Design Miami/ 2018 one month away...

In exactly one month, I will be at 2018 Miami Beach edition of Art Basel, and I am starting my journey at Design Miami/, located right outside the newly remodeled Miami Beach Convention Center.   This year, Design Miami/ is honoring Pedro Reyes and Carla Fernández with the 2018 Visionary Award.  Both designers will host a collaborative exhibit inside the Design Miami/ tent and create the graphic identity for the show, and they will also design the installation at the entrance of the tent, which is sure to be stunning.

Pedro Reyes and Carla Fernández by Ana Hop from a detailed FvF article on the duo

Last year, Design Miami/ captivated viewers and provided a safe refuge from the chaos of the construction around the Convention Center.  In reviewing what I wrote about last year and the photos I took, I thought it would be best to highlight some of the great design the 2017 edition featured.

My favorite booth was Gallery All  by the owners Xiao Lu and Yu Wang - which surprised me given the focus on highly reflective metal furniture.  To be honest, the first thing that comes to mind is the lobby at Trump Tower NYC.  But designers Hongjie Yang, Zhipeng Tan and Ma Yansong just blew everyone away with their ability to fuse warm fluid organic form with cold polished metal, removing all the garish 1980's aspects of shiny brass.

2017 Gallery All photographed by Artsy (details of all items included)

I love the white metal screen that is barely visible in the picture of the Gallery All booth - here is a detail of the undulating piece, full of sensuous curves fused with hard edges.  The perforations would create varied illuminated patterns in all directions, utilizing light from alternative sources.

2017 Nolan

Another standout was the Moderne Gallery exhibit, featuring Michael Gruber Designs as well as this stunning David Ebner walnut cabinet from 1981.  The other contents of the booth were captured very well by a photographer at MGD.

2017 Nolan

Moderne Gallery booth by Michael Gruber Designs

Normally I don't pay much attention to decorative glass work at design shows but Barbara Nanning's deceptively named Monochrome bowls just stunned me at Pierre Marie Giraud's booth, which was outfitted with beautifully simple shelves.  I read that Barbara Nanning will be back again this year, and I look forward to see what she has wrought.

2017 Nolan

2017 Design Miami /

One last image I have to share, but with hesitation as I do not know the artist who created it, or the gallery that featured it.  Unfortunately I was caught up in the moment and did not take careful notes!   This picture does not do the sculpture justice, as the choice of material so closely resembled moss that I thought it might have been a cultivated variety I had not known.  The just shy of chartreuse color produced an odd optic effect, almost straining the eyes to observe, no doubt enhanced by the intense overhead lighting but also something more was in play.  Perhaps the texture of the material worked with the color to diffuse the light slightly, creating a visible aura around the piece that my camera could not capture.   If anyone would like to enlighten me as to the creator and the gallery, please leave your thoughts in the comments.

2017 Nolan

An "in camera" tour of the grounds and sculptures at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

Although I grew up in Michigan, I did not get a chance to visit the Cranbrook Academy of Art located in Bloomfield Hills, north of Detroit.  My family was not particularly interested in places like Cranbrook, which seemed elitist, pretentious, and very very urban.  I am grateful for the appreciation of natural beauty that my parents instilled in me, but glad of the self-taught love of art and design would come later.  I feel like the same dual appreciation of nature and man was central to the aesthetic of the renowned Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen and the deep-pocketed founder of Cranbrook newspaper mogul George Gough Booth in creating the Academy. 

I was finally able to visit Cranbrook this summer, and put together a little "in camera" tour of the grounds and sculptures around the Museum and the Library.  I say "in camera" because I am going to present them in the order that I shot them, with minimal cropping and no filters or alterations.  I have to admit that I cherry picked the best shots though so this is not a real in camera edit by any means.  That kind of stressful application of forethought would have ruined the first experience but, in looking over the photos I did take, I might want to revisit the Academy and take a real in camera attempt.

As you approach the main staircase to the Museum and Library of the Cranbrook Academy of Art, 

you are greeted by two imposing black stone lions.

who guard the figures suspended above the Orpheus Fountain by Carl Milles

But there is another much older stone lion, which protects the west stairwell.

Turning back to the monolithic facade of Art Museum and Library by Elial Saarinen,

You walk into a courtyard with sparse seating and interesting details,

including this sculpture of St. Paul by Carl Milles, by the library entrance.

Looking out from the rear of the courtyard, you get a broad view of the Triton Pond by Carl Milles,

Whose largest statue is Europa and the Bull, at the head of the pond.

 
More sculptures await as you walk around the Triton Pond,

and the path back has its own beauty, if you pay attention.

Upon returning, you are once again confronted with architectural genius,

before entering the Museum.