Design Miami.Paris 2025 Preview

Now in its third year, Design Miami.Paris shows work from 40 galleries at the 18th-century L’Hôtel de Maisons. Here’s what to spot at this year’s event, from both the main show and the complementary Design at Large programme at the same venue, where larger-scale pieces break out of the traditional gallery booth format.

Early Birds is a collaborative presentation from two renowned galleries, with a common theme: feathered friends. Selected works come from across the decorative arts and date from the early 1900s to now, creating an avian dialogue across stylistic eras. Flock to see an Oiseau D’argent table-cum-sculpture by François-Xavier Lalanne dating from around 1990; Cocotte wrought-iron lamps created by the Marolles makers of mid-century Marolles-en-Brie; and a specially commissioned monumental chandelier in the shape of a tree branch by artist Irene Cattaneo.

New York Gallery The Future Perfect makes its debut at Design Miami.Paris with this “sensory oasis” created by New Delhi-based designer Vikram Goyal and artist Sissel Tolaas. Held in the garden of L’Hôtel de Maisons, it features five sculpted beasts, all of which have spiritual and philosophical significance and were inspired by the Sanskrit Panchatantra animal fables that were a precursor to Aesop’s fables. There are some clear parallels with the zoophilic design of François-Xavier Lalanne – each animal houses a compartment that reveals a Panchatantra fable – but viewed though Goyal’s own cultural lens, while scent artist Tolaas has devised a unique smell for each animal, diffused from scent activators and daily 5pm fable readings will further bring the installation to life.

Founding her gallery in Paris in 2010, Maria Wettergren specialises in Scandinavian art and design, but for her debut at Design Miami.Paris she’s adding some Korean names, too, with all of the pieces by female makers. Inhwa Lee’s paper-thin ceramics take traditional Yanggu white clay work to contemporary new places (her work is also the subject of a concurrent solo show at Wettergren’s Le Marais gallery), while Norwegian artist Hanne Friis continues the thread of ethereal whiteness, with sculptures made from intricately folded and hand-sewn textiles.

Mexican architect and designer Frida Escobedo’s Creek chair, with its waterfalls of nickel ball chains flowing over the chair’s frame, is among the pieces making their European debut at Design.Miami Paris for Friedman Benda. Fellow Mexican designer Fernando Laposse’s cabinet in Totomoxtle marquetry – a material he developed himself from colourful heirloom corn husks – sits alongside, while Dutch designer Joris Laarman’s Ply Loop console is the centrepiece, made from a low-impact version of plywood that uses plant-based resin instead of the traditional glue, making it entirely biodegradable.

New York’s Patrick Parrish is known for bringing under-the-radar 20th-century designers to a wider audience. At design Miami.Paris he is training his eye on the small, everyday objects produced by Austria’s Auböck Workshop after the First World War, when Carl Auböck revitalised his family’s business following his studies at the Bauhaus in Weimar. More than mere trinkets, these bells, dishes, baskets, bookends and more embody the Bauhaus’ reverence for uniting art, craft and technology, often with a whimsical or humorous spin.

This influential Parisian gallery regards itself as a “research laboratory” working to create limited-edition pieces that push at the boundaries. Objects on show at Design Miami.Paris include Marco Campardo’s Jello bench, created using moulds made from laminated cardboard: like concrete shuttering in brutalist architecture, the resulting piece – in a delicious butter yellow – show’s the imprint of the cardboard’s creases and lines. Also look out for Ronan Bouroullec’s Flou console, with its fluid silver mirrored cast-glass top and hammered silver metal base, plus a selection of French and Italian 20th-century lighting.

Nina Yashar’s powerhouse Milan gallery Nilufar has a space at Design Miami.Paris as well as an activation in the city at large. At L’Hôtel de Maisons, see vintage pieces from Gabriella Crespi’s 1970s Rising Sun collection, including sculptural lamps, alongside contemporary work that includes Objects of Common Interest’s glowing resin furniture. Then hop over to the Saint-Germain showroom of Métaphores for In The Mood For Touch, an immersive installation that combines works from Nilufar Edition with tactile textiles from the French fabric house.

Paulin, Paulin, Paulin, which protects the legacy of (who else?) French designer Pierre Paulin, is presenting La Déclive, a modular seating concept originally designed in 1966. Aligned with his other work of the 1960s – curvy, avant-garde, and with a pop-art spirit – La Déclive consists of a series of horizontal units that can be put together to create a ‘landscape’ of seating. Design Miami.Paris sees it brought to life on a grand scale, creating “a shifting, inhabitable floor” that blurs the boundary between furniture and architecture.