Automobile partner to Design Miami 2021 brings forth an exceptional installation prioritising conscious living and the experience of excellence
On November 30th 2021, Design Miami opened its doors to a striking multi-faceted fair, vibrant with material and colour, with a major display by Lexus. Their installation entitled « ON », centers around the idea of an electrified future, a carbon-neutral approach to travel which they wish to apply to all of their automotive projects.
Designed by Germane Barnes and his team at the University of Miami, the slick and colourful display could be found at the heart of the fair. A three dimensional outline of the LF-Z Electrified concept car, made in steel wire was illuminated by an LED display of appetisingly colourful lights, a colour scheme that certainly echoes with Miami’s native happy feel while still exuding that bombastic contemporary vibe. The otherwise white walls of this big booth came together not only through the lighting but the set of swings framing the car, themselves pulsating with flashing lights.
While traveling around the wire sculpture, it was mighty interesting to see how the visual would shift from abstract to a hyper-realistic car, back to an abstract of lean lines. Barnes invited all to touch and interact with the car sculpture as well as use the arched swings at will. The arches seemed to be a type of homage to civic architecture which is a staple in the University of Miami’s architectural program. Swinging into the future of a more human-central/earth-conscious world, Lexus gave us all an experience of warmth, minimal purity, a kind of class that doesn’t insist upon itself but sweeps one away unexpectedly leaving one feeling that warm glow from within.
«Human Kind » is the theme of this 17th edition of Design Miami. This could not be more appropriate given the fact that Lexus intends to keep people going places and further. Human life on this planet is given priority over all the alternatives. To be honest, a lot of the works at the fair, especially the larger installations such as « The Bedroom » 2021 by Harry Nuriev seemed to resonate and feed off the Lexus installation. Mostly, Nuriev’s pink coloured lighting and tactile invitation to go to bed with its shiny purple bed cubicle. While others seemed to create a striking contrast yet always in a call and response kind of way. Studio Job’s table of a car crash located on the other end of the fair by the entrance, provided that interesting dialectic with the Lexus installation, making Design Miami #29 the trajectory through the fair a path from a calamity to the heights of hope.
In addition to all this goodness, we had a magnificent display by Samuel Ross, a play on materials colliding, colour blocking, bringing forth a real conversation between colour and material. A more artistic yet designer appropriate display were Kim Simonsson’s « Moss People », sculptures of fantastical characters made in a green magical material emulating the damp green colourations of natural moss.
A VERSION OF THIS ARTICLE APPEARED IN PRINT IN SELECTIONS #57