The curatorial theme at this year’s Design Miami–the summit that was founded in 2005 as a way to showcase home-centric creativity in complement to the megafair, Art Basel, and that now has footprints everywhere from Seoul to Aspen–is dubbed “Make. Believe.”
It’s a good one. The term’s grammatical separation inverts its fairytale naivete; in creative business, one can dream all they want, but beliefs have soft limits, and obvious intangibles, if they are not realized. If they are not made. We all know the phrase “make believe” to be famously purely fantasy; it’s funny how two periods render it a wholesome reality.
So, what has this theme yielded?
Instead of us solely running down our highlights, we spoke to a handful of names—from a major American football star to a San Franciscan sculptor—to give us their takes.
What resulted from these conversations was a clear binding thread: the current sentiment isn’t necessarily about detaching ourselves from the breakneck pace of how our world is moving, but rather creating items and spaces and ideas that link the observer or the occupant to a broader network of… well, solace. Even though each of these creators is quite different in his or her background and execution, words like “grounding” and “relaxed” and “warmth” and “connection” kept coming up. There’s something about these expressions that also feels pragamatic—the “make” in make believe. The collective takeaway is that producing, forging and actualizing belief is a way to center oneself, turn the volume down on all the noise out there, and feel… well, to put it simply, good.
Let’s jump in.
Tina Frey
Photo: Jeanne Canto / Courtesy of Design Miami