Hasta La Ideas

(Photo: Richard Patterson for Design Miami)

The countdown to Basel is on, and this year Design Miami/Basel moves to a Herzog & de Meuron-designed home in the new permanent exhibition hall. The eighth edition of the Basel fair is also shaping up to be the biggest yet. “We’ll have about fifty percent more galleries than last year,” Design Miami director Marianne Goebl told us during a recent trip to New York. “And we’re expanding our geographical reach. For the first time in Basel we’ll have a gallery from South Africa, Southern Guild. We’ll also have a first-time participant from Beirut, Carwan Gallery, which will present the work of India Mahdavi.”

A Vitra veteran who took over from founding director Ambra Medda in February 2011, Goebl has succeeded in freshening up Design Miami for an audience that ranges from die-hard design fans to newcomers who strolled over from the neighboring art megafair. “I have this very naïve mission of wanting to communicate to a large audience that design matters,” she says. “Everybody lives with design, whether they want to or not. Not everyone can make choices, but to a certain degree a lot of people can make choices and I think that not enough people do it…until now.” We asked Goebl about how she became interested in design, what’s in store for Basel, and if she believes the 3D printing hype.

How did you become interested in design?
I thought I would end up in the arts, so growing up in Vienna and already when I was a teenager and during my studies [in economics], I always worked in galleries and museums. I interned at the Museum for Applied Arts, worked for an art gallery for three years, and really felt like I wanted this to be part of my life, but then designer friends of mine took me to Milan [Salone Internazionale del Mobile] when I was maybe 22. This whole new world opened up and I realized that in design I could find…conceptual thinking, but also something beyond that, which is tangible and really part of everyday life. And I felt that this is what I wanted to be part of.

Since taking over as director in 2011, what have you found particularly surprising about your job or the fair itself?
What I’ve really learned over the last two years–and what I hope to continue in the future–is that Design Miami can speak to different types of people. First there’s an audience of general enthusiasts, people who are just really interested in design. They may not be interested in buying something, but it doesn’t matter. They can just come [to the fair], get all of the information, ask all of their questions, see the material, interact, use it as a forum. And on the other end of the spectrum, we can reach an audience that can actually help fuel the market and help designers to continue their research and to tell their stories. I don’t want to call it two levels, because it’s not necessarily two different levels, but it’s a broad spectrum of audience, and that wasn’t clear to me before I joined Design Miami.

Tell us about Design Miami’s new location for Basel in June.
In Basel this will be Design Miami’s fourth location. It’s like an itinerant fair! It brings a lot of opportunities, because first, it’s a brand new hall with great architecture. It’s part of the fairground of the Basel convention center. They built a bridge across two buildings on a public plaza. There’s a skylight. It’s in the middle of activities. And then the fair will unfold in the bridge. And there’s moments when you can overlook the square, so it’s nice to communicate with the outside world. I would say it is sophisticated, industrial, not at like a sleek, carpeted convention center.

And Design Miami will also have another space, in addition to the main fair?
We’ll have an additional space that we did not have before in Basel, on the ground floor, where we’ll be able to stage a design performance. We’re working with a German designer who collaborates with dancers. It will be about the relationship between the maker and the object. It will be an ongoing thing, so that every time you come something else will be happening.
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Dezeenwire: Marianne Goebl  (below) has been appointed director of design collectors’ fair Design Miami/.

Goebl, currently head of international public relations and partnerships at furniture brand Vitra, will take up the position in February 2011, replacing founding director Ambra Medda, who announced her decision to leave earlier this year.

More Dezeen stories about Design Miami/

Here’s the press release from Design Miami/:

DESIGN MIAMI/ AND DESIGN MIAMI/ BASEL APPOINT NEW DIRECTOR
Marianne Goebl to start in February 2011

December 6, 2010 – Design Miami/, the global forum for design, announced today that Marianne Goebl has been appointed Director, effective February 2011.

Goebl brings to her position ten years of experience in the design field, most recently as Head of International Public Relations & Partnerships for Vitra. In this role, Goebl has been responsible for Vitra’s international public relations strategy, brand collaborations and partnerships. She was responsible for the exhibition concept, execution, and media relations campaign for “VitraHaus,” along with the brand collaborations and communications strategy for “Vitra Campus.” Prior to this position, Goebl served as the Director for “Vitra Edition,” the company’s laboratory for the creation of experimental and collectible design works. As Director for “Vitra Edition,” Goebl worked closely alongside world-renowned designers including Ron Arad, Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, Konstantin Grcic, Hella Jongerius, and Jasper Morrison, among others. These works have been shown at Art Basel 2007, Design Museum London, Triennale di Milano, and Phillips & de Pury, London.

Goebl has a Master’s Degree in International Management with a specialization in Marketing from Vienna University of Economics and Business and an undergraduate degree from Grande Ecole HEC in Paris. She speaks German, French, English, Spanish, and Italian.

Craig Robins, principal of Design Miami/ and Design Miami/ Basel commented, “Under the leadership of Marianne, we are confident that Design Miami/ will continue to grow while ensuring the fair’s position as the premier global forum on design. Marianne will have an opportunity to build on the extraordinary growth we have experienced in our first six years. By cultivating our cultural and commercial point of view, Marianne will continue to enrich the dynamic community of galleries, collectors, institutions and corporate partners that comprise Design Miami/.”

“Design for Marianne has always been more than a job but an authentic passion, one which she embraces in a rigorous, energetic, and extremely sensible manner,” said Didier Krzentowski, Founder of Galerie kreo. “Her appointment represents a wind of change that demonstrates what the fairs in Miami and Basel deserve–which is nothing less than to be the only two that count in the entire world.”

“I am honored and excited to begin working with the Design Miami/ team,” said Marianne Goebl. “While collectible design is still a young field, it consistently demonstrates an incredible level of creative expression, freedom, and innovation. I am convinced that design plays a hugely important role within the contemporary cultural landscape and am eager to contribute to the next phase of growth for the fair.”

ABOUT DESIGN MIAMI/

Design Miami/ is the most prominent and substantive forum for international design, representing a convergence of commerce and culture. Its annual shows in Basel, Switzerland (June) and Miami, USA (December) bring together the most influential designers, collectors, dealers, curators, and critics from around the world. For further information, visit www.designmiami.com and www.designmiamiblog.com.

Dutch designer Maarten Baas, this year’s Design Miami/ Designer of the Year, presented a specially-commissioned cabinet at the show in Miami last week. (more…)