Best of Show

Tied for Best Gallery Presentation are New York’s Magen H Gallery and London’s Sarah Myerscough Gallery. These exhibitors’ “carefully and elegantly curated installations,” in Andrews words, captured the overarching spirit of this year’s fair—the former through finely crafted mid-century French designs from visionaries like Hervé Baley, Le Corbusier, and Pierre Chapo; and the latter thanks to the boundary-pushing, hand-made creations of contemporary designer-makers like Peter Marigold, Christopher Kurtz, and Eleanor Lakelin.

According to Mindel, Magen H’s rich woods and Sarah Myerscough’s textured light and color exemplified this year’s “dominant themes of natural forms and materials, the mark of hand, and references to tropical locales,” which can be seen throughout the show.

Two innovative, young galleries share the title for Best Curio Presentation. One is Tuleste Factory of New York, offering a vibrant, monochromatic ensemble of new works from buzzworthy rising talents. Mindel applauds the seductive, otherworldly quality achieved by Tuleste Factory.

The other is Stroll Garden of Los Angeles, with its garden-like installation centered around a charming series of bubbling water fountains by ceramics artist Lily Clark. Mindel also applauds Stroll Garden’s inventive aesthetic references to Luis Barragán and Palm Springs.

Making the most of its Design Miami/ debut, São Paulo-based gallery Diletante42 earned the Best Historical Work award for a one-of-a-kind table by José Zanine Caldas. Andrews says this “tour-de-force” was sculpted by the Brazilian master in 1977, “from a massive trunk of fallen timber and celebrates the renewal of natural materials.” Mindel adds that the piece “remained with its original owner until last year and represents the ultimate expression of conservation.”

Gold and Platinum Cleft Chairs by Max Lamb

A pair of hand-wrought, gold and platinum lacquered wood chairs by Max Lamb, represented by London-based Gallery FUMI, took this year’s prize for Best Contemporary work. Andrews tells us, “Max’s handcrafted chairs reveal a level of sophistication that belies the superficially rudimentary personality of their assembly; the precious lacquer cladding celebrates the unadulterated beauty of the raw, hewn timber.” Mindel notes that Lamb “consistently asks the material what it wants to be—an approach that has resulted in highly refined jewels of design.”