Design Miami 2025
A curated edit of standout presentations, designers, and moments shaping the future of contemporary design
Every December, Design Miami reasserts its position as one of the most influential events on the global design calendar, bringing together leading galleries, designers, collectors, and curators at the intersection of contemporary design and art. The 2025 edition once again transformed Miami Beach into a vibrant forum for collectable design, where material experimentation, craftsmanship, and conceptual thinking took centre stage.
This year’s fair reflected a continued shift toward narrative-driven design, with exhibitors presenting works that explored sustainability, cultural heritage, and the evolving relationship between technology and the handmade. From museum-quality installations to highly sought-after limited editions, Design Miami 2025 offered a compelling snapshot of where contemporary design is headed, both aesthetically and ideologically.
What continues to set Design Miami apart is its ability to balance the commercial with the curatorial, championing emerging voices alongside established names while fostering meaningful dialogue around design’s role in shaping the future. Against the backdrop of Miami Art Week, the fair once again proved why it remains a vital platform for innovation and experimentation.
Below, I share my personal highlights from Design Miami 2025, standout presentations, designers, and moments that captured the spirit of this year’s fair and left a lasting impression.
FENDI
A long-standing presence at Design Miami, FENDI returns for the 2025 edition with a powerful and poetic presentation by Milan-based Argentinian designer Constanza (Conie) Vallese, marking both the fair’s milestone year and the fashion house’s centenary. More than a celebratory showcase, this year’s collaboration places people and craft at its very heart.
Titled Fonderia Fendi, Vallese’s installation is conceived as an homage to the Fendi sisters, whom she describes as “a collective energy of creative women who embodied elegance and also strength.” That spirit of feminine force and creative unity becomes the guiding thread of the presentation, which brings together objects created in collaboration with five Italian specialist ateliers. The result is a nuanced celebration of FENDI’s legacy, underscoring the enduring power of artisanal excellence and collective making.
Invited to participate by curator Dan Thawley, Vallese had long admired FENDI’s ability to balance heritage with boldness. However, it was only after visiting the House’s Rome headquarters and workshops that the depth of its craftsmanship became fully apparent. “I think FENDI transcends fashion, creating a broader artistic language that made the project feel natural and aligned with my own practice,” she explains.
That alignment is evident in Vallese’s multidisciplinary approach, which exists at the intersection of art, design, jewellery, and craft. A tangible sense of the hand defines her work; objects that bear the marks of their making and carry an inherent artisanal integrity. Floral motifs recur throughout her practice, emerging across ceramics, textiles, and metalwork, while collaboration remains central. Previous projects, from ethereal floral jewellery and cutlery with Orit Elhanati to bronze furniture and textile-adorned pieces with Super Yaya, speak to a practice rooted in cross-pollination.
Presented during Design Miami’s 20th anniversary year, Fonderia Fendi stands as a resonant expression of feminine strength, Italian craftsmanship, and a century-long legacy, offering one of the fair’s most thoughtful and emotionally charged moments.
LASVIT
Having followed LASVIT across design fairs and exhibitions around the world, from landmark installations to more recent presentations at Dubai Design Week, it remains a studio that never fails to impress. Each new showcase reaffirms its mastery of glass as both material and medium, delivering immersive, emotionally resonant installations that consistently push the boundaries of scale, technique, and storytelling.
At Design Miami 2025, LASVIT once again bridges centuries of glassmaking heritage with a distinctly contemporary sensibility. Through its exhibition Fragment of Time, light, form, and molten glass are transformed into poetic expressions of craft, capturing moments that are at once fleeting and monumental. The works on display explore glass’s unique ability to hold the ephemeral, whether a suspended splash of water, a flicker of light, or a glimpse of the cosmos, freezing time through extraordinary precision and technical mastery.
Among the standout pieces is Splash, a mirror that captures the instant before water breaks its surface. Suspended between motion and stillness, the piece reflects not only its surroundings but also the viewer, turning a transient gesture into a lasting object. Elsewhere, Stargazer draws the night sky into an intimate frame, presenting the vastness of the cosmos as something deeply personal, shared, yet individually experienced.
Together, these works exemplify LASVIT’s singular ability to translate long-honed craftsmanship into installations that feel alive, where tradition meets experimentation and technical virtuosity gives form to memory, movement, and light. It is this alchemy that continues to make LASVIT one of the most compelling presences at Design Miami, and a studio I always return to with anticipation.
Bea Interiors
A poetic celebration of nature through craft, Bea Interiors presents a sensorial sanctuary at Design Miami 2025; an immersive installation that invites visitors into a world of texture, materiality, and quiet contemplation. Titled Make Believe, the space unfolds as a dreamlike environment where design becomes an emotional experience, blurring the boundaries between the natural and the imagined.
