Design Miami.Paris returned last week to the Hôtel de Maisons, the sumptuous 18th-century mansion near the Musée d’Orsay where Karl Lagerfeld lived on the first floor.
In this opulent setting of Parisian grandeur, visitors discovered 24 galleries and 18 presentations of 20th-century and contemporary design. The second edition, which closed on Sunday, was boosted by Art Basel Paris taking place at the renovated Grand Palais, attracting more Americans to the city.
Design Miami.Paris 2024 highlights
'On the opening day, there was an enormous number of big American collectors and an incredible, exceptional energy,' said Didier Krzentowski, owner of Galerie kreo, which was showing Ronan Bouroullec’s Flou coffee table (2024) in green undulating glass and furniture by Pierre Paulin and Alessandro Mendini, among other works. 'It’s fantastic to show contemporary furniture in an historic place,' he added.
The relationship with the French capital’s venerable history of design, architecture and decorative arts is what distinguishes the fair, believes Jen Roberts, CEO of Design Miami.Paris. 'There’s a synergy with the city because Paris is a design city,' she said.
Those thoughts were echoed by Jennifer Olshin, a partner at Friedman Benda. 'People come to the booth and teach me,' remarked Olshin, referring to the level of knowledge of many visitors.
At Friedman Benda, Nendo’s beautiful large-scale paper lanterns made in collaboration with workshops in Kyoto were juxtaposed with Daniel Arsham’s transparent OFL III lattice desk ($60,000) and OFL II chair ($42,000), 2022, in resin and wood. Also on the stand was Joris Laarman’s Voxel Round Table with pixellated feet inspired by the animals and characters of video games.
Meanwhile, Salon 94 devoted most of its stand to Gaetano Pesce (1939-2024). On view were felt pieces from La Famiglia (2024), a collection of variously-sized chairs recalling family members. They were among the last pieces that the Italian maestro made before his death in April. “He was testing to see if he wanted to make them in resin or felt,” said Trang Tran, director of Salon 94, which realized the pieces posthumously. Bearing testament to Pesce’s experimentation with resin were the Origami table (2024) with embedded “fabric flowers”, Il Vaso Più Indispensabile (2020) – a red resin sculpture of a pregnant woman’s belly and legs, and the Palladio cabinet, priced $180,000.
Many exhibitors mingled works from different epochs. For instance, Nilufar presented Christian Pellizzari’s Brugmansia Amaranto Floating (2024) – a magenta ceiling lamp made from Murano-blown glass inspired by a plant with trumpet-like flowers, alongside armchairs by Gino Levi Montalcini and Giuseppe Pagano from Italy’s Rationalist movement.
Among the highlights of historical design was François-Xavier Lalanne’s oval dining table with a Carrara marble top resting on steel rings and six chairs with similarly curvaceous legs presented by Galerie Mitterrand. Priced at €650,000, the piece, which sold last Friday, was awarded Best Historical Design Object and is a contrast to Lalanne’s better-known animal-inspired furniture.
At Galleria Rossella Colombari, a display of Italian design focused on the legacy of Carlo Mollino. Besides his works was Ettore Sottsass’s striking Tappeto Volante (1974), a two-sided daybed with red backrests, green cushions and beech armrests. It is also known as a “flying rug” due to the red fabric underneath.
Over at Carpenters Workshop Gallery, Marc Newson’s Pod of Drawers (1999) was awarded Best Contemporary Design Object. Offered by a private French collection, it is a prototype with white painted wooden feet (some of the paint has eroded); Newson later changed his mind about the colour and realised it with black feet.
On the first floor, Laurence Bonnel, owner of Scène Ouverte, embraced how Lagerfeld had once inhabited the property. “This used to be Karl Lagerfeld’s bedroom and we wanted to create something soft in this white-themed space,” she said, pointing to the curvaceous furniture by KRJST Studio and Parisa Bazargani.
Nearby was Yves Gastou and Galerie Desprez-Bréhéret’s Best Gallery Presentation on the multi-faceted work of Jean Touret (1916-2004), who set up the Les Artisans de Marolles collective. The two galleries have been ardently championing Touret’s legacy – ranging from an eagle-shaped lectern to oak furniture and wrought-iron lighting – over the last few years.
Several new projects were also unveiled, including a collaboration between American biotechnology company MycoWorks and French design agency Paragone. MycoWorks commissioned seven female designers to make pieces of furniture using Reishi, a material woven from mycelium that is textured to resemble leather. The results include Sophie Dries’ standing mirror supported by Reishi columns and Marion Mailaender’s Aspen stools meticulously woven from black narrow strips.
Other exhibits alluded to French savoir-faire, such as Pierre-Marie Agin’s collaboration with French crystal-maker Saint-Louis on a series of tentacular sculptures, Chamade (2024). Drawing inspiration from pipe organs in churches and Delft vases, Agin began by making drawings followed by 3D-printed objects that he “transferred” into crystal. 'I adapted my drawings to the heritage of Saint-Louis and chose more subtle colours than primary ones,' he explained. 'Saint-Louis is proud to say that it has nine colours but, coming from textiles, that’s not many to me.'
The exhibition continued in the garden where a prefabricated house by Jean Prouvé from 1946 was assembled on the lawn. Exhibited by Galerie Downtown, it sold for over €1 million. Touret’s three minimalist female figures in cast concrete, Les Trois Graces, courtesy of Yves Gastou, nestled among the topiary while Bela Silva’s painted glazed ceramics, Jardim Botânico, courtesy of Spazio Nobile, stood on plinths on the lawn.
Also outside were Clotilde Ancarani’s bronze Gunnera tables, their forms recalling lush lily leaves, and recent Rhubarbe sculptures that were poking out of the gravel. 'They’re presented to look as if they’ve always been here,' said exhibitor Giulia de Jonckheere about the works by the Italian, Brussels-based designer.
More broadly, the fair rose to the occasion of showing high-quality works that, whilst from different eras to the mansion, seemed deserving of being here.
