For its second edition, Maze Design Basel has expanded. This boutique design fair was launched last year by a handful of dealers, most of them Paris-based, following the discontinuation of Design Miami Basel. It takes place in\u00a0an unusual setting, the Offene Kirche\u00a0Elisabethen, a church in the city centre a stone\u2019s throw from Basel\u2019s museums and the Kunsthalle. This year, several new exhibitors have joined the fair in a tent erected in front of the\u00a0building.<\/p>\n
The event has also grown through the presence of more works on the walls, giving it an \u201cart-and-design\u201d spirit that Design Miami Basel did not have. \u201cAll the exhibitors now have the opportunity to show some art on their booths,\u201d says H\u00e9lin Serre of Laffanour\u2014Galerie Downtown, Paris.<\/p>\n
The gallery is presenting paintings of Black male figures by the German artist Jeremy Jaspers, a sculptural work by Joana Vasconcelos and a large-format, text-based canvas on dreams by the American artist Ken Grimes. The centrepiece of the stand is an Ours Polaire sofa by Jean Roy\u00e8re, reupholstered in its original deep green fabric and priced at more than \u20ac1m, alongside a Mexique bookcase by Charlotte Perriand that long formed part of gallery owner Fran\u00e7ois Laffanour\u2019s personal collection. On Sunday, during the \u201csoft opening\u201d, which was attended by contemporary art dealers exhibiting at Art Basel and their clients, \u201cwe mainly saw Europeans and Americans, represented by their advisers\u201d, Serre says.<\/p>\n
New York gallery Salon 94 Design won the Maze\/Art Awards F.P. Journe, presented as part of Maze Design Basel. The winning work was a seat combining bamboo and silk by the Indian architect Bijoy Jain, with Studio Mumbai. Thanks to the prize, the piece, priced at around \u20ac20,000, will enter the collection of the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, just a short distance from Basel on the German side.<\/p>\n