What We Unearthed at Alcova, the Messy, Fascinating Emerging Designer Fair

"Going to Art Basel" isn’t just about checking out the country’s biggest and most prestigious international art fair. As much a part of the experience are all the associated art week happenings: openings, dance parties, "activations," and of course, more incredible fairs. Among them are Design Miami, Basel’s sister event that focuses on furniture and collectibles, and an exhibition by NADA, a not-for-profit organization, showing work by fresh voices in the contemporary art scene.

A new fair on the Miami block is Alcova, a satellite of the popular anchor program from Milan Design Week that draws 90,000 visitors for showcasing emerging designers in non-traditional venues. For their second year in the U.S., founders Valentina Ciuffi and Joseph Grima took over the Miami River Inn in East Little Havana, filling the city’s oldest hotel featuring artists from across the world. Meandering through four small pastel-colored Victorian cottages packed with more than 40 exhibitors, we saw it all, from an immersive plant installation to an aluminum-and-pink rubber porta potty.

Once you sift through some of the half-baked work, there’s brilliance to be found. Luckily, we did that for you. Here’s what stood out:

Reflections of Now by Objects of Common Interest

Eleni Petaloti and Leonidas Trampoukis are the duo behind the studio Objects of Common Interest, creating objects and installations between Greece and New York. I was immediately taken with their mirrors, which come in an array of colors and shapes, reminding me of toy gems from my childhood.

Nice Cock… by Kevin Quale

You can’t go anywhere nowadays without running into a vase in the shape of a female form (Etsy seems to be cultivating its own mini economy of boob ceramics). For this reason, I’ve always been interested in phallic decor, as it’s way harder to come by. Imagine my glee when I came across Nice Cock… by NYC ceramicist Kevin Quale, who creates 17th-century delftware through a gay lens.

The Nonconformist Tropical Garden By Sema Topaloglu

It’s not every day you enter a bedroom that’s a complete work of art. Educated as a landscape architect in Turkey, Sema Topaloglu sees interiors as places for installation, and is obviously inspired by the beauty of the natural world.

Panorammma

Many artists remix ancient techniques, but not all create something that feels futuristic in the process. The sexy chainmail furniture by Panorammma, a Mexico City–based furniture design laboratory featuring Maika Palazuelos, Ana Reza, Guillermo Conde, and Jeremi Mrozinski, looks like something out of Mad Max and makes the apocalypse seem not-so daunting.

Laura Casañas Maya

I love how RISD grad Laura Casañas Maya recasts the idea of passementerie, a rare textile craft that typically includes elements like tassels, fringes, cords and pom-poms. In Maya’s furniture and lighting, passementerie isn’t just ornamental—it’s the foundation.

Nefertiti by Marco Zelli Architect

You can always tell when an architect has made a design object, and in this case, that’s a good thing. Marco Zelli’s pink and blue modular lighting system, Nefertiti, is cute as a standalone sconce, but it really sings when you start playing with more than one. Made of folded aluminum with magnets on the top, back and bottom, it’s surprisingly lightweight and can be arranged in a variety of ways—as a totem, wall, shelf, or a freestanding sculpture—depending on your mood.

Top photo by Julian Cousins.

Related reading:

Everything That Made Dwell’s Editor-in-Chief Pull Out His Phone at This Year’s Design Miami

Here’s Everything Dwell’s Creative Director Loved at the First "Collectible" Design Fair in New York