April 12, 2016

Maison&Objet Americas Announces This Year’s Rising Talents a Month Before the Miami Design Fair

Bed linen by Javier Gomez. Photography courtesy of Javier Gomez.

As a prelude to its upcoming design fair, which will be held in Miami next month, Maison&Objet Americas has announced its picks for this year’s Rising Talents. The six up-and-coming designers representing North and South America were chosen by a committee based on their work as designers as well as their commitment to helping usher the design community into the future.

On April 5, two of the six Rising Talents, which include Samuel Amoia, a designer from the United States who uses natural materials in his work, and Javier Gomez, an artist and photographer from Panama who’s based in New York City, attended an event at the Carpenters Workshop Gallery in NYC, along with Maison&Object Americas director Gastón Isoldi, announcing their designation. The six designers will be showcasing some of their work at next month’s fair and there also will be an award ceremony held in their honor.

“[The reason] we selected Javier Gomez is because of the unique way he applies his photography of buildings to design,” Isoldi says. “As for Samuel Amoia, he creates furniture using techniques that are quite innovative. Part of Maison&Objet’s DNA is to promote design and give the Rising Talents a platform to expose their work to buyers and the international media.”


Drum of black tourmaline by Samuel Amoia. Photography courtesy of Samuel Amoia Associates.  

The other Rising Talents selected for 2016 are designer Guilherme Wentz (Brazil), industrial designer and architect duo Ad Hoc (Mexico), architecture and design studio Great Things to People (Chile), and ceramicist Ben Medansky (United States).

“Everything I create is inspired by either architecture or nature. I’m now translating those artworks into home decor that’s vibrant and has a lot of color,” says Gomez. “I’m the first person in Central America to be named [a Rising Talent], so it’s a huge honor.” This year’s design fair will be held May 10-13 at the Miami Beach Convention Center.

This is the second year that the 20-year-old fair will be held in the United States. The next fair in Paris will be held September 2-6.

Gaston Isoldi, Rafael de Cardenas, Samuel Amoia, and Javier Gomez. Photography courtesy of Maison&Objet. 

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