Finally! We stayed an extra night as there was a promise of some nasty ice in Syracuse--and the concept of flying into Syracuse to an ice storm at midnight didnt sit well with us. But hey, we are back. The picture above is of David's Cafe (a block from the Lincoln Road shopping district) where R and I both had cuban sandwiches (as in this picture) and two cafe con leche yesterday for lunch. It doesnt get much better than that. But, in Miami, every experience tops the last one.

The trip to Design Miami, Art Basel was stupendous. My brain is bursting-- so there will be lots of chatter in the next few days reflecting on all that I saw, the people I met, and my hopeful expectations. Of course, there is just a ton of chatter about the wonderfulness of Miami, it's people, it's energy and all the nature and urban life all rolled up like a cigar (Davidoff were rolled at ArtBasel). I decided against my taking my computer which I regret. However, the new point and shoot camera is a real trooper (Canon Powershot A720) and works well in low light situations. So, you didn't get realtime blogging...but I will try and give you a flavor of what was going on.

I will be doing posts in the next few days on:
--the Art and Art Basel experiences >> see the flickr set
--Observations on the Art and how it relates to ME
--the ancillary shows at Flow, Aqua, Art Now, Red Dot and the Beach activities for Art Basel
-- GlassLab and my friends and new friends >>see the flickr set

We stayed at a nice, modest hotel (three hotels up from the Eden Roc) called the Miami Hotel and Resort. There was a lovely swimmable pool with access to the beach and the snappiest stone and tile floors that reek of the Mary Blair/ Jim Flora whimsies of the fifites. When the Wyndam decides to roll some cash into this place--it has tremendous bones and will be quite special when it is done. Each door in the hallway has a big, schmaltzy doorknocker with lots of curlicues. The carpets are redolent with palm and tropical leaves, huge and greens. At each door, in the carpet is an enormous hibiscus flower like the point on the end of an exclamation point.

The flight down on Corning's jet was the way we all should go (and never do. Airport to airport was around 2.5 hours without the crazy shoe taking off and the tons of security mojo. Jet service for 4 with sandwiches and fun conversation, then greeted by a smiling man with a big, black car. Whisked off to the hotel immediately and the fun began. R was already off at Design Miami with the GlassLab. I did a little swimming in the dreamy pool and then got over to the GlassLab around 6ish on Thursday for the Vernissage event.

Design Miami happened in the new and beginning to happen Design District on the fringes of downtown. The design district is very much like the early days of Long Island City and the move of all the contract furnishings showrooms going there. That along with some fru fru stores like Fendi etc. and some new restaurants (Brosia, the newest, was the GlassLab's neighbor in the Oak Plaza). Brosia has an entirely tiled facade with outdoor seating in groups (sofas and the like) The new Addidas and Yoji store (Y3) just opened--the store and more particularly, the stuff was great. Really good looking sports stuff with more design and a really creative approach to the materials and the look. I even bought a cool bag there. More time and money would have def parted me from my cash.

The GlassLab was having the Brazilian Campana brothers and Sigga Heimis work with them that evening. The Campana Brothers are bigtime fabu, famous art/design guys who have a real following. Sigga is a designer from IKEA with a nice design sense and a lovely person to boot. The team enjoyed her spirit and ideas (complete with books on the human body) with her sketches. Sigga created human organs in glass with the kidneys and heart being home runs. It took a few days for the team to get used to her expectations and design sense, and for her to begin to understand the process of design with a hot glass team. The Campanas did a series of open branches that could work as vases and a candle holder etc. There was lots of good energy around the work and working with these designers and hopefully this will be the beginning of an ongoing glass-filled conversation with happy results.

More later>>