Ambra Medda, co-founder and director of Design Miami/ Basel talks about the success of the new design fair, the popularity of historic and contemporary design and why the fair choose Basel as second location for the fair. Interview with Ambra Medda, Design Miami/ Basel, June 12, 2006.
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CreativityTranscript
00:00 New ones.
00:01 So, yeah, as I said, you brought very nice weather from Miami and we are very lucky about that.
00:08 And of course we are very lucky that you chose this venue and perhaps you can tell us how it came that you chose this old church.
00:18 Sure. Samuel Keller was kind enough to show us around the city of Basel and showed us different venues.
00:26 And this option of the church and the theater was really the most striking in that it offered two very different backdrops for the dealers.
00:35 And it was really the most exciting and we also felt as though this was in a way comparable to the design district
00:43 in that it's sort of downtown, a little bit edgy and an interesting location.
00:49 We were very lucky also that the city was so embracing to the show.
00:55 It's really comparable to Miami. You also had an old hotel.
01:01 Yeah, we did it in the Moore building, which is a beautiful building from the 30s.
01:06 And it was four tiers and the central atrium is a vacant space.
01:13 And Zaha Hadid did this beautiful installation in the middle.
01:17 And it was really interesting as well as challenging in that the architecture offered a really dramatic backdrop for the dealers.
01:27 And I think for the dealers that are engaged with design and also architecture,
01:33 to do it in a building that has character was a lot more stimulating than to do it in a convention center.
01:39 So we really wanted to occupy a building that had character and history.
01:44 And we're very fortunate to be here.
01:46 Did you have a long search for this venue here?
01:50 Well, we came and we stayed a week and fell in love with the space and that was that.
01:56 We stayed and that was the get-go.
01:59 Once we saw the space, we said, "This is strong. We're going to do the show."
02:03 It was really the location that gave us the get-go.
02:09 Design Miami runs concurrently with Art Basel Miami.
02:15 And perhaps you could describe the relationship between the two fairs.
02:21 We all felt as though art and design, of course, live together
02:26 and that it would be a very natural combination to have the most important art fair together
02:32 combined with the most important design show.
02:35 And Samuel Keller was incredibly supportive since the inception of the idea
02:42 and really helped put this all together.
02:46 There's a huge overlap between art and design and also the collectors
02:51 and, of course, even the dealers that we represent attend the art fairs anyway.
02:59 I mean, we all go to Friis and Art Basel and we attend all the art fairs.
03:04 It's really the same community and we wanted to offer the best of design together with the best art.
03:12 And the combination has proven to be very successful.
03:15 Do you think this has converged more than in...
03:20 It has converged because in the '80s, for example, or 30 years ago, design wasn't popular as today.
03:30 Absolutely. I think the timing was immaculate in that certainly the design market
03:37 has also really started to kick off and become so much more active.
03:43 And also I think a lot of designers are starting to engage with design
03:48 and produce pieces that are really pieces of art.
03:50 So the design we present is really pieces of furniture, objects by architects and designers and artists.
03:59 And I think that's also a re-confirmation that art and design do live together.
04:05 You're a co-founder and director of Design Miami.
04:10 How did you come to design or what was your initial spark?
04:19 Well, I grew up in the world of design.
04:21 My mother is a design dealer and she opened a gallery in London called "Gleams and Variations"
04:27 and she was working with contemporary young designers.
04:31 And she was always very interested in juxtaposing contemporary and historical pieces.
04:37 And so I really grew up with auction houses and previews and exhibitions in the gallery.
04:44 And then I actually studied Chinese and got into contemporary Chinese art
04:50 and then slowly sort of started to specialize in fine art world.
04:55 And moved to New York and I think my passion for design certainly stayed.
05:02 And I felt as though the design community needed to catch up and create a really important new forum for design.
05:13 And I think that there's been an exceptional shift that's occurred in really so little time.
05:19 Even in our vocabulary we tend to not say...
05:25 We don't really tend to say decorative arts anymore.
05:29 We really stick to the word design or some people actually even say design art.
05:34 And so there's a whole new vocabulary and we're very proud to be at the forefront of this shift.
05:42 And we feel as though we captured the best of the cultural side, the commercial side, the intellectual side
05:49 and also the young creative side.
05:51 And that's why we also created the two awards.
05:54 In Miami we have the Designer of the Year Award and in Basel we do Designer of the Future Award.
05:59 And the idea being that in Miami where it's more loose and joyful we have someone really established and strong.
06:06 And in Basel where it's slightly more corporate and buttoned up and respected we present a young designer and award them for their work.
06:18 Perhaps can you tell us a little bit what visitors can expect from the fair?
06:25 You mentioned the awards and there are a lot of different galleries.
06:32 Sure, we have 17 top international galleries as well as presenting an award to our designers of the future.
06:43 And we have three design talks starting Wednesday through Friday at 12 o'clock every day
06:48 and discussing important topics such as the design market, what's going on, the prices, sales.
06:55 And we have one talk on Thursday which is dedicated to the most important design museums.
07:02 And the museums really play a huge part in the shift in design and their responsibility is also huge.
07:08 And we're thrilled to be partnering with the most important design museums.
07:13 And on Friday we have a talk that discusses the designers' studio and the creative process
07:22 and what ideas trigger a piece and what happens from the initial inception of the idea to the final result.
07:30 What are the goals, the next steps of Design Miami? Do you have another location?
07:37 Who knows? We're certainly going to keep this as a biannual event and we will be here every June in Basel and in December in Miami.
07:48 And who knows? Reykjavik, Shanghai, I can't say.