[caption id="attachment_7185" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Rendering of R 20th Century Design Miami/Basel stand."][/caption]
Design Miami/Basel in Basel, Switzerland took place last week from June 15-19. R 20th Century brought a unique presentation of American designers this year, hoping to teach Europe a thing or two about the history of American design. We spoke with Zesty Meyers and Evan Snydermann, co-owners of the gallery, a few weeks before the fair about what they were bringing and why now.
WW: Tell me about the booth you have this year at Design Miami/Basel, a sort of survey of four American designers - Wendell Castle, Greta Magnusson Grossman, David Wiseman, Jeff Zimmerman.
EVAN SNYDERMAN: There’s a big story that really hasn’t been told to any great extent about the history of American design. This is something that we felt we could take the lead on in terms of introducing a lot of Europe to that history. We’re starting with the older generation, one of the four artists is not living [Greta Magnusson Grossman], and then Wendell Castle who is close to 80 years old. Then there is the younger generation, Jeff Zimmerman, and even younger, David Wiseman. We show four generations of the American craft, studio art/design movement, creating our own story from the history and then what’s carrying on into the future.
ZESTY MEYERS: It’s a great way to expose part of our stable to a much bigger audience.
ES: And what we tried to come up with are four separate vignettes within a singular space, so each artist in essence has a little solo show going on, but at the same time working together as a whole. We’re showing some original drawings by Greta Grossman, we’re showing historical photographs of Wendell Castle, so we’re putting the two older designers into context with the history, and then the two younger designers, Zimmerman and Wiseman, have these constructions and architectural elements to play off of.
WW: So Wiseman and Zimmerman’s work is being shown as part of an installation?
ES: Yes. Jeff and David do primarily installation work. Every piece they make goes generally right into a person’s home. So they really need that kind of environment to tell the story of what they do.
WW: Why is now a good time to focus on American designers?
ZM: Europe has always believed that no design that comes out of America.
ES: It’s been a couple of years of hearing this kind of banter from various European –
ZM: And in the press, particularly.
ES: Like, “Nothing is coming out of America, where are the American designers?” They aren’t at Basel. You can walk through the fair, and you’ll find almost no American design represented, period. Except for a few things here or there, and even that’s very hard to find. There’s no talk of it, it’s sort of unbelievable. It’s shocking. Whereas we know all this great stuff is happening. In America this small group of young designers are exploding right now, so we felt, why not show this to the public? It’s the perfect time to put this forward.
ZM: Also, the fair this year in Basel is going to be the biggest it’s ever been, in terms of the number of dealers but also the quality and the range and the depth. It’s cemented. This is, I think, going to be the year that really cements the future of Design Miami/Basel.
WW: How do you find Design Miami/Basel compares to Design Miami?
ZM: Oh, it’s totally, totally different.
ES: It’s always been different. In Europe, at the Basel fair, you get all of the world coming - people from Asia, from Russia, from wherever. It’s much harder to get the European dealers to come [to Miami] and do the fair because the costs are extremely high.
ZM: The difference is Miami’s the party and Basel’s very serious. And I think it will always be that. Miami will always be more of a party and that will never go away because of where it is.
WW: David Wiseman is quite a young designer, how did you first come across his work?
ZS: We found David through this installation in Los Angeles. His work was published in a few places, and I started to take notice. Then someone introduced the two of us, thinking we would make a great partnership. He looks young, but his mind is incredible, in terms of how he thinks and what he’s doing and the hand work.
WW: And he usually works within a space, you said. So he’ll go into a home and create something specific for it?
ZS: Yeah, and he has to work with the person. He won’t take a job for the money, he’s not interested. It’s about making a relationship [between designer and the collector] happen. It’s [also] about making the work accessible for other people.
[caption id="attachment_7189" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="David Wiseman, a 2003 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), lives and works in Los Angeles. "][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_7183" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Unique serpentine light sculptures in black hand-blown glass. Designed and made by Jeff Zimmerman, USA, 2008."][/caption]
"Chest of Drawers" in hand-carved solid cherry.
Designed and made by Wendell Castle, Rochester, New York, 1966. Signed and dated, WC 66.
[caption id="attachment_7188" align="alignnone" width="560" caption="Wendell Castle Lamps, 1969-2009."][/caption]
David Wiseman, a 2003 graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), lives and works in Los Angeles.
