See the Most Extraordinary Pieces at Design Miami 2024

With these milestones in mind, this year’s edition is taking a wide-ranging approach under curatorial director Glenn Adamson. His chosen theme of “blue sky” encompasses design’s innumerable facets—and the bold leaps of imagination that have shaped its past, present, and future. “Design, as both a speculative and collective endeavor, thrives on a sense of possibility,” Adamson tells Galerie. “For me, the phrase Blue Sky beautifully captures this spirit, offering a universal framework for creative exploration in an increasingly interconnected world. The same sky, after all, is above every one of us.”

The theme was meant to be open-ended, and it can be felt at every corner of the tent. Some participants interpreted it literally—Galerie Creative Mind Mathieu Lehanneur mounted a cloud-like chandelier in the entryway—while others, like the Future Perfect, founded by Galerie Creative Mind David Ahladeff, are presenting a sweeping showcase of the leaps in skill and practice that have cemented the designers on its roster at the forefront of the contemporary avant-garde. Each booth offers something different, and Adamson is delighting in the diverse interpretations. “Design has not only the opportunity, but the responsibility to meet the future with optimism and imagination,” he continues. “We’re a discipline dedicated to problem solving, new ideas, and form-giving, a natural ground for solutions to arise.”

Below are several of the highlights on display in the gallery booths throughout Design Miami.

Les Ateliers Courbet

The craft-forward gallery returns with a conceptual group outing that explores how its roster of acclaimed master artisans and their sculptural practices explore organic forms, time-honored techniques, and diverse materials. Each piece interprets nature somehow, from Moroccan woodworker Hamza Kadiri’s chaotically swooping console in ebonized ash wood to hand-formed porcelain objets that Brazilian ceramist Valéria Nascimento molded to resemble seed pods. Be on the lookout for Pierre Bonnefille—in his debut for the gallery, the French artist-sculptor will present a textural cast bronze bench and freestanding wooden display shelf inspired by his discovery of a stone originating from ancient African copper mines. 

Victoria Yakusha

The multihyphenate puts her animistic design philosophy on vivid display with an imaginative new furniture range inspired by the mythical forest being Grun’. Its spirit manifests most clearly in the moss-green Dewlit armchair, which features a split back and hand-embroidered beaded accents evoking morning serenity. The hand-carved Grun’ dining table is an understated highlight—its base is clad in Yakusha’s signature Ztista material, which blends clay, natural fibers, and organic biopolymer to create a rippling surface in an ode to Polesia’s rolling hills. 

Carpenters Workshop Gallery

Blue-sky thinking is already common at Carpenters Workshop Gallery, but the leaps of imagination scale new heights this year thanks to the inclusion of a captivating new piece of functional sculpture by Yinka Shonibare. The British-Nigerian heavyweight recast his beloved Windy Sculpture series as an unforgettable seat that resembles a piece of fabric fluttering in the wind, its steel-and-aluminum surface evocative of African textiles imbued with motifs that challenge notions of identity.

Mathieu Lehanneur

Bathing the entryway in a pearlescent aura is the latest from Mathieu Lehanneur, the prolific Parisian and Galerie Creative Mind who’s fresh off designing the Olympic Torch. He took the “blue sky” theme literally—his blown glass Pearl chandelier mimics a cloud while a surreal cascade of white tulips surround a pair of his Loose chairs, one of which seems to be floating away in the wind. Open a nearby cabinet for a window into a radiant sky—using layered LEDs, he transformed the interior into a makeshift window, with the sun shifting and shining dynamically as if following the viewer. 

Friedman Benda

The acclaimed bicoastal gallery is offering a crash course in the wisdom of rule-breaking Mexican architect Javier Senosiain, whose celebrated practice championed organic forms and vivid colors as an antidote to modern architecture’s Cartesian stiffness. His first-ever collection of limited-edition furniture—an outdoor dining set, planters, mirror, and bench, all festooned in artisan-made Mexican tiles—are a riotous draw. As is a never-before-seen freestanding luminaire by the rigorous Italian design duo Formafantasma, who will present the full array at Friedman Benda for their first Stateside solo exhibition in the spring. 

