Design District

Photography by Regina Arriola; Seth Browarnik; Nathan on December 16th, 2012 in Art Basel 2012, Arts, Celebrity, Parties

Stephanie March, Bobby Flay, & Glenda Bailey

Miami Beach, FL – December 16, 2012 – It’s no secret that Miami’s Design District has grown into one of the most culturally-rich, economically booming neighborhoods in the city, and Art Basel Miami Beach version 2012 made the area a central hub for the many artists, collectors and visitors in town. From pop-up shops to exhibitions and block parties, we were there to capture the most memorable moments of the week and to properly highlight the best in show. Here’s a look back at the Design District’s seriously stacked Basel lineup.

Additional photos: Alex Markow

ShopBAZAAR: Hosted by EIC Glenda Bailey

ShopBAZAAR redefines the future of fashion by bringing the pages of Harper’s BAZAAR to life through a curated, online retail website. The recently debuted site (a creative partnership with American Express and Saks Fifth Avenue) made a splash during Art Basel Miami Beach with local tastemakers and international fashion fixtures paying the Design District pop-up a visit night after night.

Glenda Bailey

John DeLucie & Bobby Flay

Bobby Flay & Stephanie March

Athena Calderone & Glenda Bailey

Victor & Athena Calderone, & John Rawlins

Steven Sumner, Glenda Bailey, & John DeLucie

Glenda Bailey & Steven Summer

Caitlin Moe, Mia Moretti, & Cleo Wade

Mia Moretti

Gelnda Bailey & Steven Summer

Glenda Bailey & China Chow

China Chow, Derek Blasberg, & Glenda Bailey

Rene Gonzalez, Jessica Milton, & Michael Shwartz

Ilyas Frenkel, Olga Rei, & Valentine Uhovski

Michael Krans & Randy Federgreen

Nausheen Shah & Shazeen Shah

Tara Halper, Nausheen Shah, John DeLucie, & Shazeen Shah

Tyler Watson, Mike Day, & Sam Griffin

Sarah Kunst, Emily Gannett, & Norka Haiek

Mia Moretti

Norka Haiek & Katie Deluca

Absolut Block Party

As a kick off to Chez Andre, the minds of Le Baron hosted the Design District’s most well-attended block party bash with Mr. Andre’s Street Party. While Absolut served a variety of specialty cocktails, food trucks were lined up and serving bites for the many guests admiring the walls surrounding the space. Other highlights of the evening included ping pong tables, juice bars, bands and DJs stationed throughout the party.

Andre Saraiva & Joe Weinverger

Andre Saraiva

Sarah Bromley & Ali Zweben

Melany Doutette & Lizzy Swanson

Johnny The Boy

Ali Zweben, Victoria Alexander, & Sarah Bromley

Sean Drake & Michelle Leshem

Sean Drake, Michelle Leshem, Melissa Katz, Lincoln O’Barry, Sarah Bromley, & Ali Zweben

Lincoln O’Barry

ShopBAZAAR Pop-Up Experience: Exclusive Night of Shopping Hosted by Martina Borgomanero Basabe, Criselda Breene and Christina Getty-Maercks

The ShopBAZAAR cocktail party hosted by Martina Borgomanero Basabe, Criselda Breene and Christina Getty-Maercks kicked off the retailer’s party series on Thursday night of Art Basel.

Ricardo Dunin & Andrea Greenberg

Joey Krutel

Daisy O’Dell & Greg Dresnigz

Christina Getty-Maercks

Christina Getty-Maercks, Martina Basabe, & Criselda Breene

Criselda Breene

Criselda Breene & Anna Williams

Christina Getty-Maercks, Arin Maercks, & Criselda Breene

Leslie Wolfson, Criselda Breene, & Anne Owen

Heidi Heinau & Allison Zhuk

Rachel Mendoza & Perci Pietro

Vanessa Poskanzer, Michael Leitman, & Andrea Greenberg

Steven Rodriguez, Heidi Heinau, Christina Getty-Maercks, Criselda Breene, Arin Maercks, & Allison Zhuk

Dana Shear, Daniela Swaebe, & Catherine Anne Merkert

Daniela Swaebe

Primary Projects Opening Reception: Raneytown by Rebeca Raney

Step into Raneytown and experience a world curated by Miami native, Rebeca Raney. Find our exclusive Q&A with the artist below.

Rebeca Raney

Q: Tell us about these oversized characters throughout your exhibition. What’s the story there?

