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Design Miami/Basel Show a Success, Say Organizers

Over 90 percent of inventory exhibited sold in the first few days.

Ayesha J. Gallion -- Interior Design, 8/6/2007 12:00:00 AM

The second annual Design Miami/Basel recently wrapped up in Basel, Switzerland. Held June 12-16 in the Markthalle exhibition center, the event attracted more than 8,200 collectors, curators, design connoisseurs, and professionals. For the first time, attendees were privy to live design performances by Maarten Maas, Paul Cocksedge, Tom Dixon, Kiki van Eijk, Martino Gamper, and Max Lamb.

This year's theme, "Design as Performance," furthered the mission of Design Talks--a dialogue engaging the industry's most acclaimed professions. The talks ranged from Yves Behar's "One Laptop per Child," "The Process Behind Limited Design," to a presentation of work by Swedish design collective, FRONT. FRONT debuted their Magical! Collection, which was created especially for Miami Design/Basel.

Many of the exhibitors' booths at Design Miami/Basel were created by architects or designers. Jean Prouve posthumously provided booth design for Galerie Patrick Seguin, which used his 1944 Demounting House. The 22 galleries participating in the show presented pieces in a museum-quality tradition.

Ambra Medda, director and co-founder of Design Miami/Basel exclaims, "The exhibitions put on by our gallerists, coupled with our content and programs have really distinguished the show. I gauge success by the reaction of the visitors, how happy the gallerists are at the end of the day, and how engaged the audience is in our programs."

Design Miami/, a forum for international design, holds annual shows in Basel, Switzerland in June and in Miami, Florida in December.