December 17, 2025
Garden Gathering: Alcova Miami 2025
Alcova Miami 2025 took over the Victorian-era River Inn with research-driven installations and material experiments by more than 40 international studios. This year we were part of a group show and wanted to share a few highlights — new connections, conversations, and booth designs that stayed with us. Alcova feels less like a fair and more like a family gathering, where you come to look closely, exchange ideas, and recharge creatively.
The most busy week of the year in Miami is over. We caught our breath and are ready to share some photos we took while moving between the exhibition spots across the city. We wanted to start with Alcova Miami — our favorite place to get inspiration for the rest of the year, where material experimentation meets craft and new, bold voices in design.
This year we participated in a group show curated by Room—File. The exhibition, Resting on a Thundercloud, explored the idea of seeking refuge within turbulence. We contributed to this theme with Onda, our raku-fired wall sconce. Born through the stress of high heat and rapid cooling, each piece reflects transformation under pressure.
Participants included:
Anna Stechshulte, Ashkan Efard, Basetale Studio, Etamorph, Furn Object, Lela Sophia Jewelry, Monica Curiel, Siete Studio, Sydney Oh Ceramics, Jirah Joshua, Zyanya Cruz Aguilar.
Photo credits: Benedetto Rebecca 1-2, 4-8
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Our neighbours - Los Angeles-based designer Cristina Moreno, showcased lighting and furniture rooted in Colombian cultural references. Ombia studio featured forms inspired by ancient ornaments and wood-carving techniques, such as golden Quimbaya-influenced sconces and a textured dining table.
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This year our hearts were taken by glass. Latvian designer Dace Sūna presented Sky-Set, sculptural glass works using layered opalescent glass to evoke Rayleigh scattering — shifting from pale blues to warmer tones as light travels through the atmosphere. ERM Studio debuted Ciénaga Vidrio, an experimental glass series shaped by gravity and heat into organic contours. Alberto Sánchez (Berto by Berto) presented Facetas — contemporary glass objects made using the Tiffany stained-glass technique, reinterpreted through a brutalist geometric lens.
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Speaking of brutalism, AB+AC Architects activated their space with Alma Mater — a ritual imagined through stainless steel and beeswax objects, from a contemplative daybed to candleholders and incense tools. The sheer amount of beeswax filled the room with scent, turning the booth into a fully immersive and unforgettable experience.
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Pink was everywhere at Alcova Miami this year, starting with The Garden Game — a collaboration between Haworth and Patricia Urquiola that transformed the River Inn’s courtyard into an interactive social landscape, marked by a pink grid laid over grass. The color continued in Strat Coffman’s The Railings, a modular installation of stainless-steel bars and connectors wrapped in padded fabric, designed to be touched, leaned on, and navigated together (IYKYK). Pink reappeared in the booths of Marlot Baus and Casa Ankan, as a backdrop that softened material contrasts. In Marco Zelli’s modular light structures, a pop of vibrant pink read almost as the internal flesh of the object.
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