On the occasion of Design Miami and Art Basel, legendary fashion house Dior makes a splash with the US debut of its Medallion Chair Exhibition, featuring reinterpretations of the chair—an emblem of Louis XVI style, which Christian Dior first selected as the seating for his fashion shows upon founding the house of Dior—by 17 outstanding designers from around the globe. Featured designers include the likes of Sam Baron, Nacho Carbonell, Pierre Charpin, Khaled El-Mays, Martino Gamper, Constance Guisset, India Mahdavi, nendo, Linde Freya Tangelder, Atang Tshikare, Tokujin Yoshioka, Pierre Yovanovitch, and others.

The exhibition takes place in Superblue, Miami’s lauded new experiential art venue—which is, notably, the same space in which Dior presented its Pre-Fall 2020 men's collection, prior to Superblue’s opening. The US debut is the follow-up to the exhibition’s launch during Milan Design Week earlier this year, which was staged in a mist-filled interior room and garden of the 18th century Palazzo Citterio in Brera.

The designers’ reimaginings are wonderfully eclectic: Ma Yansong designed his windswept-looking chairs to appear as though they are “traveling through time;” Sam Baron, meanwhile, reinterpreted the chair as an outdoor swing, a rocking chair, and a bench, resulting in “piece[s] that celebrate gathering and conviviality.” India Mahdavi’s pattern-rich designs were envisioned as a family or tribe of sorts, and produced using Indian textile techniques from Kashmir, while Atang Tskhikare’s chair was handmade in collaboration with Xhosa craftswomen and features intricate beadwork. Linde Freya Tangelder of Destroyers/Builders found inspiration in the original chair's soft curves, which “remind me of sanded glass, shaped by the sea;” her elegant, aluminum “Sage” chair—which is first CNC-milled, then assembled and welded before being hand-brushed by the designer—intends to“explore silver in all its subtleties.” And Seungjin Yan’s delightful “Blowing Series” chairs were molded over balloons using epoxy resin. ◆

The Medallion Chair Exhibition is on view November 30-December 5th at Superblue Miami. Learn more here. And enjoy a behind-the-scenes look at three of the featured designers’ works for Dior—India Mahdavi, Jinyeong Yeon, and Seungjin Yang—in the videos below.