In the Mix
The Buzz!
Design Miami's monthly, can't-miss roundup of design world news and inspiration
Welcome to The Buzz, our monthly roundup of design world news and inspiration for Design Miami’s discerning community of creatives and collectors. Enjoy!
Another Perspective at Magen H
Magen H Gallery in New York is currently hosting Another Perspective: Jean Prouvé, Le Corbusier, and Pierre Jeanneret through the eyes of Manuel Bougot. The exhibition features timeless objects by mid-century French masters alongside the contemporary photography of renowned French photographer Manuel Bougot, whose images of mid-century French architecture and interiors are regularly commissioned for important subject-matter monographs. What a pleasure it is to gaze upon landmark modernist sites in Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Nancy, and Provence in the presence of the furniture that was made for them. The show runs through July 15th.
Important Studio Ceramics at Moderne Gallery
Over in Philadelphia, at Moderne Gallery, you’ll find Important Studio Ceramics: 1932-2022. This survey of important ceramics marks the 20th anniversary of the gallery’s groundbreaking past exhibition, Ceramic Masterworks: 1962–2002, which was curated in collaboration with Helen Drutt, a gallerist credited with elevating studio ceramics to the global stage. The current show was curated by Moderne’s co-directors, Robert and Joshua Aibel, who have brought together more than 100 sculptures and vessels from their own collection as well as from some of the world’s best known and emerging studio ceramicists, including Peter Voulkos, Viola Frey, Bill Daley, Estelle Halper, Karima Duchamp, David Gilhooly, Zein Daoud, Tanaka Tomomi, and Hashimoto Tomonari. You can enjoy the exhibition virtually here or visit the gallery through September 24th.
Norman Teague: Bureaus of Reconstruction at Converso
At Converso Gallery in Chicago, be sure to check out Norman Teague: Bureaus of Reconstruction, a solo exhibition dedicated to the rising Chicago-based design star—who’s also been recently tapped to collaborate on Prada and Theaster Gates’ much anticipated Dorchester Industries project. The practice of community-centric, social design lies at the heart of Teague’s work as he shines a light on how the intentional disinterest of the white gaze has historically obscured Black lived experience and its material culture. Through the objects and spaces he creates, Teague aims to fill the gapping omissions that riddle narratives of design history. You can read more about the show in our recent Forum Magazine article here. The show is open to the public through July 31st.
Abigail Chang: Reflections of a Room at Volume Gallery
Also in Chicago, Volume Gallery presents LA-born, Chicago-based designer Abigail Chang's first solo exhibition at the gallery. Reflections of a Room, as the show is called, is a meditation in minimalism, featuring eight black, reflective abstract objects that explore proportions familiar in both domestic and public interiors. “The objects read as windows viewed at night and invite an acute awareness of one’s surroundings… reminding us to notice the ubiquitous reflective surfaces in our daily lives and the ongoing dance of transparency and light in our built environment,” the gallery explains. The show, open through June 24th, clearly reflects (no pun intended) Chang’s background in architecture.
Nacho Carbonell inaugurates Carpenters Workshop Gallery LA
Carpenters Workshop Gallery has just opened a fourth permanent location in Los Angeles, and the inaugural exhibition is dedicated to the always charming Nacho Carbonell. Titled From Caveman to Beachcomber: The Archeology of the Future, the show—Carbonell’s first solo show in the US—features new work that represents, in gallery owner Loic Le Gaillard’s words, “a beautiful new language.” Notably, the Spanish-born, Eindhoven-based artist-designer has created a number of monumental cabinets and tables in unexpected materials that converse well with new iterations on his Cloud lights. And the presentation as a whole looks wonderful in the new Standard Architecture-designed gallery space. You have until September 9th to see it.
Selected Works by Veera Kulju, Marianne Huotari, and Hanne G at HB381
HB381 in New York, the new gallery offshoot of Hostler Burrows, is currently hosting Selected Works by Veera Kulju, Marianne Huotari and Hanne G. The summer group show brings together three Nordic artist-makers who transpose craft techniques between the mediums of textiles and ceramics. “By foregrounding repetitive and detail oriented practices,” the gallery explains, “they each pause hectic daily life to invite in a therapeutic pace that centers creating by hand.” The show is on view through August 19th.
Ask Me If I Believe in the Future at MK&G
Our last shoutout goes to our own Curatorial Director, Maria Cristina Didero, who has just curated a show for the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. Ask Me If I Believe in the Future, as the title suggests, presents propositional, future-facing designs from visionary contemporary studios, including Objects of Common Interest (Greece), Erez Nevi Pana (Israel), Carolien Niebling (Switzerland), and Zaven (Italy)—all commissioned especially for this exhibition. Didero says: “Although they take quite divergent approaches and vary in their views on the challenges posed by global crises, the solutions proposed by these designers attest to an astonishing coherence—a shared faith in the future.” Ask Me If I Believe in the Future runs through October 23rd.