Basel, June 2017/ The twelfth edition of Design Miami/ Basel is the most global yet, bringing together top galleries from more countries around the world than ever before to its Basel halls. With each showcased designer, contemporary object, and diverse range of aesthetics encompassing the twentieth and twenty-first century on display, the arduously crafted exhibitions successfully capture a broad perspective of design. Design Miami/ Basel 2017’s gallery program exemplifies continued global collaboration and advancement across the industry––with nearly fifty galleries from eleven countries present, this is Design Miami/ Basel’s most diverse offering to date.

Feature Shows/
Design Miami/ Basel 2017 is showcasing important works with feature shows of note from history’s most esteemed designers. Friedman Benda celebrates the centennial of Ettore Sottsass with rarely seen works from pivotal early and late moments throughout the iconic designer’s career. Galerie Alain Marcelpoil’s solo presentation of French modernist André Sornay includes a ca. 1935 console showcasing a unique relief and staining treatment that results in a striking pattern evocative of magnetic waves. Galleri Feldt presents a pair of Poul Kjærholm drawing cabinets from the School of Architecture at the Royal Danish Academy featuring a contemporary intervention by Danh Vo––who attended the academy––placed inside each drawer. A brand-new collection by Yansong Ma and MAD Architects at Gallery ALL leads visitors on a journey into science fiction, portraying their vision of humanity beyond Earth. Salon 94 Design introduces Max Lamb’s latest body of work that makes use of leftover scraps of polystyrene featuring lush, metallic finishes, presented in conversation with gold jewelry by Lucas Samara. Etage Projects, a first-time exhibitor at the fair, taps Danish artist FOS (Thomas Poulsen) to create a stage of sorts for his works at the gallery.

New Works from Contemporary Designers/
Several galleries time the unveiling of new works and debut projects by contemporary designers at Design Miami. The Azo table for François Bauchet’s new furniture collection at Galerie kreo is made of a new material composed of sand, resin, and concrete. At Ornamentum, David Bielander shows a plate stand that, when loaded, resembles a flower with individual red petals, and, once removed, an elegant wire sculpture. “Blokko” pouf, a design object by Nanda Vigo at Erastudio Apartment-Gallery, incorporates acrylic fur, leather, dinosaurs, and a handle for moving it around any space, exemplifying playfulness and formal reduction at once. Sam Orlando Miller’s Stella Velata 1 and Stella Velata 2 at Gallery FUMI also play with perceived functionality, exploring the potential of mirrored glass to create illusions and distortions, merging the visible and the invisible. R & Company collaborated with prominent designers including The Haas Brothers, Katie Stout, Hun-Chung Lee, and more to produce unique, limited-edition rugs. At Giustini / Stagetti Galleria O. Roma, Konstantin Grcic previews a table design from his Magliana Project, a new body of work inspired by the building principles of Pier Luigi Nervi, executed entirely in concrete.

Political Responses in Design/
Reflections of the politics of our times can often be found in design objects and architecture. This year marks the centennial of the October Revolution, which Heritage Gallery commemorates with a presentation of Soviet propaganda design from the 1920s to the 1970s, including a trio of 1960s red and white glass vases replicating the exquisite French design of Émile Gallé. Galerie Patrick Seguin presents a demountable 6 x 9–meter Jean Prouvé house from 1944, which was conceived for easy assemblage and to house large families in response to eastern France suffering great damages from the Second World War. The architecture collective BBPR, formed in 1932 by Gianluigi Banfi, Lodovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso, Enrico Peressutti, and Ernesto Nathan Rogers, initially adhered to Fascism, but soon became part of the resistance––Banfi and Di Belgiojoso were imprisoned at the Mathausen concentration camp where Banfi died, and Rogers, being of Jewish descent, was exiled from Italy to Switzerland. Their works are shown at Nilufar Gallery, Galleria Rossella Colombari, Casati Gallery, and Gate 5.

Remarkable Vessels/
Stunning examples of contemporary and modern vessels utilizing glass, ceramic, stoneware, metals, and porcelain as creative mediums can be found throughout the fair. The ethereal forms of imaginative glass by artist Laura de Santillana are on view at Pierre Marie Giraud. Tora Urup’s circular glass sculptures, which play with the perception of volume and space, can be seen at Galerie Maria Wettergren. Hostler Burrows commissions another unique wall-mounted installation by Maren Kloppmann specifically for the fair, evoking imagery of deep blue porcelain pillows. Modern works include a 1968 vase by Ercole Barovier at Marc Heiremans, unusual for its bright colors and alternating rows of fused murine, and a unique bronze vase by Albert Cheuret from 1925 at Robert Zehil Gallery, one of the finest examples of his work. Casati Gallery rounds out the modern selection with ceramic works by Italian masters Ettore Sottsass, Fausto Melotti, and Renato Bassoli.