Each spring, collectors, dealers, and decorators flock to the PAD fair in Paris’s Jardin des Tuileries. Established 21 years ago, PAD is the city’s premier annual event for international art and design, ranging from antiquities and tribal art to 19th-century sculpture, modern ceramics, and contemporary furnishings. (A London edition takes place in October.)
This year’s fair, which runs through March 26, features 70 exhibitors. As always, the show is particularly strong in 20th-century decorative arts and contemporary design, featuring such notable dealers as Alexandre Biaggi, Yves Gastou, Jousse Enterprise, Galerie du Passage, Galerie BSL, Carpenters Workshop Gallery, and Galerie Kreo.
Each year the coveted PAD Prize is awarded in three categories. A panel of design heavyweights—Pierre Frey, Linda Pinto, Jacques Grange, and Philippe Starck among them—awarded Best Stand to Paris’s Galerie Flak, which displayed its tribal art treasures in cutout wall niches. Another Paris dealer, Galerie du Passage, was awarded Best 20th-Century Decorative Arts for its presentation of Swiss designer Ernest Boiceau’s stunning 1930 tapestry Carpet with the 12 signs of the zodiac. Two Paris-based exhibitors shared Best Contemporary Design: Galerie Alexandre Guillemain, for a collection of lamps, vases, and a mirror by RoWin Atelier, and Galerie Clara Scremini, for a gorgeous group of curved glass sculptures by Venice-born artist Laura de Santillana.
For those who can’t make it to Paris, see the slideshow below for highlights from the fair.
