Coinciding with Art Basel was the sixth edition of Design Miami Basel, the design fair which this year was more successful than ever in terms of both attendance and sales. While no official sales total is aggregated in terms of prices, the organisers were able to tally up the number of acquisitions to declare the record in terms of volume of sales but refrained from publishing an exact figure. Such statistics are possible due to the more intimate size of the fair with just 35 galleries (up from 32 in 2010), compared to over 300 galleries at Art Basel. Of the 20,500 visitors that attended Design Miami Basel, which opens two days before Art Basel, a cool 6,000 of those attended the VIP preview and vernissage, including important collectors such as Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz, Peter Brant, Larry Gagosian, Norman Foster and Dasha Zhukova.

More than impressive numbers, Design Miami Basel 2011 was characterised by a focus on high quality historical work. Pieces by cult design names such as Jean Prouvé could be found at several stands, most notably at Prouvé specialist Patrick Seguin who remarkably constructed and disassembled Prouvé’s Pavillon Demontable house every day. Charlotte Perriand and Pierre Jeanneret were other names that repeatedly popped up.

Carefully considered solo shows was another factor behind Design Miami Basel’s new found success, such as Pierre Charpin at Galerie Kreo of Paris, Mattia Bonetti at David Gill Galleries of London, and Max Lamb at Johnson Trading Gallery of New York. The trend for curatorial interventions could even be found in the fair’s layout which was designed by New York-based architects Aranda\Lasch. The eccentric “scatter” pattern format was conceived to encourage collectors to move about the show in a non-traditional way. Could it be that high design led to higher sales?

What sold? Who bought? And for how much? Discover some of the fair’s highlights in our virtual tour.


Galerie Ulrich Fiedler sold a Carlo Mollino chair for €100,000 and the Monofilio chair by Conti/Grassi/Forlani for €35,000.

"We're not regretting coming here. It's certainly much better than Maastricht."
- Ulrich Fiedler


Art Deco Galerie Anne-Sophie Duval from Paris sold a pair of Albert Giacometti wall scones and several pieces by Jean-Michel Frank for undisclosed amounts.


Paris-based Galerie Perrin sold furniture developed for the Napoleonic campaigns, including a set of two chairs for €45,000 each and a day bed for €100,000.


Patrick Seguin of Paris sold Jean Prouvé‘s Salle a Manger for €140,000 to an American collector and a Prouvé table (pictured) for an undisclosed sum, as well as two stools by Pierre Jeanneret for €10,000 each to a collector from South America. The Parisian dealer was also offering Jean Prouvé's Pavillon Demontable house at £600,000, as well as six other Prouvé structures at prices ranging from €800,000 to €3million.

“Design Miami/Basel is the strongest international fair ¬strictly dedicated to 20th- and 21st-century design, and collectors know they will only see the best the design market has to –offer.”
- Patrick Seguin


Paris-based gallery Jousse Entreprise sold a Pierre Jeanneret table for €150,000 and a Charlotte Perriand table for €28,000. The gallery stand was dominated by red steel armatures by Jean Prouvé offered at approximately €700,000.


Galerie Downtown’s François Laffanour sold a Jean Prouvé table and six chairs to a Swiss collector for €120,000.


Galerie Jacques Lacoste sold a Jean Royere Ours Polaire sofa, armchair and pouf for €750,000 to an American collector.


New York-based gallery Demisch Danant dedicated its presentation to the French post-war modernist Joseph André Motte and sold a pair of leather chairs (€26,000) as well as a pair of floor lamps for an undisclosed amount, amongst others.


Galerie Kreo from Paris sold a bench and console (€28,000 each) as well as a coffee table (€24,000), all from the newly commissioned solo show by Pierre Charpin. The gallery also sold the Frozen Cabinet by Studio Wieki Somers for €38,000 and Konstantin Grcic’s Monroe Champion for €36,000.

"The fair gets better and better and all of the galleries brought their best material."
- Didier Krzentowski of Galerie Kreo


Within the first minutes of opening, Johnson Trading Gallery sold two cast bronze tables ($20,000 each) to a US collector, as well as a chair ($35,000), pair of tables ($28,000) and vessel ($18,000) all part of the gallery’s Max Lamb solo show.

"All the players came through and I've had new clients buying from us this week. It's getting to be kind of more serious here, and now we need to figure out how to better market the fair. The design world is bigger than people think."
- Paul Johnson of New York’s Johnson Trading Gallery


Todd Merrill Twentieth Century sold a number of pieces including a towering Harry Bertoia gong sculpture, originally commissioned for a Norwegian music hall, to a Chinese artist/collector for an undisclosed sum.


David Gill Galleries of London sold Mattia Bonetti's "Heather" chest of drawers from 2007 for £38,000 and Patrick Fredrikson and Ian Stallard’s "King Bonk" armchair for £24,000. Fredrikson Stallard’s "Silver Crush Table" from 2011, from an edition of eight, went to two collectors at €24,000 apiece.

"I think there are new collectors drawn to contemporary design, and this year there have been more informed and quality collectors interested in buying."
- David Gill