With the excitement of Art Basel Miami Beach and DesignMiami behind us, we recall the stress of trying to see it all: the countless parallel fairs, special satellite exhibitions, the designer talks and, of course, the many parties where one had the chance rub elbows with the likes of Kanye West or Pharell Williams, who held the launch of his new book Places and Spaces I Been at the DesignMiami tent.

When it came time to check out this year’s offerings at the fair I enlisted the help of my friend and design connoisseur Marianne Russell, principal and owner at Miami’s renowned pioneer design shop Arango Design, recently named “Best Independent Retailer Globally” by the iconic design manufacturer Alessi. As we walked through the shows, here’s what caught her eyes.

R18 ULTRA CHAIR stood out at DesignMiami. This innovative and super comfortable chair is produced by the same machines and similar materials used in the production of Audi cars; it is designed for Audi by Germany’s Clemens Weisshaar and America’s Reed Kram in collaboration with the car company’s engineers. By using composites in a thin carbon sandwich on the seat with high strength folded aluminum legs, they developed a sturdy chair, with a comfort-flexible back, weighing just 77 ounces (4.85lbs) or 2.2kg! Audi plans to use the chair in their offices and showrooms. I wish it would also be made available for purchase by the public.

GLASS BOWLS, designed by the Danish, Tora Urup, are handmade in solid glass in a limited edition of five per color. The difficulty in making the bowls and their extraordinary beauty lies in their clarity, and a sensation of one bowl being suspended, floating, or nesting within the other (each with a price tag of 4,800 Euro).

PINKIE FLOOR LAMP, designed by America’s Wendell Castle, makes you smile. The large bubblegum pink lamp is made of fiberglass-re-enforced plastic coated with custom color auto paint. It stands 41 inches tall and uses just one bulb (meant for a serious collector at $35,000). Presented by R 20th Century, NY.

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