Founded by Bea Pernia, Bea Interiors Design is defined by an intuitive, artistic approach that seamlessly bridges interior and product design. Pernia views each project as a singular exploration; an opportunity to experiment with fabrics, leather textures, contrasts, forms, and materials in pursuit of a harmonious whole. Her practice is deeply rooted in material curiosity, drawing on natural woods, lush textiles, leather, metal, and reflective surfaces to create compositions that feel both tactile and refined.
At Design Miami, this sensibility translates into an installation that fuses organic elements with timeless elegance. Clean, contemporary lines are softened by rich textures and natural materials, resulting in a space that feels at once modern and deeply grounded. Make Believe offers a moment of pause within the fair; a reminder of design’s ability to evoke emotion, nurture the senses, and create environments that resonate beyond the visual.
Friends Artspace
Friends Artspace presented ‘Quartersawn’, a thoughtful group exhibition featuring works by Aspen Golann, Joanna Bloom, Kawabi, Meg Callahan, Nour Hage, Theju Nimmagadda, and Trey Jones. Rooted in material intelligence and historical awareness, the presentation explores how inherited forms and techniques can be reclaimed, reinterpreted, and carried forward into the present.
Across the exhibition, tradition is not preserved but transformed. Aspen Golann reimagines 18th- and 19th-century broom-making, elevating domestic tools into sculptural tributes to collective labour and overlooked histories. Kawabidraws on Japanese joinery traditions in wood and paper lighting, creating objects that feel sacred and are designed for an imagined ancestral home. Elsewhere, the notion of the contemporary heirloom comes into sharp focus. Trey Jones's futuristic Nerikomi-patterned woodworks exist outside of time, as plausible in a centuries-old cabinet of curiosities as aboard a starship.
Materiality functions as memory throughout the exhibition, carrying stories of lineage, labour, and resistance. Nour Hageweaves hand-dyed textiles as acts of remembrance, reconnecting with matrilineal histories, while Meg Callahan quilts using reclaimed bedsheets and deadstock fabrics. Theju Nimmagadda transforms mass-produced cedar into intricate mosaic forms, imbuing the industrial with a sense of preciousness. Joanna Bloom’s ceramics offer a quietly mystical meditation on her connection to the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest.
By elevating the accessible, the imperfect, and the often overlooked, Quartersawn dissolves boundaries between past and future. Each work is shaped through deliberate, care-filled processes, resulting in objects that possess both the intimacy of craft and the enduring power of reimagined tradition, making Friends Artspace one of the fair’s most intellectually resonant presentations.
Hicham Ghandour Designs
Hicham Ghandour Designs presented a dedicated space showcasing the designer’s Mediterranean Collection, offering an intimate encounter with a body of work deeply rooted in craftsmanship, cultural memory, and material refinement. The presentation felt both personal and expansive, reflecting Ghandour’s singular design language and his lifelong dialogue between place, heritage, and making.
Born in Beirut in 1958, Ghandour’s creative journey bridges continents, shaped by the elegance of Europe, the creative energy of New York, and the enduring heritage of Lebanon. After spending more than three decades in New York City, he returned to Lebanon in 2011, where he continues to live and work today, drawing inspiration from the Mediterranean landscape and its layered histories.
Ghandour’s practice is grounded in rigorous training and an unwavering commitment to craft. He studied furniture restoration at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York before continuing his education at Palazzo Spinelli in Florence, where he specialised in gilding restoration. This expertise led to formative experiences, including work within the gilding conservation department at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and collaborations with Ralph Lauren Home on prototype gilded furniture.
Since 2016, Ghandour has created exclusive, one-of-a-kind pieces for Nilufar Gallery in Milan, positioning his work at the intersection of tradition and contemporary design. At Design Miami, the Mediterranean Collection distilled this approach into a refined narrative in which historical techniques, sculptural form, and a sense of place converge to create objects that feel timeless, tactile, and quietly powerful.
Tokio.
A compelling fusion of tradition and futurism, Tokio. presented an immersive installation that distilled the essence of Tokyo’s nocturnal landscape into a strikingly contemporary Miami setting. Featuring Uebu lighting sculptures arranged in precise, rhythmic “lines,” the installation evokes the ordered serenity of a bamboo grove; architectural, minimal, and quietly powerful.
