Highlights from Nomad Saint Moritz, the Buzzy Boutique Fair Known for Expert Curation

Vistas of the icy lake and snowy mountains through windows in the galleries made the frosty mountain peaks yet another beautiful element of the installations. Inside, everything had a warm, cozy energy with show-goers immersing themselves in the booths and engaging in deep dialogues with the gallerists.

Those weren’t the only connections made, the gallerists also developed friendships with other gallerists given their tight quarters in the former hotel. It’s all part of the magic created by dynamic co-founders Nicolas Bellavance-Lecompte and Giorgio Pace, who also mount a summer iteration of the fair in Capri happening next July 4 through 7.

Among the standouts, Parisian design gallery Chahan collaborated with Brussels art gallery Sorry We’re Closed for a mesmerizing installation set against a grand wood-paneled room that was one of the most intact spaces. A figurative work by buzzy artist Anastasia Bay surmounted a vintage console by Karl Springer, African sculptures by Seyni Awa Camara stood on plinths inside a window-lined nice, and a Peter Lane cocktail table was paired with vintaee Vladimir Kagan sofa with Lucite lees.

Also drawing a crowd was Nilufar’s booth, illuminated by Murano glass light sculptures by Christian Pellizzari, spirited furniture pieces by Khaled El Mays and icon Gabriella Crespi along with artichoke candle stick holders by Lola Montes Schnabel decorating the fireplace all in glowing golden palette. Another Milan gallery, Sofia Zevi, took a more colorful approach, cocooning its room in brightly striped fabric by Chiarastella Cattana and hanging colorful pendant lamps by Massimo Vignelli.

Larkin Erdmann brought some major artworks including a Jackie by Andy Warhol, along with a Pablo Picasso drawing and a drawing by Alberto Giacometti, all of which took on a new tone when set against crumbling walls with exposed wires. Secci Gallery opted for a salon-style hanging and added a sculpture into the fireplace, while local gallery TheStable leaned a large-scale, lenticular photograph by Galerie Next Big Thing Yves Scherer against a stone wall.

These days, it seems like it’s not an art-slash-design fair without a sprinkling of jewelers on display. At Nomad, those included Antonia Miletto, who works in wood and is based in Venice, and Suzanne Syz, who specializes in one-of-a-kind art pieces, which she displayed in a maze of miniature hedges. Situated next to the brightly colored ceramic pieces on display by artists Jin Eui Kim, Timothée Humbert, and Claire Lindner in Florian Daguet-Bresson’s booth, the jewels of Cora Sheibani seemed to almost be a collaborative display-making for a delightful serendipity, which seems to be exactly what Nomad is all about—wherever it may be.