Each December, Design Miami serves as a welcome respite from the frenzy of Miami Art Week. Of the 20 fairs scattered across the city, it may be the only one with art that collectors can—at least in theory—use.
This spirit of expansiveness and generosity inspired Curatorial Director Glenn Adamson’s choice of “Blue Sky” as this year’s theme. Adamson, a leading design and craft expert, told CULTURED that he landed on the all-encompassing concept to celebrate the 19-year-old fair’s “history as an important platform for the 21st-century avant-garde.” He sees design as “an experimental, risk-taking, and ultimately optimistic venture” where “some of the boldest leaps of imagination and innovation are created under one shared sky.”
Design Miami’s latest edition returns to Pride Park, across the street from the Miami Beach Convention Center, after a momentous year. The organization launched a new Los Angeles edition in May, followed by activations in Basel and Paris. Now, more than 45 international galleries are slated to show at its flagship event, which runs from Dec. 3 through 8.
With offerings ranging from an emu-egg-studded cabinet to an ethereal canopy bed that looks like the brainchild of Ernesto Neto and Gustav Klimt, Design Miami embodies the notion that for ambitious makers, the (blue) sky is the limit. To get a taste of the range of creative visions on offer, here are six presentations at the fair to seek out.
Southern Guild
The Cape Town and Los Angeles-based gallery Southern Guild returns to Design Miami with an array of contemporary ceramics by 12 African artists who can lay claim to the ancient material’s modern resurgence. Zizipho Poswa will exhibit sculptures celebrating African womanhood—in particular the practice of umthwalo (the Xhosa word for “load”), in which women transport heavy items on their head—while Andile Dyalvane has embellished his exuberant clay sculptures with cow hair, grass, and leather to conjure Xhosa spiritual healers. “Vessels, sculptures, seating, tables, lights—the possibilities for ceramics are wide open,” gallery co-founder Trevyn McGowan tells CULTURED, “representing an energetic and ancestral lifeline for the artists.”
Charles Burnand Gallery
London-based Charles Burnand Gallery’s booth, titled “Haptic Horizons,” imagines a future where design objects push the boundaries of form and craftsmanship while remaining “profoundly tactile,” in the words of the gallery’s founder Simon Stewart. Examples include the provocatively titled, cast bronze Last Dance Bronze Chair, 2024, by Yanxiong Lin; Studio Furthermore’s Diode Dining Table, 2024, made from recycled aluminum car wheels; and the uncanny curved wood compositions of Heechan Kim (a finalist for the 2024 Loewe Foundation Craft Prize), informed by the art of canoe-building.
Æquō
Mumbai gallery Æquō’s presentation is inspired by the concept of global humanity. For its second Design Miami outing, the gallery will present a unique blend of traditional Indian craftsmanship and contemporary design. Each featured work adheres to a philosophy of balance, in which both designer and artisans share credit. The hollowed proportions of French designer Valériane Lazard’s Ajanta daybed and chair, for instance, take their cues from the 2nd century Buddhist cave temples of central India and are hand-carved by craftsmen in Bangalore.
Victoria Yakusha
Ukrainian artist Victoria Yakusha, who splits her time between Kyiv and Antwerp, returns to headline Design Miami’s Curio program, more focused displays inspired by cabinets of curiosity. In the new collection, she explores Ukraine’s Polissia region, home to dense forests awash in moss. Each piece of furniture conveys a unique geometry and tactility, echoing the natural world. Dark green upholstery, for instance, evokes moss-covered stones and beadwork represents morning dew.
The Future Perfect
With forward motion built into its very name, the Future Perfect—which has outposts in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco—will introduce nearly 100 new works from more than 20 artists and designers this year. Six of them are presenting in Miami for the first time, according to gallery founder David Alhadeff. They include Vikram Goyal, a New Delhi-based engineer turned artist whose elegant designs draw on artisanal metalwork techniques and Indian craft history, and Bahamian-American artist Anina Major, who crafts elegant ceramic pieces plaited to resemble basketry.
Gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert
Sydney-based gallery Sally Dan-Cuthbert is a Design Miami first-timer. “Our curation challenged artists to present highly refined designs or objets d’art through their unique Australian vernacular,” the gallery’s eponymous director told CULTURED. For David Tate, who was raised on a nature reserve and emu breeding ground, the result is an upright cabinet evocatively festooned with ethically sourced emu eggs and feathers.
