Adrian Sassoon Gallery platforms ‘Nature by Design’ at Design Miami 2023

The much anticipated Design Miami returns to Miami Beach, Florida, with its 19th edition from December 6 to 10, 2023. The design event musters the creative community’s most influential names, their oeuvres ranging from furniture design and lighting design to objets d’art. A powerful lineup of gallery presentations, talks and never before seen design commissions reveals itself amidst the imagination-fueled bustle that pervades the city of the United States. Approaching the curatorial theme Where We Stand, Adrian Sassoon Gallery makes its debut with a presentation of contemporary glass and metalwork from its international designers—their show titled Nature by Design.

Established in 1994, London-based Adrian Sassoon is one of the leading gallery's in the United Kingdom’s for international contemporary works of sculptural design. The gallery platforms highly innovative and skilled contemporary designers working across a range of mediums including metal, glass, ceramics, hardstone and wood. For 30 years, Adrian Sassoon has been a springboard for designers through major solo shows, both in the UK and internationally, as well as through participation in the world’s most prestigious art fairs. The design gallery works closely with museums, private individuals and international galleries to place works of art in their collections. Extending on their commitment to bringing forth remarkable talent, the gallery brings an impressive roster of designers to Design Miami.

Nature by Design curates extraordinary craftsmanship while illustrating how designers respond to and interpret the natural world. Amongst the highlights of the show are Vezzini & Chen’s lighting designs. The London-based design duo are recognised for their characteristic blend of hand-carved ceramics and blown glass, their collection treading a fine line between the functional and the conceptual. Their sculptural hand-crafted glass lighting draws from the themes of repetition, texture, and geometry—inspired by the biodiversity of the sea and arrangements that mirror the growth patterns of plants. Talking about the By-the-Wind Sailor collection created for Design Miami, lighting designers Cristina Vezzini and Sheng Tsang Chen say, “By-the-Wind Sailors are jellyfish-like creatures that live on the surface of the ocean, moving with tiny sails. The striking blue colour and structure of these creatures was the starting point of these works.” To this, they add, “We like the idea of enlarging and recreating small, beautiful details we’ve found in nature and to encourage the viewer to take the time to appreciate the beauty of these details and in this case, maybe take the time to think about the ocean and why we should protect it.”

Joining the presenters is silversmith Hiroshi Suzuki who displays works created by hammering sheets of silver into sinuous vessel forms. He transforms rhythms he observes in nature, such as a rush of wind or the spread of a flame, into tangible designs. Based between the UK and China, ceramic artist Felicity Aylieff produces dramatic works of art at hefty scales—some of her vessels standing over 12 feet high. She brings her troup of Monumental Blue and White vases to the design fair, all hand painted and donned in thick brushstrokes of a luminous cobalt blue. Glass artist Tobias Møhl adds another ensemble of ethereal vessels to the exhibits. His work speaks of Venetian techniques that he has developed and evolved through his career, achieving expertise in techniques such as canework, murini and incalmo—a mastery of the material. His delicate designs with subtle lace-like patterns come to life when arranged together in a backlit setting.

Japanese artist Hitomi Hosono’s porcelain vessels stand out for their exceptional intricacy. With a chalk-like finish and gold details, the work references nature and botanical specimens—captivating viewers with elegance. Porcelain is a material also explored by Andrew Wick whose vessels with textured surfaces emulate fossils, coral reefs and plant forms, and Bouke De Vries, whose ‘exploded’ artwork reclaims the broken and destroyed. Diverse representations of ceramic art take the stage in the exhibition space with artists and designers such as Kate Malone, Pippin Drysdale and Enrique Perezalba Red sculpting inimitable silhouettes in ceramics. Glass strolls on a spectrum of interpretations, from minimal clean forms to layered and expressive entities, with interventions from artists including Joon Yong Kim, Angela Jarman, Chiemi Watanabe, Udo Zembok and Galia Amsel.

The material palette of the show is completed by metals, protagonists in Junko Mori’s work. Her observations of tree and plant matter drive her metal sculptures. Michael Eden complements the exhibits with a unique materiality that utilises the combination of drawing, 3D software, traditional hand skills, and digital technology. His dynamic sculptural art pushes the boundaries of technology, all the while pursuing uniqueness.

Responding to the theme Where We Stand at the design festival, Adrian Sassoon resorts to paying homage to the shared environment through work that celebrates nature, its forms and materials. Within the motley repository, each alluded to an element of nature its creator admired; the admiration morphed into inspiration that culminated in striking designs—designs by nature that narrate Nature by Design.

‘Nature by Design’ by Adrian Sassoon will be on view from December 5 to 10, 2023, at Stand G04 during Design Miami/ in Miami Beach, Florida.