The charming director Ambra Medda invented Design Miami in 2005. Soon she teamed up with Art Basel and Design Miami/Basel became the official design satellite fair to Art Basel and Art Basel Miami Beach.
The fourth edition of Design Miami/Basel in Switzerland moved directly into hall no. 5 of the Basel exhibition complex. This was a wise decision, as there were 25% more visitors than the year before.
It is also very different from established design fairs like Milan, as it is very small (only 27 International design galleries) and it does not offer mass production design, but only limited editions and unique pieces.
Design Miami/Basel should actually focus on contemporary design only, but that is not true: You can always find design classics mixed into the booths.
One of the reasons therefore might be the overheated pricing of contemporary superstar designers like Marc Newson or Zaha Hadid. Therefore, it might be anyway a wise decision to buy classics now.
- Marc Newson presented by Parr Studios (c) photo by Premier Art Scene
Carpenters Workshop Gallery offered for € 60,000 the prototype of a very good installation by Random International: 'Audience' was made of small moving mirrors that followed the person, who walked the path between them. Fun.
- Random International: 'Audience' of 2008 (c) photo by Premier Art Scene
Dealers reported that actor Brad Pitt and Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich already bought some pieces by Dutch contemporary designers (like Atelier van Lieshout or Drift) for one of their private homes. In contrary to the last edition in Miami in December the sales were okay in Basel.
- Booth of Perrotin design gallery with T. Murakami's 'Flower Ball' carpet (c) photo by Premier Art Scene
You can see here also the cross marketing approach by some galleries: The design branch of Perrotin art gallery offered also a carpet by the visual artist Takashi Murakami. It is an edition of 20. There are two sizes: 2 or 3 meters in diameter. The smaller one was priced for $ 33,750. The larger one went for $ 60,750. If you really need it...
by Chris Neuschler
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Comments
I think he does very colorful & decorative works of art!
Jill
My problem with Murakami is exactly that he does (simply) colorful & decorative works.
That's o.k. for handbags and carpets, but I think, for visual arts, this is far to simple.
That is why I think Murakami is tremendously overrated and will not stand the test of time.
Chris