There’s gilding the lily, and then there’s wrapping a promenade of palm trees — a pretty flamboyant form of greenery to begin with — in twinkle lights, as Ocean Drive does each December. All that to say, Miami is a city that recognizes the value of a little extra flash. Art Basel Miami Beach is well-established as a must-visit for collectors of bold canvases, while Design Miami commands its own following as a design fair dedicated to edgy, limited-edition furnishings — many by exciting industry luminaries such as Nifemi Marcus-Bello and Sabine Marcelis. The 2023 edition was no exception: It was filled with interesting material experiments like Lukas Wegwerth and Corinna Dehn’s chaise longue clad in an armadillo-like shell of wooden shingles. 

Design Miami’s creative energy has gradually spilled over to the rest of the city, too: This year welcomed the first North American edition of Alcova, where up-and-comers exhibited inside a roadside motel. And the party also continued outdoors. Special feature installations, including a giant sand maze and avant-garde street furniture (some temporary, some permanent), were a refreshing reminder that great design is not limited to the realm of expensive collectibles — it can also serve the public. And as Samuel Ross (who unveiled new benches in the city’s Design District one day and a special-edition faucet for Kohler the next) skilfully demonstrated, Miami’s annual extravaganza makes space for both types of ingenuity.

Presented at Design Miami by Rademakers Gallery, this rippled glass circle was part of Amsterdam studio Rive Roshan’s collection The Space in Between, which explored the idea of connection during a time of increasing polarity. 

Uma is quickly emerging as a furniture brand to watch. Building on the success of its first product (the T4 chair by Holloway Li), the Turkish brand worked with EBBA Architects director Benni Allan to develop this lightweight fibreglass seat shown in one of Alcova Miami’s many motel rooms.

Chilean artist Sebastian Errazuriz encouraged a walk on the beach with this giant labyrinth presented by Faena Art. Planned with AI software, the maze was then built out of plywood walls that were later dusted in sand. At its heart, a courtyard hosted special programming like yoga classes.

Uncharted, a group show mounted at Alcova, presented otherworldly designs by six like-minded and equally talented studios. Caleb Ferris put a fresh spin on the Space Age movement with a red-stained Baltic birch cabinet that featured an especially elegant hinge mechanism.

The Miami Design District tapped London’s Lara Bohinc for its annual commission of temporary outdoor furniture. Fabricated in cork, Bohinc’s 36 pastel-hued designs (which included seating and tables, as well as a series of light sculptures) evoked cellular biology.

This angular bathroom faucet by London designer Samuel Ross recognizes Kohler’s 150th year with a limited run of just 299 units. It’s cast as a single piece in the manufacturer’s proprietary Neolast composite, with a rocker style handle.

Continuing his hot streak, Samuel Ross also unveiled 12 CNC-milled steel benches in the Miami Design District. Abstract yet still plenty comfortable, the pieces take inspiration from the sculptures of another formidable Brit: Henry Moore.

To inaugurate this 6.1-metre-tall sculpture — a permanent addition to the Wynwood District waterfront — Australian artist Cj Hendry offered $1 million to anyone who could sink consecutive baskets in each of the 34 hoops. (Sadly, no one succeeded.)

Vincent Van Duysen partnered with Mexican stone supplier Arca to develop an 18-piece furniture collection that nods to the oeuvre of Isamu Noguchi. Combining polished and rough areas, pieces were machine-cut from single blocks before being hand-finished by artisans in Italy, Spain and Mexico, depending on the stone used.

Shown by Gallery Fumi at Design Miami, this bench was part of a collection by Lukas Wegwerth and Corinna Dehn that was clad in stained wooden shingles. The duo also presented at Alcova, where they displayed a wooden wing sculpture that offered a behind-the-scenes look at their distinctive construction process.