker.
The Parisian edition of the fair is an obvious fit for the international university, which has had a campus in Lacoste, France for over two decades. Indeed, Lillelund’s contribution—which fuses organic and artificially calculated forms—was conceived in the school’s Lacoste Alumni Atelier program in the south of France, where artists are offered studios in caves, literally tucked within a medieval village.
“SCAD welcome hundreds of talented students from an array of top ranked degree programs year-round to create and learn at our serene Lacoste location. It was a natural fit with the university’s continued legacy and impact here in France to exhibit at Design Miami/ Paris and expand our successful partnership with the global design fair,” says JJ Maxwell, Associate Vice President of PR and Marketing at SCAD. With Paris cementing its place as a global art destination, some of that excitement has spread outside the capital, notes Maxwell, pointing to growing cultural centers, and a host of fashion and design exhibitions the university has organized at its Provence campus via the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion and Film. “We are proud to continue to contribute to that cultural impact,” he concludes.
