A recap of my Miami Art Week adventures including Design Miami, Faena Art, The Shelbourne by Proper, Casa Bosques Pop-Up, and a visit to Coconut Grove
Editor’s note: I started writing this during Miami Art Week with every intention of publishing it then. Life happened, and I didn’t return to it until the new year. Still, I hope you enjoy reading it.
I’m exhausted. I’ve somehow still managed to workout, eat well, and write this newsletter. I managed to see a lot this Miami Art Week, but didn’t have a chance to see everything I wanted. But that’s typically how it goes. I RSVP’d for so many events and managed to attend 3 or 4 of them, between the traffic and my actual job, it was impossible to attend everything.
Tuesday: Alcova Miami
My art week began with a visit to Alcova Miami at Miami River Inn, the city’s oldest hotel, located in the South River Drive Historic District of East Little Havana. I first attended Alcova Miami in 2023, so this is my 3rd year attending and it has become one of my favorites to attend. What makes Alcova Miami cool is the hotel setting, where every designer/showroom gets a hotel room to showcase their pieces. They feel approachable and intimate to actually get to know the designers and their stories. My favorites are below.
Objects of Common Interest
The Temporal Reflections collection of lighting by Objects of Common Interests are so fun. They showcased them lit attached to movable pedestals. The shiny drapery and white wool carpet was the perfect environment to allow the lighting to shine.
Haworth x Patricia Urquiola: The Garden Game
The garden was designed by Patricia Uquiola’s studio featuring a checkered motif of green and lilac. The lilac squares featured Cappellini’s Thinking Man Lido chairs in a lilac finish that were spray painted for the exhibit. Poolside were Cassina’s Utrecht outdoor armchairs and on the sidelines of the checkered motif were Haworth’s Cardigan Lounge chairs.
Casa Ankan
Casa Ankan is a new showroom opening a space in 2026 here in Miami. They have such unique pieces from artists from all over the world. All the pieces were stunning and really showcased their curation abilities. I discovered Sanaa Design Studio and Amorph in their space.
Marlot Baus
Wednesday: The Shelborne by Proper, Casa Bosques, Design Miami, Faena Hotel
Design Hotels presents Casa Bosques
I stopped by the The Shelborne by Proper for Design Hotels presents Casa Bosques. I attend the talk with Architect and designer Eleni Petaloti with editor Dan Howarth called The Invisible Hotel — Design for Emotion.
This hotel design talk really stayed with me. The speakers talked about what it takes to create spaces that actually feel welcoming, not just beautiful. A lot of it came down to honoring the local context and engaging all the senses through architecture, branding, and the guest experience as a whole.
What I loved most was the emphasis on authenticity and layering. Hotels shouldn’t feel generic or overly polished. They should feel lived in, intentional, and connected to their surroundings through local art, culture, and storytelling. The goal is that “home away from home” feeling, where every detail makes sense together.
They also touched on how powerful sensory moments can be, from scent to music, in making a stay feel memorable. It was a good reminder that the best hotels don’t just look good, they make you feel something.
Design Hotels has a new book debuting January 13th called Designed to Stay: The Design Hotels Book. A celebration of Design Hotels™, this book showcases independent hotels around the world where architecture, interiors, and local culture create deeply immersive places to stay. During the talk they had a few on display to flip through. I love the cover art. The colors are perfect!
The Shelborne by Proper is a gorgeous hotel and honestly aligns a lot with the key takeaways of the talk I attended there. I captured so many pictures of the hotel and put together a reel for Instagram.
Before leaving I stopped by the Casa Bosques bookstore pop-up and a purchased a Kerry James Marshall book. The shopping bag were these cute totes that came handy the rest of the day.
Design Miami
I headed to Design Miami which was a short walk from The Shelbourne. The weather was cool in the morning, but started to warm up so I did sweat a bit, luckily I had a fan handy. Design Miami is my favorite show to attend as a interior designer. I love seeing the collectible pieces, cool lighting, decor, and even the jewelry showrooms. There’s so much inspiration. Here’s my recap on Tiktok and another on one IG with all the sources and tags.
Here are a few showrooms/galleries I absolutely loved:
Fonderia Fendi by Conie Vallese, Design Miami 2025
Spaceless Gallery, Design Miami 2025
Sten Studio Mexico City, Lithic Bloom Collection, Design Miami 2025
David Gill Gallery, Design Miami 2025
Galerie Studio Ouverte, Design Miami 2025
Faena Hotel
I ended the night by going to the Faena Hotel to see Library of Us by Es Devlin. We went at the perfect time. It was dusk, the moon was rising and the sun was setting. Miami is such a beautiful place and I am proud to call this place my home. I included a video below as well.
Faena Hotel, Faena Art, Miami Art Week 2025
On Thursday, I went back to Design Miami with my mom. On Friday, I spent the day in Coconut Grove and tried Chuggies which is the sister restaurant to Chugs. Afterwards, we headed to the infamous Frozen Lemonade truck A.C.’s Icees and that was a wrap on my Art Week.
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