Set against large-format photography of Tokyo’s streets at night, the presentation creates a dialogue between light, structure, and urban atmosphere. The effect is both cinematic and restrained, capturing fleeting moments of the city after dark while translating them into a sculptural language defined by clarity and control. Bold yet meditative, the installation underscores Tokio.’s ability to balance visual impact with refined restraint.
Founded in 2011 by Gorazd Malačič, Tokio. approaches design as an ultimate contemporary expression rather than a populist gesture. Its products are conceived with Japanese-inspired refinement, valuing simplicity, precision, and advanced technology, and brought to life through the expertise of skilled craftspeople. This meticulous approach results in lighting and smart home devices that feel timeless, appealing to business, academic, scientific, and creative professionals alike.
At Design Miami, Tokio. demonstrates how forward-looking design can coexist effortlessly with the past. Its futuristic yet enduring aesthetic allows each piece to sit comfortably within today’s design landscape while resonating with styles from earlier eras; an elegant synthesis of heritage, innovation, and architectural clarity.
The Future Perfect
Having featured The Future Perfect on multiple occasions and visited its spaces in both New York and Los Angeles, I was particularly looking forward to its latest presentation, and once again, it did not disappoint. The gallery’s latest showcase reaffirms its reputation for pushing boundaries, celebrating experimentation, and championing a cross-disciplinary approach that continues to shape the contemporary design landscape.
At this year’s fair, The Future Perfect presents a dynamic curation that places material exploration and conceptual rigour at the forefront. The works on view reflect the gallery’s ongoing commitment to design as an evolving practice; one that thrives on risk-taking, unexpected pairings, and the blurring of lines between art, design, and architecture. Each piece feels considered yet exploratory, emphasising process as much as outcome.
What distinguishes The Future Perfect is its ability to create presentations that feel both intellectually engaging and visually compelling. Through material play and innovative form, the showcase highlights the creative dialogue between designers and makers, underscoring the gallery’s role as a platform for ideas as much as objects
At Design Miami, this spirit of curiosity and experimentation translates into a presentation that feels fresh, confident, and forward-looking—an affirmation of why The Future Perfect remains one of the most influential voices in contemporary collectable design, and a brand I always return to with anticipation.
1882 Ltd
Always a highlight at design fairs, 1882 Ltd consistently injects vibrancy and playfulness into ceramics, and its stand this year was no exception. The gallery’s presentation immediately draws the eye, a joyful composition that balances bold colour, dynamic form, and impeccable craftsmanship.
Founded in 2011, 1882 Ltd is a design-driven ceramics studio that collaborates with visionary designers and artists to create unique, limited-edition homewares that celebrate both innovation and craft. Each piece is meticulously hand-finished by skilled potters, highlighting the beauty of materiality while allowing creativity and personality to shine through.
At Design Miami, the installation transforms the stand into a visual feast, where every curve, glaze, and texture invites close inspection. 1882 Ltd continues to demonstrate how craft, creativity, and imagination converge, producing work that is as technically accomplished as it is vibrant, playful, and unforgettable.
Sten Studio
Sten Studio presented a truly immersive installation that engages the senses and transports visitors into a world of imagination and elegance. The stand’s thoughtful use of materials, colours, textures, lighting, and subtle soundscapes created an environment that felt alive, magical, energetic, and deeply refined.
Founded in Mexico, Sten Studio is known for its experiential approach to contemporary design, blending craftsmanship, narrative, and innovation across furniture, lighting, and decorative objects. The gallery curates and produces works that transcend conventional display, often transforming spaces into multi-sensory experiences that highlight the intersection of art and design.
At Design Miami, this ethos was on full display. Every detail of the stand was carefully considered, resulting in a presentation where design becomes an experience; immersive, playful, and elegant, perfectly reflecting the gallery’s signature ability to combine creativity, craftsmanship, and storytelling.
Ateliers Courbet
The Ateliers Courbet stand was a masterclass in curation; beautifully composed, immersive, and thoughtfully arranged to highlight both contemporary and archival design. Founded in 2013, this New York-based gallery has earned a reputation for championing the meticulous work and ethos of rarefied master craftsmen from around the world. Over the past decade, its consistent focus has brought attention to the centuries-old techniques and enduring legacies maintained by ateliers across five continents.
This year, the presentation combines rotating exhibitions of ongoing design catalogues with adjoining salons and viewing rooms that showcase permanent selections from the gallery’s collection. Contemporary collaborations sit alongside archival treasures, each piece chosen to exemplify the time-honoured methods and extraordinary attention to detail behind the work. The result is a display that feels both elegant and alive, a quiet celebration of craft, precision, and artistic vision, curated with an artistry that rivals the pieces themselves.
