Totems Tall and Small at Design Miami/ 2017

We were dazzled by the Instagram-ready “Becoming” installation by Chicago-based Luftwerk for champagne house Perrier-Jouët. The artists employed changing color and light to create an immersive space, covered in an intricate pattern of Emile Galle’s art nouveau design for the maison, proving “that sometimes what you see is an aspect of something else that remains visible.”

As we moved around the floor, we started to notice a theme of totem-like objects, big and small, emerge. There was Eric Roinestad’s ceramic floor lamps at The Future Perfect, and ornamental lamps by Crosby Studio’s Harry Nuriev inspired by traditional Russian downpipes.

The winner of the 2017 Loewe Prize, Ernst Gamperl’s wooden vessels stood several feet tall at Sarah Myerscough Gallery. Long, skinny, and ridged with texture, a trio of ceramic bottles by Finnish artist Pekka Paikkari were at Hostler Burrows.

Norwegian Crafts and Galleri Format Oslo presented new work by Ellen Grieg and Elisabeth Von Krogh. Entitled “Insubordinate Creatures,” the textiles of Grieg and ceramics of Von Krogh was colorful, playing with perception and illusion.

Chris Schanck’s shining aquamarine cabinet stood out within Friedman Benda’s booth. The stalagmite-like surface was painstakingly covered in foil by the Detroit-based designer’s studio team. It feels straight out of Merlin’s Cave.

And The Haas Brothers at R & Company did not disappoint, with a shelf of tiny totems—a series of unique “Micro Mini Beasts” and “Fairy Berries.”