Design Miami 2023

DESIGN MIAMI 2023

DECEMBER 6 - December 10, 2023
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MIAMi beach

MIAMI BEACH - Wexler Gallery will exhibit new works by gallery artists Malene Djenaba Barnett, Jomo Tariku, Feyza Kemahlioglu and Andreea Avram Rusu. In addition to their exhibition, Wexler Gallery will also serve as the presenting sponsor for Design Miami’s “In Conversation” series program panel, “Expanding the Design Canon: Acquisition, Activism and Data,” moderated by Philadelphia Museum of Art Curator, Alisa Chiles at Design Miami’s “In Conversation” stage.

Wexler’s Design Miami presentation celebrates the deep personal bonds between each artist and their respective home countries, while giving Barnett, Tariku, Kemahlioglu and Rusu agency to cultivate fresh applications steeped in tradition.

Malene Djenaba (Jen-nah-ba) Barnett’s debut showing with Wexler Gallery includes a transcendent terracotta tile installation called “Memories of Home,” that draws inspiration from her African Caribbean heritage and uses cultural memory to reconnect to mark-making in West African mud architecture.

Jomo Tariku, an award-winning Ethiopian-American industrial designer & artist, presents several new collections at this year’s show that move the language of design forward through an exploration of new ideas, new furniture categories and new materials. Each piece in his presentation connects to his Ethiopian heritage and roots growing up in Africa. This presentation from Tariku includes a reimaging of his Meedo chair in a new material, bronze, as well as a wallpaper collection, giving us an exclusive preview of the artist’s upcoming solo museum exhibition made possible by an Alturas Foundation Grant Tariku was awarded this year.

Feyza Kemahlioglu, a native Turkish artist known for marrying old-world materials and craftsmanship methods with new, timeless modern designs, broadens the vocabulary of her celebrated Pillars of Meerschaum collection with new lighting collections, Glowing Sentiments and Dream in Calligraphy. Kemahlioglu’s latter series is a harmonious blend of past and present, highlighting ancestral Murrine hand-blown glass techniques and native Meerschaum clay minerals in colorful pendant lighting forms. The inspiration for this collection draws from the concept of a charm necklace, where each charm is thoughtfully chosen for its sentimental significance. Much like these cherished personal talismans, each piece in this lighting ensemble possesses its own distinct character and energy, connected by delicate chains that symbolize our interwoven human experiences.

Borne of reverence for Ottoman calligraphy and the unmatched craftsmanship that still exists in Istanbul, Dream in Calligraphy celebrates the harmony of tradition, creativity, and light that is Kemahlioglu’s signature. The molded brass structure of the chandelier has been gracefully formed it into a three-dimensional representation reminiscent of calligraphy's graceful flow and movement.

Kemahlioglu will also expand her design vernacular with a new cast table lamp, Glacier.

Andreea Avram Rusu, a Romanian-born lighting and furniture designer now based in Brooklyn, presents her her first collection of mirrors, Iaz Collection, inspired by elaborate embroidery on Romanian folkloric textiles that Rusu’s grandmother mastered and taught to her. Rusu revisits her heritage of this traditional technique in a new medium, which features metal chain zig zag embroidery on mirrored glass that emulates one of the oldest embroidery motifs. Iaz is an entirely modern feel that reimagines traditional craft.