Wexler Gallery

It may be difficult to single out one clear highlight at the Philadelphia gallery’s presentation, which deftly explores personal histories through the lens of decorative arts reimagined. Nick Missel offers up a glimmering eight-foot-long resin dining table whose mangled structure recalls utilitarian egg-crate foam and is rooted in what the Missouri-born designer describes as a “cultural archaeology of the working class.” Equally dazzling is an ornamental, mythology-inspired paper screen by Venezuelan artisan Henry Bermudez. The renowned glass artist Andy Paiko, who often uses his medium as a vessel for storytelling, sees a trio of his one-of-a-kind glass reliquary jars etched and emblazoned with hyper-detailed visuals dreamed up by tattoo artist Dr. Woo in an offbeat series of musings on memory and connection. 

Joseph Walsh & Sara Flynn

One of Paris Art Week’s most compelling exhibitions came from Joseph Walsh, who paired his swooping bent-wood sculptures with simple porcelain objets by Sara Flynn. The Irish duo pick up right where they left off, transforming their booth—his first showing at the fair since 2019—into a poetic if not gravity-defying dialogue of material, form, and meticulous craftsmanship.  

The Future Perfect

Transitions between day and night inspired the stalwart design gallery’s sweeping showcase, half of which features a constellation of pieces from designers on its roster (Chris Wolston, Jane Yang-D’Haene, Lindsey Adelman, John Hogan) making major leaps in skill and practice. The other half is dedicated to designer Vikram Goyal, who’s making his Stateside debut. The New Delhi talent is presenting a rich array of contemporary furniture utilizing artisanal techniques apparent in the rich legacy of Indian craft. 

Meritalia

The late Gaetano Pesce never seemed to lose the effortless weirdness and brio that enshrined him as the most radical of the Radical designers. Meritalia and curator Maria Cristina Dinero are paying homage to the Italian multihyphenate’s mind-boggling oeuvre with a wide-ranging assortment of his most weird and wonderful pieces, from drooping viscous candlesticks and resin vases that seem to be clad in layers of hardened silly string to surreal oversize cabinets shaped like a face. Each showcases the maestro’s dexterity with resin and persevering exuberance, even when they were dripping with irony and political critique. 

NUOVA

The 1970s will always be remembered as a decade of bold, sexy design; that explains why the research collective New Understanding of Various Artifacts (NUOVA) envisioned their booth as a Judd-inspired time machine back to an American living room from 1971. Step through an aluminum sliding door and enter groovy digs outfitted with furniture, lighting, and fragrance evocative of the era. Wood-trimmed sofas and lounge chairs are upholstered in mustard yellow fabrics by Torri Lana 1885, which crafted early horse covers for Hermès; one low-slung table employs a Veronese marble that was once popular in the ‘70s but has since faded from use.  

Maison Gerard

Setting the tone for the French Art Deco gallery are the Magic City’s picture-perfect weather, pristine beaches, and flights of fancy. Those themes soar in Irish talent and Galerie Creative Mind Niamh Barry’s polished-bronze chandelier nestled within a constellation of three suspended cloud-like light sculptures by Israeli designer Ayala Serfaty; the ensemble dangles above a masterwork woven table by Californian artisan Peeta Tinay, whose glass surface reflects all the action. It joins a paper-thin Paul Hankar–inspired bronze console that designer Aline Hazarian lovingly crafted in her Lebanon foundry.  

Southern Guild

Ceramics are enjoying an international resurgence—and the South African design gallery is illuminating the practices of 12 artists from Africa who are leading the charge. Spanning furniture, sculpture, and vessels from the likes of Galerie Creative Mind Andile Dyalvane, Zizipho Poswa, and Madoda Fani, the works on view consider the medium’s ancient origins while showcasing progressive approaches to form, technique, utility, and symbolism.