A: I think of them as being very real and I really care about them. I figure out the face and I work on the embroidery, and then I work on their hair and figure out what they’re wearing. I can’t really stress enough how much I think about them. They begin as drawings, so when they get to the point where I think of them as sculptures it has already been a lot of love hours and thought to get them to that point.

Q: And each of them seems to be different from the other. Is that your way of expressing their personalities?

A: I think of them as being funny and wonky, and I express their ideas because I can’t show their brain and I can’t make them move, so I have their faces. What I put on their face is so that they can express themselves and the embroidery is all done by hand. Some have one eye, some have three eyes, and they have all of the features that they have and are built out of the same stuff but they’re each different.

Q: Let’s talk about the mural work. Why did you transition into painting?

A: The mural was inspired by the rock in the front and the mountain that is in the back, and it was a way for me to tie them into one another. It was an aesthetic decision. This kind of painting is me speaking to the fact that I don’t paint anymore. I really love color, but I like it to be free. I just added more and more layers to it, not worrying about how it would turn out.

Q: How do you switch gears between sculpture, painting, and now these drawings we see towards the end of the space?

A: I switch gears by beginning with the drawings and I pretend that the drawings are photographs documenting this imaginary world. They are all snap shots and frozen in time the way that photographs are, and I made them black and white. They sort of further describe this world. They are members of this family that live in Raneytown.

Q: You’ve collaborated with Madewell on pretty amazing collection. What prompted you to do this?

A: I secretly love fashion, and I love fabric and thread, and I use them in my fine art anyway. I am secretly obsessed with being a fashion designer but I never wanted to dress anyone else. I just wanted to dress myself. Madewell was very generous to make very select pieces that I would personally love to have. They went above and beyond, and they wanted it to be a luxury collection to honor my art as best as they could. They were amazing, the entire team, and I worked with every department. It opened me up to doing more collaborations.

Q: What’s a creative trigger for you?

A: Little kids—when I first moved to New York I was a nanny and I am an art teacher now. It’s not exactly the infantile aspect—it’s how they think and how they don’t know that they’re little. They are so confident and serious, and they have this kid logic that they use to figure everything out, and I try to apply that to my work. There’s something about that kind of confidence in kids before life kicks in. There’s something about being completely free.

Q: What kind of effect do you hope your work leaves on the world?

A: I want the work to make people feel good, because it makes me feel good.

Asif

Rebeca Raney & Typoe

Typoe

Chris Oh, Rebeca Raney, Typoe, Cristina Gonzalez, & Books Bischof

Debbie & Josh Veasey

Cristina Gonzalez, Rebeca Raney, & Books Bischof

Typoe & Rebeca Raney

Luminaire

Celebrating some of the most esteemed designers in the field (including Nendo, Piet Stockmans, Synapse and Stickbulb) Luminaire’s Basel festivities, hosted by owner Nasir Kassamali, attracted the likes of both local and visiting collectors alike.

Darin Held & Chloe Chelz

Richard Geary, Nasir Kamassamali, Sarah Gore, & Enrique Norton

Fendi Casa

The Italian fashion house played host to one of Basel’s most anticipated events: an intimate showcase honoring the work of late pop artist Andy Warhol. Attendees included Olympian Will Claye and Real Housewives of Miami stars Marysol Patton, Ana Quincoces and Alexia Echevarria.

Will Claye

Alberto Vignatelli

Alexander Steinbrueck, Alberto Vignatelli, Alessandra Battistini, & Andrea Seehusen

Marysol Patton & Osirys Mendez

Ana Quincoces & Alexia Echevarria

Carolina Arellano & Maurice Bared

Cindy Amador, Josh Fein, & Stephanie Rosado

Yvette Belardo, Filomena Guglielmi, Silvana Cesaro, Gabbana, Rocky Oliva, Stefano Dell’ Erba, & Greg Corso

Emily Doyle & Zachary Scott

Architecture for Dogs Cocktail Party

Created by Imprint Venture Lab and the Kenya Hara Design Institute, this particular exhibition invited some of the industry’s most acclaimed architects to redesign the conventional structure of a doghouse, and the results were as detailed as breed and size specific.

