Water woes and wonders at Design Miami

There was water, water everywhere … and lots of champagne to drink at the opening of the 15th annual Design Miami on Tuesday.

Located in the big white tent across from the Miami Beach Convention Center, the internationally acclaimed design fair focused on water as its central theme and provided flutes for free champagne, compliments of Perrier-Jouët.

How we design for water issues — both present and anticipated — is a theme that resonates with residents in the coastal communities of South Florida, beset by the threat of global warming, erosion and flooding. Several of the 34 gallery exhibitions and 15 Curio presentations at the main fair, as well as satellite installations scattered throughout the area, opted to embrace that theme, addressing subjects as disparate as too much water in some places and not enough in others.

The attention to water issues cuts across cultural lines, with designers from Asia, Europe, and North and South America using their exhibition space to highlight concerns ranging from sustainable water use plastic pollution in the oceans. Many of these topics will be discussed throughout the duration of the fair through programming presented by the Savannah College of Art and Design, which will include lectures, workshops, and film screenings.

Swarovski, the famed producer of sparkling crystals, titled its installation simply “Water.” The Austrian based company has relied upon pristine Alpine waters since 1895 to assist with its crystal production, and since 2000 has engaged in promoting sustainable water use through its Waterschool. Swarovski plans a viewing of its “Waterschool” documentary and a workshop for children of all ages, where attendees “will be awarded Swarovski Waterschool Student Ambassador Certificates and a small gift.” Event time: Sunday, Dec. 8, from 1 to 3:30 p.m.

The Swarovski booth also offers one of the best bargains of the fair, with retracting chandelier lights that retail for $2,500 each, says Swarovski representative Peter Koeppel. Designed by Tord Boontje, the work is called “Light Drops” and can be used as a solo bedside lamp or cover a ceiling with the hanging crystal discs that include lights of 100 lumens each.

Miami artist Emmett Moore’s ingenious take on water references the ocean freighters that ship used clothing from Miami to the Caribbean and Latin America. “When I was in high school I would see clothing in warehouses that were piled to the rafters and wondered where it is coming from and where it is going,” Moore said. He soon discovered Miami was a hub for the collection of used clothing from as far away as Canada. In an homage to the recycling effort and the colorful design that shipping containers make when stacked in freighters that ply the Miami River, Moore decided to make a wall cabinet from used t-shirts. He coated the colorful shirts in epoxy and fashioned them into a shelving unit he calls “Express,” a nod to the “Tropical Express” one of the shipping freighters involved in the used clothing trade. Moore, who created the work in his Little Haiti gallery, is represented by Nina Johnson. At the fair, Moore teamed up with Rodman Primack, former executive director of Design Miami/, who recently opened a design gallery in Mexico City called AGO Projects. The unique work lists for $20,000.

At least one installation raises a clarion alarm. Delta Airlines and Sacred Space provides a meditative mangrove where visitors can immerse themselves in the documentary “SACRED COCA.” The space, titled “ROOTS,” is the brainchild of Brazilian architect Marko Brajović. Ximena Caminos, the founder of HONEYLAB, curated the project, which was produced by Alberto LaTorre, a graduate of the University of Miami School of Architecture.

“It was originally conceived as three structures,” LaTorre told the Miami Herald. “We were able to shrink it to one structure and it is a much stronger design.” The underlying aluminum structure is completely covered in layers of wound rope and includes hammocks from Brazil.

Brajović envisioned the embracing roots of the mangroves after witnessing first-hand the fires in his country earlier this year. Horrified by the fires that continue to devastate the Amazon rainforest -- which according to National Geographic magazine has so far destroyed an area roughly the size of New Jersey -- Brajović uses the project to emphasize alarming changes the region is currently undergoing. The Design Forum plans to host a lecture inspired by “ROOTS” on Friday, Dec. 6, from 5 to 6 p.m. The curator and the two architects plan to talk about how nature influences art, design and architecture and how to build on that knowledge.

