Share this on

Big Names Onboard Design Miami

This year's forum will also include the work of Designer of the Year Tokujin Yoshioka.

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 11/26/2007 12:00:00 AM

Design Miami, the international forum of modern and contemporary design organized annually in Basel, Switzerland and Miami, will debut eight new galleries during its Miami stint. Located in the Miami Design District at the Moore Building, December 7-9, the event includes a prestigious Designer of the Year Award.

The new galleries--New York's DeLorenzo1950, Donzella 20th Century, and Moss Gallery, London's Albion, Chicago's Casati Gallery, Paris's Galerie de Casson, Washington D.C.'s Geoffrey Diner, and Los Angeles's Reform Gallery--bring the total participating to 26. Returning galleries include Paris's Galerie Patrick Seguin, New York's R20th Century, and London's David Gill Galleries.

The 2007 Designer of the Year Award will be presented to Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka, the man who turns mundane materials--from plastic to tissues--into installations and products for the likes of Issey Miyake, Apple, Driade, and Vitra. To accompany the award celebration, Yoshioka will present new and existing work. Previous award winners include Zaha Hadid in 2005 and Marc Newson in 2006.

Design Miami 2007 will also include complementary Design Performances and Design Satellites. Held by design companies, designers, galleries, and museums throughout the Miami Design District, Design Performances will focus on how finished design objects interact with their end-users. Design Satellites will explore the ideas and issues currently influencing contemporary design.

For the duration of the forum, a series of free dialogues will take place in the Chatham Building Media Lounge from 5:30pm-6:30pm. Design luminaries will dish on topics including the preservation of the human element in 21st century design, collecting strategies and their effects on the art market, and the influence of new materials on contemporary design.

The Moore Building is located at 40th Street at NE 2nd Avenue.