Luminaire’s continued commitment to promoting good design and education culminated with the third installment of Design+World, a comprehensive exhibition that explored how today’s designers interpret materials, technologies and production methods to create work that expand the traditional boundaries of design. Luminaire Lab, a beacon of design excellence in Miami’s Design District, transformed into a design laboratory where the public interacted and explored new concepts in design; highlighting the work of longtime friends and collaborators like Tokujin Yoshioka and Patricia Urquiola. The exhibition also showcased Daniel Widrig’s sculptural designs; as well as Luminaire’s continued interest in glass. With Fabrica’s Drawing Glass, Nao Tamura’s poetic glass lighting and a selection of limited edition glass pieces from our own collection, the exhibit examined the limitless possibilities and expert craft of the ancient material. Additionally, we welcomed Phaidon books to the showroom, bringing a preeminent voice in art and design to the design district.
One of the most influential creative minds living in the world today, Japanese designer Tokujin Yoshioka transformed the way we experience the world around us. For the past several years, he has been inspired by the random harmony of crystals, creating sculptural pieces that investigate the dependency that exists between human memories and natural phenomena. Luminaire presented the Elements Collection as part of Design+World, which was originally launched during the Salone del Mobile 2013 and hatched from extensive research he conducted for the Crystalized Project. According to Yoshioka, the project “raises the question of how we connect our lives to the future by being exposed to the serendipitous beauty born of nature.”
In 2009, Daniel Widrig opened his own studio with a dedicated team of specialists in a broad range of fields including fashion, furniture, sculpture, stage design and architecture. Embracing digital systems since its early days, the studio holds a unique position in the field and is widely considered to be in the vanguard of digital art and design. Widrig’s lightweight and unique 3D printed jewelry collection Kinesis complements the vision of this exhibition perfectly. The soft, undulating pieces embrace the neckline and shoulders as an exoskeleton. Kinesis pushes the limits of selective laser sintering (SLS), gracefully transforming digital systems into wearable landscapes so artful, avant-garde and surreal that it feels otherworldly. The expressive, sinuous movement of Kinesis and its architectural character are akin to his early work as an architect when alongside his mentor, Zaha Hadid, he led a number of award-winning architectural projects, products and other designs.
Italian design research center Fabrica also explored a provocative balance between concept and function, translating rhapsodic ideas in three-dimension. In the U.S. debut of Drawing Glass, quick, gestural drawings from a range of designers become an ethereal series of glass objects interpreted by master glass blower Massimo Lunardon. Each artwork features the fourteen original sketches by Studio Formafantasma, Fabrica Head of Design Sam Baron along with five Fabrica designers alongside each original glass piece.
On December 5th Luminaire proudly hosted the incomparable Patricia Urquiola as she unveils her newest project – a book. This is Urquiola’s first monograph on her works aptly titled ‘Time to Make a Book.’ Her eclectic approach to product design and architecture has established her as one of the key figures in contemporary design, working with great international design houses, including Moroso, De Padova, B&B Italia, Bisazza, Alessi, Driade, and Flos. This inspiring book captures the fervid energy of Urquiola’s life and work, in an unprecedented and striking design object as innovative and intimate as her body of work.
Luminaire also announced a partnership with Phaidon, the world’s premier publisher of books on the visual arts. The partnership is a meeting of the equal belief that we must celebrate the creative, and democratize access to design and design education.
The Design+World exhibition opening reception celebrating good design around the world took place on December 5th at our Miami Design District location, Luminaire Lab.
Thursday, December 5, 2013
