Design Miami Will Return This December for Its 20th Anniversary

Design Miami Will Return This December for Its 20th Anniversary This December, Design Miami will celebrate an exciting milestone: two decades worth of programming. Not only is it the renowned fair’s 20th anniversary, but it’s also one of its most ambitious editions yet, encompassing more than 70 exhibitor presentations, a new partnership with Bank of America (BofA), and a special project gathering work by eight […] READ: Design Miami Will Return This December for Its 20th Anniversary

Art Nov 24, 2025 0 9 Add to Reading List

Design Miami Will Return This December for Its 20th Anniversary

Folded Jar with Dragon, 2025, by Steven Young Lee presented by Duane Reed Gallery at Design Miami 2025. (Courtesy of Duane Reed Gallery)

Folded Jar with Dragon, 2025, by Steven Young Lee presented by Duane Reed Gallery. (Photo: Courtesy of Duane Reed Gallery)

This December, Design Miami will celebrate an exciting milestone: two decades worth of programming. Not only is it the renowned fair’s 20th anniversary, but it’s also one of its most ambitious editions yet, encompassing more than 70 exhibitor presentations, a new partnership with Bank of America (BofA), and a special project gathering work by eight of today’s most compelling voices in contemporary design. The fair will once again be held at Pride Park, its flagship location, and offer an indispensable glimpse into the world of design.

Running from December 3 to 7, 2025, Design Miami invites direct engagement from its exhibitors through several curatorial programs. Mass Modern Design, for instance, presents Art Meets Furniture, tracing how iconic pieces of 20th century design blurred the boundaries between beauty and practicality. Galerie Signé, on the other hand, will make its debut at the fair with furniture that plays with materiality, texture, and form. One such work is the 2024 CR Lounge Chair, bearing a curvaceous shape and completed by grass-green fabric that’s stretched across the chair’s frame.

Galerie SCENE OUVERTE presents a similarly playful selection, best embodied by Abel Carcamo’s Rocaille mirror. Carcamo’s oval mirror is enshrined in a sculptural frame that almost resembles goo, one that’s both bulbous and spiky at the same time. Adding to the work’s sense of humor is the fact that it’s propped up by a pair of bubbly “legs,” as if insisting that humor and functionality can—and should—coexist.

It’s clear that experimentation is at the heart of this year’s Design Miami. Perhaps nothing showcases this better than the Design Miami 2.0 program, spearheaded by the fair’s curatorial director Glenn Adamson. Here, eight featured designers have pushed formal conventions to their limits, challenging and ultimately expanding the ways in which we engage with furniture and design objects. Steven Young Lee is one example of this impulse, as evidenced by his 2025 Folded Jar with Dragon. This ornamental vase is decorated with intricate patterns and a sleek sheen, and yet seemingly lacks a purpose: it has been folded and cracked, unable to carry anything inside of itself. Does this jar have any value, Lee seems to ask, now that it can’t be of immediate use?

Each piece included in Design Miami revolves around a “Make. Believe.” theme, also devised by Adamson. This curatorial vision, per the fair, seeks to identify how crafts can unlock the imagination and allow it to run free. This year, the fair wants to prove that design can be fantastical and innovative, while also being engaging and even utilitarian.

“[This] theme epitomizes Design Miami’s spirit of discovery,” Adamson says. “We’re putting next generation voices alongside established and historic designers, creating a conversation about skilled craft and unfettered imagination, and the way those two things continually inform each other. Design Miami has always been a meeting point of practicality and possibility.”

To learn more about the fair and its programming, visit the Design Miami website.