In other automotive news, Audi, a seasoned DesignMiami/ participant, will present an interactive LED installation that will showcase a concept for interactive street surfaces in the city of tomorrow. A functioning prototype of their electric car, which was presented at the Frankfurt Motor Show this year, the Audi A2 e-tron, will be displayed on a stand equipped with a programmed LED surface so visitors can interact in real-time, using a graphic interface. 3D cameras will track movements and generate artwork from them that will feed back to the LED panels in an effort to mimic the future of the traffic light, which is sure to be equally interactive, working between cars, pedestrians and urban pavement.
Perhaps most talked about in the months leading up to the show, however, is the launch of the collaboration between the house of Christian Dior and Berlin-based artist Anselm Reyle, a brainchild of Dior’s Deputy General Manager, Delphine Arnault, and one that speaks to the marriage Dior has always enjoyed with the world of art, even since the onset, under the director of Monsieur Dior, who was actually a gallerist before becoming a couturier. House staples such as the Lady Dior and Miss Dior handbags take on new life under Reyle’s spell, resurrecting in reinterpreted ways. Bolder. Brighter. Metallic. Think: fluorescent camouflage, done the Dior way. Handbags, clutches, shoes, scarves, even a beauty palette, all reinvented and set to be revealed for the very first time, globally, during DesignMiami/, thus turning the attention of the entire planet on our fair city just to catch a glimpse.
These special projects are more than a melding of great minds coming together to create, for Robins they “bridge culture and commerce.” Something he’s been credited with doing steadily as he’s continued to develop the Miami Design District, which is now home to such brands as Christian Louboutin, Marni and Maison Martin Margiela; and where the world has recently learned, will stand the likes of Hermes, very soon—a major nod to what he’s been able to create.
Continued conversation leaks information about the promise for more. Much more. A boutique hotel for the most discerning guests—those who understand that life is best lived when luxury, culture, design and art culminate in one, single experience; new restaurants of the same stellar caliber we have come to enjoy in the Design District of the last few years; residential developments; and the promise, that as long as Robins has a hand in future of our city, change will ensue. In a progressive, artfully designed way, of course.
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October 31, 2011FEATURE: RENAISSANCE MAN
