Summer Show at Side Gallery in Casavells, Spain.
Photo: side gallery
6 Must-See Collectible Design Shows in August 2024
From a riveting group show at Side Gallery in Spain to the latest works by designer Raphael Navot at Friedman Benda in Los Angeles
“Reverberations” at Friedman Benda’s Los Angeles gallery. Photo: friedman benda
1. “Reverberations” at Friedman Benda | Los Angeles
Raphael Navot’s first solo show in Los Angeles is also his largest to date, bringing together a series of immersive residential settings that showcase his extraordinary talents through an array of materials—among them velvet upholstery, oak, eco-resin, and concrete. On view through September 25, “Reverberations” includes dazzling new furnishings with striking silhouettes, such as the Whale armchair, which features a “tail” that acts as a back leg, and the shapely Acrostic seating collection, with seductive curves upholstered in creamy cashmere. As always, Navot’s poetic sensibility comes through in each sensuous piece.
“Greater Delights” at The Future Perfect. Photo: Joe Kramm
2. “Greater Delights” at The Future Perfect | New York
Dazzling new works by a roster of top-tier talents Alana Burns, Guy Corriero, John Hogan, Floris Wubben, and Rahee Yoon are on display through August 23 at The Future Perfect’s New York gallery. The array of “delights” on view represent the gallery’s ambitious collectible design program, which aims to facilitate the creation of objects that are beautifully inexplicable and often functional. Stop by to marvel at Burns’s innovative take on Surrealist design, Corriero’s verdigris-evoking ceramic objects, and Hogan’s captivating ability to play with light and color through glassworks.
Ronan Bouroullec at Rhinoceros Gallery x Galerie Kreo in Rome. Photo: Galerie Kreo
3. Ronan Bouroullec at Rhinoceros Gallery x Galerie Kreo | Rome
As the 2024 Summer Olympics took over Paris, Galerie Kreo has found reprieve in Rome, where they’ve teamed up with Rhinoceros Gallery to stage the Italian edition of their 2023 solo show on Ronan Bouroullec, one half of Paris-based duo the Bouroullec Brothers. On display through September 8 are a trove of his abstract drawings and bas-reliefs in conversation with a series of enameled vases that he created in Tajimi, Japan. Referencing the region’s traditional Mino yaki ceramics, Bouroullec utilized extruded geometric forms to create poetic volumes in striking color combinations.
“Upwelling” at Wexler Gallery in Philadelphia. Photo: wexler gallery
4. “Upwelling” at Wexler Gallery | Philadelphia
Now through September 27, Philadelphia’s Wexler Gallery is presenting “Upwelling,” a show that spotlights six artists with diverse practices: Trish DeMasi, Gregory Nangle, Jason Spivack, Mami Kato, Tanja Softic, and Edward McHugh, many of whom are locally based. The exhibition borrows its name from the natural phenomenon of cold water rising to the top of the ocean, a process mirrored by the talents included in the show, who draw from their personal depths of creativity to produce their work. Of particular note for design collectors is DeMasi, whose biomorphic ceramics are inspired by the natural world and begin as drawings or paintings before being rendered in 3D form. “I want to blur the lines between design, fine art, and craft,” she says. “Labels can stifle creativity.”
Summer Show at Side Gallery in Casavells, Spain. Photo: side gallery
5. Summer Show at Side Gallery | Casavells, Spain
Side Gallery’s outpost in the Catalonian region of Empordà-Costa Brava hosts seasonal exhibitions a magnificently restored 15h century palace. This year’s summer showcase, on view through September 8, includes a spellbinding array of contemporary treasures by 11 international designers, among them Sabine Marcelis, Charlotte Kingsnorth, Xavier Mañosa, Francisco Jaramillo, Elissa Lacoste, and Jonas Lutz. With a mission to spotlight Latin American historical design, the gallery has put these modern works in conversation with historic masterpieces by visionaries including Joaquim Tenreiro and Lina Bo Bardi.
Karen Swami’s new ceramics on view in a solo show at Les Ateliers Courbet in New York. Photo: joe Kramm
6. Karen Swami at Les Ateliers Courbet | New York
Borrowing from the Japanese technique of kintsugi in which pure gold is used to repair cracked ceramic, French artist Karen Swami has conjured a poetic new collection of vessels and bas-reliefs, on view at Les Ateliers Courbet through September 14. With classical shapes inspired Etruscan vases and Babylonian architecture, among other sources, Swami’s works evoke the surface of parched earth thanks to an array of tactile glazes, waxes, and lacquers that have come in direct contact with fire.
Cover: Summer Show at Side Gallery in Casavells, Spain.
Photo: side gallery
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