Ateliers Courbet’s stand is not only a showcase of exceptional design but also an experience: one where the skill, dedication, and narrative of master craftsmanship are made tangible, leaving visitors both inspired and deeply appreciative of the work behind each creation.
Charles Burnand
It’s no surprise that Charles Burnand was awarded Best in Show; the gallery’s presentation, Monuments of Ether, is a masterful exploration of material pushed to its limits, where substance becomes sensation, and the physical world dissolves into something almost spectral.
The stand demonstrates the gallery’s signature ability to refresh and reinvent its presentation, offering a fresh perspective on tactile, sculptural works that engage both the eye and the body. De Glan Studios’ Boulder forms transform geological mass into fluid sculptural language, while Kyeok Kim inscribes time onto matter, layering powdered wood and natural lacquer over crochet copper wire. Peter Lane expands ceramics into monumental fields of fire, texture, and molten depth, creating works that feel simultaneously grounded and otherworldly.
Together, these pieces reveal how materiality can transcend its own weight, becoming atmospheric, immersive, and deeply poetic. Visiting the stand is a reminder of Charles Burnand’s mastery at curating not only objects but also experiences, where craftsmanship, innovation, and sensory engagement converge with remarkable clarity.
Todd Merrill Studio
Todd Merrill Studio’s stand invited visitors into a realm where art, design, and imagination intertwine, perfectly embodying this year’s fair theme, Make Believe. From resin blooms and hand-carved wood to shimmering textiles, glass, and clay, every piece feels alive, forms bend and twist, surfaces ripple with light, and the boundary between the real and the imagined dissolves beautifully.
Rooted in the power of the handmade, the presentation celebrates works sculpted, painted, cast, carved, woven, and imagined into being by some of today’s most visionary artists and designers. Here, resin blossoms into tropical flora, light evokes fantastical sea creatures, wood spirals into impossible forms, and clay shifts between the earthly and the divine. Each creation becomes a portal, a moment of alchemy where hand, vision, and wonder converge.
A defining feature of the stand is its focus on pioneering female artists and designers, including Molly Hatch, Andrea Marquis, Pia-Maria Raeder, Alice Riehl, Draga Obradovic, Mindy Horn, and the gallery debut of Jamaican contemporary artist Laura Facey. Complementing these are sculptural seating designs by John Procario and Jirah Joshua; tables by Gabriel Charbit, Djivan Schapira, Gary Magakis, and Alex Roskin; lighting by Jamie Harris, Christopher Russell, and Teemu Salonen; and objects by Maarten Vrolijk, all presented with the Studio’s signature attention to tactile detail, craftsmanship, and imaginative vision.
Todd Merrill Studio’s exhibition is a testament to the enduring power of handcrafted design, demonstrating how material, form, and creativity can unite to create experiences that are at once sensual, fantastical, and timeless.
Tuleste Factory
Tuleste Factory’s stand was a celebration of curiosity, imagination, and playful experimentation; an installation where colour, material, and form converge into a vivid sensory journey. True to their ethos, the gallery invites visitors to “Keep It Curious”, presenting design as a living fantasy that is bold, unexpected, and deeply emotive.
What immediately stands out is the presentation's whimsical nature. Each piece, from sculptural works to lighting and objects, embodies joy and wonder, transforming the stand into an immersive world where creativity knows no bounds. The curation brings together an impressive roster of visionary artists and designers, including Marina Abramović, Pilar Zeta, Miranda Makaroff, Karen Atta, Facture Studio, Ian Alistair Cochran, Lyora Pissarro x David Rodriguez, Merve Kahraman, Bert Furnari, Courtney Kinnare, Brandi Howe, Kim Mesches, and Lucia Neamtu.
The effect is enchanting: forms are playful yet precise, colours are vibrant but harmonious, and each material, from glass and metal to textiles and ceramics, is manipulated with exquisite craftsmanship. Tuleste Factory’s installation underscores the gallery’s unique ability to merge imagination with refinement, creating a space that is both whimsical and deeply engaging, leaving a lasting impression on all who visit.
Design Miami 2025 once again proved why it remains a vital platform for contemporary design, where craftsmanship, innovation, and imagination converge. From immersive multisensory installations to playful, vibrant ceramics and meticulously curated galleries, the fair showcased the breadth and depth of talent shaping today’s design landscape. Whether celebrating material mastery, cross-disciplinary experimentation, or the power of handcraft, each presentation offered a fresh perspective on what design can achieve. The fair leaves a lasting impression, reminding us that at its best, design is not only seen but felt, experienced, and imagined; a testament to the creativity, skill, and vision driving the global design community forward.
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