During our two decades covering the Design Miami fairs, we have become accustomed to seeing exemplary creations from the mid-century modern era, limited-edition pieces by contemporary artisans and makers, and avant-garde moves made by some of the world’s most renowned design galleries. When the organizers of the fair opened in Paris in 2023, it gave us an entirely new perspective to see the installations on view nestled within ornate rooms clad in resplendent boiserie. The banner image is of the Hostler Burrows presentation for the show; image credit Ivan Erofeev. This year’s iteration of Design Miami in Paris has the largest Gallery and Design-at-Large program to date and is running in tandem with Art Basel Paris until Sunday, October 26th.
Design Miami Paris Turns Three
The Patrick Seguin display at Design Miami in Paris. Image credit Ivan Erofeev.
The formal interiors of the iconic L’hôtel de Maisons where the fair is held owes its sumptuous envelope to the 18th-century. The hôtel particulier in Saint-Germain-des-Prés began to rise in 1706 and was almost completed in 1707 when it was sold to Claude de Longueil, the Marquis de Maisons, from whom it gets its name. François Duret then acquired the property and undertook major renovations over the tenure of his ownership. The interiors were transformed from 1749 to 1751 by Pierre Mouret for Louis-Armand de Seiglières de Belleforière, the Marquis de Soyecourt. The woodwork in the grand salon, shown above, was sculpted by Jacques Verberckt, perhaps with the assistance of Jean Liottier.
Galerie Gastou at Design Miami in Paris. Image credit Ari Touboul.
Organizers note that across the Gallery and Design at Large programming, there are a number of prominent thematic threads that include a distinct focus on zoomorphic forms, offering a menagerie of animalistic influences. These unfold in the presentations of the Galerie Gastou and Galerie Desprez-Bréhéret—a joint-presentation dedicated to Early Birds; and in Galerie Mitterrand’s display of iconic animal-inspired designs by Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, including a set of tortoises, Tortue topiaire III 2000 & 2003 placed in the garden as part of the Design at Large program. The Future Perfect’s outdoor presentation of Vikram Goyal Studio’s immersive installation, The Soul Garden, was created in collaboration with Sissel Tolaas and reimagines India’s ancient animal fables as a contemporary dialogue between art, design, and ecology.
Galerie Mitterrand at Design Miami in Paris. Image courtesy of Galerie Mitterrand.
Given we are nearing the end of the 100th anniversary year of Art Deco, the style has a hefty presence. One of the galleries highlighting its influences is Galerie Chastel-Maréchal, who brough Forêt (1929) by Jean Dunand to the fair. The four-leaf screen in lacquer and silver leaf on wood has a light relief decoration of birds and deer in an enchanted forest landscape. The piece comes from the prestigious collection of Princess Marie Bonaparte. Galerie Maxime Flatry’s presentation also gives a nod to Art Deco with historical ceramic works by Jean Besnard, Ernest Chaplet, and Pierre-Adrien Dalpayrat that span the years 1890 to 1930. The gallery invited Thierry Boutemy to create bespoke floral installations for its showcase in order to spark a dialogue with the historical ceramics.
Patrick Parrish at Design Miami in Paris. Image credit Ivan Erofeev.
Another focus at this year’s fair requires viewers to look more closely because there is a noticeable emphasis on smaller scale collectibles. For the first time in France, debut exhibitor Patrick Parrish Studio, based in New York, presents a solo exhibition of works by Carl Auböck in a lyrical display. The designs that are typically considered as everyday small objects—bells, dishes, baskets, and bookends—become unique objets d’art arranged as they are. Yves Macaux Gallery from Brussels is showing cutlery by Josef Hoffmann, the display of miniature treasures not unlike jewelry. For its second appearance, Galerie MiniMasterpiece from Paris reveals creations inspired by artists and designers Lee Ufan, Pierre Charpin, Andres Serrano, and Pablo Reinoso.
Yves Macaux at Design Miami in Paris. Image credit/ Ivan Erofeev.
The organizers of the fair have also announced this year’s Best of Show Award Winners, which were selected by a committee of design experts including Design Miami’s Senior Vice President of Fairs Grela Orihuela, architect Lee Mindel, design expert Al Eiber, and advisors Simon Andrews and Jeremy Morrison. The Best Gallery Presentation was awarded to debut exhibitor Yves Macaux Gallery with its focus on Viennese masterpieces spanning the ornamental exuberance of the Wiener Werkstätte to the restrained elegance of early modernist design. Highlights from their installation include a Josef Hoffmann brass vessel and a longcase clock by Adolf Loos.
James de Wulf at Design Miami in Paris. Image credit Nicky Roding.
Los Angeles-based designer James de Wulf was awarded Best Design at Large Presentation with the debut work Resonating Ping Pong Table, Song no. 1 (2025). The multisensory piece incorporates sound within its function: the table’s surface, which is formed from layers of aluminum plates that are tuned to an A Minor Pentatonic scale, emits a dreamy, healing sound-bath as the motion of ping pong balls bounce across its surface. Versatile in form, the table may be used indoors or outside, and the net is easily removable to convert the table for dining. The Best Contemporary Work went to Extended Form Three (2025), a white onyx table by Adam Pendleton being shown at Friedman Benda.
Laffanour at Design Miami in Paris. Image credit Ivan Erofeev.
The Best Historic Work was awarded to two highly significant pieces at Galerie Downtown Francois Laffanour. The Parisian-based gallery presented works by Jean Prouvé, an emblematic figure of twentieth-century modernism whose practice spanned architecture, engineering, and design. The Bureau Présidence (c. 1951) is a desk that was commissioned by René Coulon, an architect and member of the Union des Artistes Modernes. It is made of green lacquered bent-sheet steel that supports a bean-shaped wooden top. Another piece is Table à Plans (1951), a rectangular table with an ash veneer top resting on a base with four tapered legs made of green lacquered bent-steel tubing. The deep and pastel greens used for both pieces were striking for their time because he was breaking away from Art Deco conventions and using hues that were originally reserved for industrial use. He employed them for the first time in furniture design intended for everyday use. These award winners each received a trophy designed by Maison Daum that was designed by French artist and designer Victoria Wilmotte, who is known for her sculptural and architectural approach to form.
Designers of Tomorrow
The final installation of works by the Designers of Tomorrow. Image credit Elodie Croquet.
A new initiative by Design Miami and Apple, dubbed Designers of Tomorrow spotlights four emerging design talents and their creative practices, which were powered by iPad. The works chosen were by Atelier Duyi Han from Shanghai, Jolie Ngo from California, Marie & Alexandre from Paris, and Marco Campardo from London. The presentation at the fair showcases the seamless integration of iPad into the designers’ processes to demonstrate how technology empowers and enriches creativity and innovation—from new approaches in research and development to crafting their final works. We at Design Diary salute the organizers of the fair for continuing to push the envelope into new design territory.