Sacred Geometry/
Geometric shapes occur both by natural and man-made design, the former often inspiring the latter. Ralph Bakker’s jewelry designs, coming to the fair with Antonella Villanova, are based on naturally occurring geometric patterns found in nature. Galerie VIVID presents geometry that changed the face of design in post World War I Europe in the form of Gerrit Thomas Rietveld’s Zig-Zag Chair. Brian Thoreen's work, appearing at Patrick Parrish Gallery, demonstrates his passion for geometric forms that evolve from nature.

Transparent and luminescent/
The technical challenges and diverse effects afforded by glass continue to inspire forms both ethereal and unexpected. At Galerie kreo Julie Richoz shows new works created with glass blowers at Marseilles’s legendary CIRVA (Centre International de Recherce sur le Verre et les Arts plastique). Kyoto-born designer Ritsue Mishima – represented by Pierre Marie Giraud – moved to Venice in 1989 to work alongside the city’s fabled glassblowers, deviating from Venetian tradition to create un-pigmented works. Commonplace Studio’s Lumière series marries blown glass to contemporary technology, illuminating each globe with projections of moving images in a ghostly tribute to the early days of cinema at Victor Hunt Designart Dealer. Terence Main’s branchlike Light Pods set budlike glass elements at the tips of cast aluminum twigs to create a ‘growing’ chandelier at Magen H. Gallery.

Hard steel, soft leather/
The contrast of cold, hard metal with hide is one addressed in a multiplicity of ways at Design Miami/. The unyielding, cool lines of Maria Pergay’s stainless steel furnishings find soft contrast in their leather and hide upholstery. Alberto Biagetti and Laura Baldassari make a more playful juxtaposition in the Body Building collection at Secondome, an ‘anti gym’ that takes formal inspiration from metal workout equipment, undercutting the hard edge with soft pink upholstery. Nanda Vigo’s fur is of the faux variety: at Erastudio Apartment-Gallery synthetic leopard skin covers her hybrid brass forms from 1971 that perform both as coat racks and lighting elements. The classic combination of hard steel face and soft leather straps appears in a number of the vintage watches with extraordinary provenance at the fair’s first watch gallery Le Collection’Heure.