http://www.boatinternational.com | May 2018BOAT LIFE
PHOTOGRAPHY: ROBIN HILL; ILLUSTRATION: AMY WIGGINMORE ART VENUES
TO VISIT BY BOAT
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# art-destinationsH
eld alongside the Art
Basel fairs in Miami
(December) and Basel
(June), Design Miami is the
premier venue for collecting,
exhibiting, discussing and
creating collectible design.
Its founder, the real estate
developer and art collector
Craig Robins, is also the
brains behind the Miami
Design District, created in
the city’s former Buena Vista
neighbourhood. The area had
succumbed to urban decay by the time Robins
and his partner, L Catterton Real Estate, began
buying land and developing a master plan in
the 1990s.
Fast forward to today and this 18-block
neighbourhood is “a lab of creativity,” says
Robins, “a place to visit and experience
amazing cultural expressions”. And it is home
to boutiques that comprise a who’s who of the
luxury world. As well as fashion, it includes
cutting-edge design firms and contemporary
art galleries, housed within buildings
designed by world-renowned architects.
Museums include the recently inauguratedHOMME TURF Fashion darling and Chanel muse Inès de la Fressange offered a lesson in French style to women worldwide with her bestselling
book Parisian Chic. This month she is releasing a follow-up, written with fashion journalist Sophie Gachet, that is entirely dedicated to men’s style.
Looking at the wardrobes of some of the most stylish men in Paris, the authors offer tips on everything from tailoring to grooming, as well as listing
the best addresses for discerning gentlemen in the city. The Parisian Field Guide to Men’s Style, €25, editions.flammarion.comInstitute of Contemporary
Art, while restaurants by Joël
Robuchon and Jean-Georges
Vongerichten are scheduled to
open this year.
It’s also here that, earlier
this year, VIPs from the world ’s
foremost watch and jewellery
brands gathered for the
inaug ural edition of Watches
and Wonders Miami, produced
in partnership with Fondation
de la Haute Horlogerie. More
than 20 brand boutiques and
six pop-up shops participated in the four-day
event, showing new creations from the Salon
International de la Haute Horlogerie (SIHH),
the annual Geneva watch fair.
“I don’t know of anywhere else that has so
much art, architecture, fashion and design
all in one place,” says Robins. “When people
around the world intend to buy a really
important watch or piece of high jewellery,
I want them to know that the Miami Design
District is their destination.”
When the Fondation de la Haute Horlogerie
proposed a collaboration, it felt like “the
realisation of a dream” – the creation of aspecial event that allowed him to showcase
what the Design District is all year round.
Discussing the meteoric rise of the
Design District, Robins says that aside from
a necessary “element of luck ” there was also “an
element of need ”. The retail world is at a pivotal
moment, he feels. “Going to another mall and
seeing a bunch of shops isn’t what the future of
retail is about. Here, we are creating a cultural
experience which combines art, design,
architecture and museums. The stores here
are redefining what retail can be.”
So is Miami the new art and cultural
centre of the US? “Art Basel is clearly the most
important art show in the US,” Robins replies,
“and the most important design show in the
US is Design Miami.” A combination of
existing collections, new museums and
projects by major architects is turning Miami
into “a global city of cultural substance”. When
asked about what’s on the horizon, he says
that he “is excited just to be in the moment.
There’s a lot of work still to do here, so I’m not
in a rush.” But he has no hesitation in declaring
that “we are the city of the future”.Design of
the times
A watch event is showcasing
Miami’s Design District,
says Harriet Mays Powell