Maison & Objet Americas expands for 2016

MAISON & OBJET AMERICAS is doubling in size for its second installment in Miami Beach, with exhibitors set to fill Halls C and D of the Miami Beach Convention Center during the May 10-13 show.

The third iteration of Maison & Objet (aft er the original Paris fair and Maison & Objet Asia in Singapore) also welcomes Gastón Isoldi as its new director.

“We are very pleased to bring on Gastón Isoldi as director for the Americas fair in May,” said Philippe Brocart, the managing director for Maison & Objet. “We are excited for the strong reception the Americas fair has already received and are confident that with Gaston at the helm, it will continue to flourish.”

Isoldi is an experienced luxury trade show organizer who previously held a post for the last decade at Reed Exhibitions, which, along with Ateliers d’Artde France, jointly owns SAFI, the company that organizes Maison & Objet. Isoldi also held positions with advertising and marketing agencies Ogilvy & Mather and McCann-Erickson.

He finished his studies in advertising in Buenos Aires in the late ‘80s, and moved to Miami 15 years ago. He has since worked for regional companies such as Sony Latin America and Visa International in their marketing and communication strategies departments, focusing on the Latin American market.

“With each year, Miami is becoming regarded more and more as an essential destination for art and design,” Isoldi said. “Like with Miami Art Week during the winter, I hope to make Maison & Objet Americas a highly anticipated event and design destination week for Miami in the spring.”

Maison & Objet Americas will also recognize New York-based architect and designer Rafael de Cárdenas as its Designer of the Year for 2016. He will be recognized at an awards ceremony on May 11, and will speak at the Interior Design & Lifestyle Summit and the conference portion of Maison & Objet Americas.

Designer of the Year is awarded to an industry professional from North or South America who has made a notable contribution to the interior design and lifestyle industry in the past year. In 2015, Maison & Objet Americas gave the award to Brazilian industrial designer Zanini de Zanine, who creates furniture for Poltrona Frau among others.

The Maison & Objet selection committee “was captivated by Rafael de Cárdenas’ innovative and talented industrial design, including his line of furniture for Johnson Trading Gallery in 2011, his imaginative use of bold color, patterns, graphic and coordinated shapes in interior architecture, and his ability to create environments that provokes emotion through unexpected combinations,” according to a press release.

De Cárdenas worked for Calvin Klein as a men’s collection designer and as a creative director for special effects production house Imaginary Forces before founding his own design firm in 2006. Among his clients are Barneys New York, Baccarat, Cartier, Nordstrom, Nike and Ford Models. Recent design collaborations include the Nike – 45 Grand fitness studio in SoHo, the reincarnation of the Asia de Cuba restaurant in New York, jewelry designer Deflina Delettrez’s London boutique and a reinterpretation of Kartell’s Bourgie lamp for its 10th anniversary.