By Editor Design.nl /asdf 27-05-2009

The bi-annual design/art forum Design Miami/ Basel 2009 will be happening again from 9-13 June 2009 in Basel Switzerland. This year, the event which will move to a new venue right across from Art Basel, features 28 international design galleries.

Two Dutch galleries will be participating. Priveekollektie will present designers including Dave Keune, Hans Kotter, Kranen|Gille, Alexander Pelikan, Wouter Scheublin, Roderick Vos, Emmanuel Babled and Ted Noten. VIVID Gallery will show works from designers including Atelier van Lieshout and Studio Job.

Furthermore, Dutch designers will be exhibited with several international galleries. London's Carpenters Workshop Gallery has works from Atelier Van Lieshout, Sebastian Brajkovic and Drift, and Satyendra Pakhalé will be part of the presentation of Gabrielle Ammann // Gallery from Cologne. Galleria Rossana Orlandi will show works from Nacho Carbonell and Tools Galerie will present a large number of Dutch designers including Maarten Baas, Pieke Bergmans, Ineke Hans, Chris Kabel, Studio Minale-Maeda and Marcel Wanders.

As part of the event, the Designers of the Future Award honours young designers working with experimental, limited-edition and non-industrial techniques. Nacho Carbonell and Tomáš Gabzdil Libertiny are two of the four winners for 2009. In Design Miami/Basel tradition, the winning designers are invited to create objects to be shown at the fair under a thematic brief. This year, have been briefed to think beyond the fabrication of individual objects and to focus instead on the articulation of space.

Their challenge is to create an intimate, viewer-encompassing environment that stimulates discourse, reflection and community. As an added parameter, each winner must use plaster and mirror as their primary materials. Plaster and mirror were selected because both materials are relatively inexpensive, extremely versatile and commonly available, yet their ancient histories are rooted in extravagance and fanciful expression. Each designer will be allocated 38m2 of space in which to present their commissioned project. “Both plaster and mirror are considered to be essentially surface materials, since neither can be used as load-bearing structural elements,” Design Miami/ Associate Director Wava Carpenter explains. "This ‘superficial’ aspect is the core of this experiment: the designers must use materials associated with ornamentation to execute a meaningful contemporary design idea.”

Libertiny comments wryly on the Designer of the Future brief, “I made myself like the brief,” adding, “I’ve always been interested in plaster, but maybe not so soon.” He will be continuing some of the ideas and processes for which he has become famous, such as his wax vases made by bees, placing an emphasis on slowness and on the process, “where the form comes as a result of building by layers,” he explains.

“I like challenges,” Carbonell comments on the brief. “Mirrors and plaster are things I haven’t thought about using, so it’s good to exercise your mind.”

Design Miami/Basel
9-13 June 2009

Images: pieces from Priveekollektie - Cabinet of Chests and Walking Table by Wouter Scheublin, Stealth Chair and Hocker by Dave Keune, Plant Lamp by Kranen Gille.

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