THE BASEL CHRONICLES III - EXPLORING DESIGN MIAMI/ BASEL 12- 17 JUNE 2018
Design Miami/ Basel is the art and design forum where the world's finest galleries present every year the best of collectable design and furniture, lighting and objets d’art.
For its 13th edition that took place this year, Design Miami/ Basel returned to its iconic location on Messeplatz 10, inviting forty-three leading international galleries to present an exciting blend of fresh creative projects and iconic designs.
The exhibitors are purveyors of remarkable and often rare design pieces from the early twentieth-century artistic periods such as Art Nouveau and La Belle Epoque, as well as Art Déco or Mid-Century design to the present day, with some galleries specialising exclusively in unique eighteenth and nineteenth-century antiques.
I was delighted to visit this edition which once again celebrated excellence in fine art and design. Here are my highlights.
Design Miami/Basel ⓒ James Harris
Caterina Tognon - Venice
One of the leading European galleries specialising in glassworks, Caterina Tognon made its first appearance at Design Miami/ Basel this year.
The gallery represents international contemporary artists and designers working mainly with glass as well as the Studio Glass movement.
The exhibition ‘Phytomorphism and Contemporary Glass’ presented at Design Miami/ Basel this year brought on the spotlight artists such as Cristiano Bianchin, Václav Cigler, Gaetano Pesce, Lilla Tabasso, Giorgio Vigna, Toots Zynsky .
Gallery Caterina Tognon
Ca' Nova di Palazzo Treves in Corte Barozzi
San Marco 2158 | 30124 Venezia | Italia
+39 041 520 15 66 | +39 348 856 18 18
info@caterinatognon.com
www.caterinatognon.com
Caterina Tognon stand at Design Miami/ Basel June 2018, ⓒ James Harris
Caterina Tognon stand at Design Miami/ Basel June 2018,
On display Toots Zynsky's Vivere (center) H 51 x 41 x 34 cm 35.5 x 77.5 x 28 cm and Scia (right), Providence 2016, fillet de verre ⓒ James Harris
Galerie Patrick Seguin - Paris, London
Parisian gallery Patrick Seguin specialises in mid-twentieth-century French design aesthetics and is among the galleries that have exhibited at Design Miami/ Basel since the first edition.
Since its opening in 1989, the gallery has been promoting the extraordinary oeuvres of Pierre Jeanneret, Le Corbusier, Jean Nouvel, Charlotte Perriand, Jean Prouvé, and Jean Royère, reestablishing their place of honour on the international design scene.
Showing a particular interest in Jean Prouvé's body of work, Galerie Patrick Seguin has been collecting his furniture for over twenty-five years, along with his demountables houses. Today the gallery holds the most important collection of these demountable houses, which most of them are unique examples or limited series.
With gallery spaces in Paris Bastille and Mayfair London - opened in October 2015, Patrick Seguin organises regularly shows that bring to spotlight these unique creations.
The gallery hosts exhibitions at the Centre Georges Pompidou and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Venice Biennale, and the Musée des Beaux Arts in Nancy, France. It also published a series of monographic volumes about the life and oeuvre of this fascinating generation of designers and architects.
In 2017, Patrick Seguin was awarded the title Chevalier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture.
Jean Royère furniture setting at Galerie Patrick Seguin - Design Miami/ Basel, June 2018 ⓒ James Harris
Jean Royere armchair
Jean Royere's Bridge chair and Crosillon Desk , CA. 1955
Jean Prouvé room setting at Galerie Patrick Seguin - Design Miami/ Basel with Casino Solvay Table, CA. 1942 (center) and Scal No. 450 BED CA. 1951 (right) ⓒ James Harris
Elisabetta Cipriani - London
Elisabetta Cipriani appoints internationally renowned artists to design her collections of exclusive wearable artworks in series of 12 or as limited editions, using precious materials.
Since its opening in 2009, the gallery has exclusively collaborated with established contemporary artists, such as Carlos Cruz-Diez, Rebecca Horn, Ilya and Emilia Kabakov, Jannis Kounellis, Giorgio Vigna, and Ai Weiwei, reinventing new artistic disciplines, concepts, and aesthetics and translating them into jewellery.
In February 2018 Elisabetta Cipriani founded EC Lab, a project destined to promote and encourage a fresh generation of artists and designers to create and experiment this original concept by approaching new aesthetics and the use of different materials.
EC Lab also supports the expansion of the gallery’s circle of collectors of wearable art and addresses those who are interested in exploring this novel approach for the first time.
Elisabetta Cipriani jewellery display at Design Miami/ Basel, June 2018 ⓒ James Harris
Elisabetta Cipriani jewellery display at Design Miami/ Basel, 12 - 17 June 2018 ⓒ James Harris
Galerie Eric Philippe- Paris
Eric Philippe has been a reference name in the world of collectable design since 1980 when he opened his eponymous gallery in Central Paris.
His field of expertise extends throughout the twentieth-century furniture, more specifically, Scandinavian Design and Decorative Arts from 1900 to 1960, French Decorative Arts from 1920 to 1950, American Design from 1940 à 1960 and Austrian Decorative Arts from 1900 to 1930. The gallery also specialises in the work of the illustrious interior designer of the 1930’s, Jean-Michel Frank to whom it dedicated its first exhibition. Eric Philippe is a member of the Compagnie Nationale des Experts affiliated to the European Confederation of Art Experts (CEDEA).
Throughout the years, the gallery has hosted twenty-five other notable exhibitions that brought into spotlight architects and designers, as well as artistic movements, each of them accompanied by a printed catalogue. Some of the most recent shows include Axel Einar Hjorth, Swedish Grace, Paavo Tynell and Finnish design, or the American modernists James Mont and Paul László.
At Design Miami/ Basel this year, Eric Philippe Gallery put on show a collection of rare historical furniture, skilfully coordinating different styles and designers such as Frank Lloyd-Wright, Paul László, Ingrid Hellman-Knafve, Jacques Lenoble or Jacques Adnet.
Dining room setting with Frank Lloyd Wright chairs at Galerie Eric Philippe - Design Miami/ Basel ⓒ James Harris
Galerie Eric Philippe - Design Miami/ Basel ⓒ James Harris
Coffee table, Jacques Adnet and Jacques Lenoble, ca 1950 ⓒ Galerie Eric Philippe
Oak and ceramic tiles; size 109 x 109 x 45.5 cm
Galerie Eric Philippe - DesignMiami/ Art Basel; on display Peter Danko oak bench, USA 1973 (center) Ingrid Hellman-Knafve rug, Sweden, circa 1950, Paul Laszlo lucite dark gray-blue lacquered wood and steel bench, USA 1958 (background)