Design Miami/Paris: première!

This superb townhouse, built in 1706, has been successively occupied by the Marquis de Maisons, the Marquis de Soyecourt, the Corsican Pozzo di Borgo family, and Karl Lagerfeld, before being sold in 2010 to the president of Gabon, Ali Bongo (for approximately €100 M). It is quite unlike any ordinary exhibition halls. “Paris has always been a city where old and new coexist. It is therefore perfectly suited to this fair, which presents the best of historical and contemporary design side-by-side,” explains the event director, Jennifer Roberts. In the FIAC days, the “Design” section only featured some five (exclusively French) exhibitors; but this year, it showcases twenty-seven, each determined to juxtapose their modern creations with the 18th century interior. Fourteen are French, six American, two Belgian, and one English. And except for the three newcomers (including Desprez-Breheret), all have already participated in the mother fair Design Miami, or its Swiss version, Art Basel. The New York-based gallery Demisch-Danant will be coming to Paris for the first time, and will be sharing a room with Galerie Mitterrand (Paris), which will be showing a 1989 piece by François-Xavier Lalanne, Âne attelé, as well as Claude Lalanne’s one-off Choupatte, dating from the 1960s. “We have been participated since Design Miami began, so coming to Paris was an easy choice. Beyond that historical relationship, we also intend on developing our business in France,” explains Stéphane Danant, who proposes for sale a 1967 desk by Joseph-André Motte, crafted in steel and Makassar ebony (€300,000). Design is represented in all its forms (furniture, ceramics, glasswork, and more). The event will showcase pieces crafted in the early 20th century, such as those presented by the Parisian gallery owner Éric Philippe in the ground-floor reception room: an array dedicated to “Swedish Grace”, a movement that began in Sweden in the early 1920s and that Karl Lagerfeld adored. The pieces exhibited for sale include a 1935 table by Carl Malmsten, a masterpiece of cabinetmaking (€60,000). Several galleries will showcase the work of Le Corbusier, Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret: François Laffanour will present a large ash desk by Charlotte Perriand (Japan, 1953, approximately €1 M), while Galerie Ketabi Bourdet (Paris) focuses on minimalist style with a taste for black, metal, and geometric lines, particularly in the form of a reconstituted smoking room from the 1980s. Visitors may admire the Tom Double mirror by Philippe Starck (1985). As for contemporary design, Galerie Kreo (Paris) will exhibit Quobus 1,3,6, enamelled steel shelves by Marc Newson; and Friedman Benda (New York City) will display, for the first time in Europe, the Plot II table by the English designer Faye Toogood, as well as Acrostic armchairs by Raphaël Navot (approximately €40,000).