The inability to find enough water to extinguish fires – even in a rainforest – is not the only troubling subject raised at Design Miami/. Plastic pollution is choking the planet, and the Lonely Whale foundation is on a mission to reverse the damage. Co-founded by Adrian Grenier, the star of the TV series “Entourage,” Lonely Planet has teamed up with the Point Break Foundation to present “Tick Tock,” two dozen sculptures created from beach trash collected from the beaches of 12 nations worldwide. Each sculpture represents a ticking time bomb that illustrate the explosion of trash that accumulates despite countless beach clean-ups. Lonely Planet and Point Break Foundation are also listed in the lecture series, with a discussion on the state of our global coastlines and ocean conservation. Lecture time: Saturday, Dec. 7, from 12:30 to 2 p.m.

Lexus and evian individually are taking a more zen approach to water at the fair. Designer Virgil Abloh partnered with evian to produce a series of limited-edition designs fashioned on the rainbow and titled “One Drop Can Make a Rainbow.” Lexus omits the rainbow, opting instead to focus on the relaxing nature of rain. The luxury car company presents “The Sunshower” by Nao Tamura and curated by Maria Christina Didero of Milan and Design Miami/ Curatorial Director Aric Chen. Guests can recharge themselves and their cellphones in the space, while sampling Ooho, innovative water capsules made of edible seaweed extract. The clear pouches of water melt in the mouth in an explosion of citrus and leave a salty aftertaste.

Lexus and Whitewall, the quarterly arts and luxury magazine, teamed up to present a series of lectures during the fair, including “Sustainability as the New Business Model.” Lecture time: Wednesday, Dec. 4, from 12 – 1 p.m.

Other, non-water related highlights:

Best Curio: Design Miami/ Chief Executive Officer Jennifer Roberts noted that for the first time the fair provided a series of “Best Of” awards to the best in show: the best gallery, the best curio presentation, the best contemporary designer, and the best historical work. Miami-based ESPASSO won best Curio with its presentation lamps by acclaimed Brazilian artist Claudia Moreira Salles. Made of the rare element niobium (Nb) and reclaimed wood, the semi-spherical lamps exhibit delicate colors derived from being dipped in acid. ESPASSO is one of four Miami-based galleries participating in the fair, which also include Mindy Solomon Gallery, Tile Blush, and the Luis Pons Design Lab. “We wanted to support our local galleries and give people a sense of what is different about Miami,” Roberts said.

Best Gallery: CONVERSO of Chicago and Los Angeles featured a selection of furnishings by Italian architect Osvaldo Borsani and a chandelier by Lebanese designer Sami El Khazan. The chandelier was featured in the 1964 New York World’s Fair and later graced the Shah of Iran’s palace in Tehran, according to the gallery.

Best Contemporary Designer: Jay Sae Jung Oh. Represented by Salon 94, Jay Sae Jung Oh takes a year to make her intricate works of combined objects that are meticulously wrapped in thing straps of leather. One work includes a bicycle combined with a chair, another works as a large pot for a palm tree and includes several terracotta pots in various positions. “They look abstract from a distance, but up close they are very figural,” said Salon 94 gallery director Maxime Van Melkebeke.

Best Historical Work: Dutch designer Gerrit Rietvel’s Yellow Beugel-chair (1927). The precursor to a whole line of furnishings designed by Le Corbusier, it is the first chair where tubes were combined with plywood, according to Galerie VIVID of Rotterdam.

Perrier-Jouët: “Metamorphosis” by Andrea Mancuso. The Milan-based artist created a chic wine cellar in ceramic. Using shapes reminiscent of the bottom of the champagne bottles found in the French cellar of Perrier-Jouët, Mancuso recreated a six-arched wine cellar. He assembled some 11,000 ceramic saucers in colors ranging from the grass green of spring to the ambers and umbers of autumn. Mancuso also designed six long-stemmed wine glasses using the lost wax method and created individual pedestals of white wax to showcase the glasses. He plans to produce a limited edition of each glass, which display pink, green and amber stems that resemble plants.

Friedman Benda collaborated with former Miamian Daniel Arsham to present an interior space that resembles a residence, complete with an area rug that resembles an architectural drawing, a geometrically designed sofa and chairs, and a desk with the designer’s signature chips and holes.

Moderne Gallery of Philadelphia provides a peek into the living room of architect/designer Paul Frankl, who invented the Speed Lounge Chair. Moderne includes two lounge chairs and a coffee table from Frankl’s own New York City apartment. Usually upholstered, this unique set is made of cork. Gallery owner Robert Aibel lists the set for $250,000 and says, “I would love to see it in a public institution because there is nothing like it.”