What Rafael Likes

Light By Kwangho Lee Presented By Johnson Trading Gallery

Design Miami/ Blog caught up with designer Rafael de Cárdenas on the show floor. His designs are being shown by Johnson Trading Gallery at Design Miami/. We asked Rafael to take a walk around the fair and to tell us what he liked best. Rafael couldn’t pick just one. He had two favorites: a standing light by Kwangho Lee (shown by Johnson Trading Gallery) and a wooden chair by Pierre Paulin (shown by Demisch Danant). Here’s what Rafael told us about the two pieces.

“I love how fragile and delicate Kwangho Lee’s lights look. Each appears to be made of found branches lashed together by string with a seemingly heavy and intricately crocheted electrical wire fabric thrown over it. The top-heavy lights’ structural frames are actually cast bronze, and though they tremble a bit if moved, they are quite heavy and immobile. The densely woven canopy allows only a whisper of light to peek through the tiny openings in the weave.”

Pierre Paulin Chair Presented By Demisch Danant At Design Miami/ 2011

“Pierre Paulin’s wooden chair defies the traditional woodiness of its materiality in favor of Paulin’s exuberant forms. Nonetheless, it seems more a nod to Secessionist restraint than 70′s French new wave.”