Tom Laroc

Mike Imber, Kimbo Slice, Scott Harris, Black, & Squeak

Michael Capponi & Lauren Fitzpatrick

Yumiko Fujimoto, Elien Deceuninck, Mick van Gemert, & Paul van Loon

Zedric Bembry, Rosie Herrera, Yuri Tuma, & Apon Nichols

Hortensia Soriano, Ron Nelson, & Kiki Kaiser

COUNTERPARTS

A photo exhibit conceived by photographers Phil Stern and Robert Zuckerman, some of the chilling photos on display included those comparing Hollywood icon James Dean to George Clooney and even Marilyn Monroe to Brittany Murphy.

Robert Zuckerman

Hermès

The Hermès Opening Reception for “Couleurs de L’ombre” by Hiroshi Sugimoto,  hosted by Robert B. Chavez and Bonnie Clearwater, was one of the many stops along the Design District crawl on Thursday night.

Victor Borges, Patrick Mcinerney, & Nick Vinson

Di Mondo, Stephen Javaras, & Steven Schnitzer

Victor Borges, Channing Norton, Bonnie Clearwater, & Robert Chavez

Glen Finn, Joel Isaacs, & Tim Croneberger

Maison Martin Margiela

And the Design District’s weeklong festivities carried on at the Maison Martin Margiela party.

Tanya Kalkova & Snezhana Samokhina

Eve Sundberg & Felix Culpa

VEGA

Produced by Picnic Magazine and Monica Haim, VEGA is a music and art label from Israel that aims to dissolve the walls of separation between people, communities and countries through music. The label’s first-ever event took place during Basel this year, in Miami’s Design District.

Tina Carlo & Katharine Rubino

ShopBAZAAR: Exclusive Preview of Miami Pop-Up Experience

On the Wednesday of Art Basel, ShopBAZAAR gave us and a slew of VIPs a peek inside the exciting Miami Pop-Up Experience. Learn more about the magazine’s new venture with our exclusive Q&A with Wendy Lauria, Executive Director of Brand Development.

Q&A with Wendy Lauria, Executive Director of Brand Development for ShopBAZAAR

Q: The ShopBAZAAR experience brings the content in the magazine to life. Tell us about curating the items and how similar that process is to selecting pieces for an editorial feature.

A: ShopBAZAAR works by effectively connecting readers from the inspiration to the purchase by integrating the pages of the magazine into our store. It’s now possible to shop Harper’s BAZAAR’s pages without leaving the brand and we’ve created a fully integrated experience. The shopable items in-book are denoted with an emblem indicating that they are available on ShopBAZAAR. The store will have approximately 1000-1500 products available at all times and will offer pieces inspired by editorial features and special, one-of-a-kind treasures. This gives the editors the opportunity to expand upon stories and trends that they love, when they are limited to a certain number of pages within the magazine.

Q: There are still those who will forever choose to pick up a hard copy of Harper’s BAZAAR to find the items they love. Who do you believe ShopBAZAAR speaks to?

A: ShopBAZAAR was born to ensure that our loyal readers don’t have to leave our brand to hunt for what we’ve just shown her. But as with any new endeavor, expanding digitally has allowed a new opportunity to reach a wider audience. We’re excited for any new readers that come to the magazine after shopping on our e-commerce site.

Q: What prompted you to participate in Art Basel Miami Beach?

A: Art and design are a vital, in fact, perhaps THE most vital, part of the BAZAAR legacy, which made Art Basel the perfect place to bring our new e-commerce platform to actual, physical life. We had been speaking with Craig Robins and the DACRA group about ways to partner on initiatives in the Design District when the opportunity to create a pop-up arose, so the timing was perfect.

Q: Are there more things to come from, and to be integrated into ShopBAZAAR?

A: Coming in early 2013, Digimarc watermarks will allow readers to shop the pages using their smart phones. Presented by American Express, The BAZAAR Book, a monthly digital, editorially-produced mag-alogue will offer 100% contextual shopping on iOS platforms. The BAZAAR Book will also be a supplement to e-reader editions and live on ShopBAZAAR itself. It will feature trend stories with shopable items, as well as advertisements.

Kasey Kayde

Robert Lobetta

Baroness & Baron Von Dalwigk

Gabriela Perezutti & Christina Rooney

Khalid Meniri & Robert Lobetta

Kasey Kayde

Chingon Band with Robert Rodriguez Concert Sponsored by Mestizo

Independent filmmaker Robert Rodriguez collaborated with designer and activist Henry R. Muñoz to create Mestizo City: a 6,700-square-foot installation and concert space.