Miami’s Art Basel Week is just around the corner, running Dec 1st – 4th, and The Magic City’s intrinsic relationship with art and design makes it an ideal backdrop for the art extravaganza. When we hear Miami we think hyper real dream scape; curvaceous retro South Beach hotels and movie palaces, waving palms, flaming sunsets and pink flamingos. Our associations come from the city’s Art Deco movement in the 30’s and 40’s, with its curved edges and corners, eye catching symmetry, eyebrow window hangings, steeped roofs and relief facades, porthole windows and neon lighting.

One of the things that makes American Art Deco so captivating has to be its somewhat creepy factor, a sublime sugary ghostliness about it, (probably the reason the design gets used to often in horror flick sets, think “Suspiria”, “House of Wax”, “American Horror Story”). It feels like these subtly sinister vibes have a lot to do with the grand facades of the buildings and the dark secrets they could be hiding within. It’s the mask-like, mysterious nature of these buildings that continues to fascinate us, and, creepiness aside, the design meshes seamlessly into Miami’s natural, funky tropical landscape full of nautical vibes and lots of pastels and florals. Truly a treat for both the eyes and the imagination, and a major factor in Miami’s status as a cultural hub.