Art Basel: Design Miami 2012

Last night was champagne-sipping, design-viewing fun at Design Miami’s preview of their 2012 Art Basel show.

It is not to be missed.

Choose your adjective: stunning, amazing, gorgeous. The world’s finest galleries are exhibiting the creme de la creme in design. Collectors were snatching up work right and left, but even if you can’t afford the jaw-dropping prices, the opportunity to admire and be inspired is available to everyone in South Florida.

Here’s what caught my eye:

And now a few shout-outs.

Lost Time/ Temps Perdu by Glithero is an amazing display of ball chains over water. I was unable to capture the reflections with my phone camera, but it is breathtaking and really does have one recalling Proust.

The Crystal Place by Swarovski is a dream. Be sure to look cloesly to see circles of light inside. Also, there is an area to go inside. Don’t miss that. It’s even prettier than the outside. This is definitely an exhibit to enjoy with champagne.

And then there is the charmingly fun Metamorphosis by Pieke Bergmans.

Admist all the cool design, Gerd Rothmann brought pieces of such personal warmth, they touched my heart almost literally, with fingerprints.

But my very favorite piece was in the Gabrielle Ammann Gallery from Germany. This is their first year exhibiting at Design Miami’s show and it was a stunner. First there was this lovely resin table, which everybody loved.

But the very best thing to see is this bamboo birdcage with hanging crystals. The brilliant sparkle of the crystals juxtaposed with the warm, natural bamboo is utterly divine. From a distance the bamboo appears to be gilded. The bonus is the incredible shadow pattern cast behind the piece. Just lovely.