Design Miami's Wava Carpenter Talks Art Basel and Move to Beach

Martien Mulder

Wava Carpenter, Design Miami Director.

​Because Art Basel Miami Beach is only a few months away, we jumped at the chance to speak with the new director of Design Miami/, Wava Carpenter.

The Design Miami team, who, interestingly, are mostly women, seek out the best in contemporary and historically influential design and house it under one very respected roof at biannual fairs. They also orchestrate numerous forums with designers, curators, and critics in their Design Talks, Design Galleries, Design on Site, and Design Satellites. Every year, they also give out a Designer of the Year Award, which distinguishes designers who exhibit unprecedented dedication to their vision as well as innovative style.

Art Basel 2010 will be Carpenter's first as director, but she's worked for Design Miami ever since 2006, when co-founder Ambra Medda asked her to work on the fair's programming. She recently talked with us about the rapidly growing company, the all-women team, and Design Miami's impending move to Miami Beach.              

Photos courtesy of Design Miami

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New Times: How has the transition from Director of Culture and Content to Acting Director affected your daily job duties? 

Wava Carpenter: My position with Design Miami has been continuously evolving since Ambra asked me to join in early 2006. I was originally brought to the company to work on programming, such as the awards, special exhibitions, and the Design Talks, but the small size and rapid growth of the company meant I needed to wear many hats right from the beginning. In fact, I've been managing the finances and developing strategies for a couple years already. I was appointed Associate Director in between Director of Culture & Content and Acting Director. So the main change for me these days is that I'm being asked to take a more public position for Design Miami and answer press questions such as these.

My most immediate goal is to ensure our move to Miami Beach is smooth and successful, and that the quality of the fair continues to grow while the curatorial point of view remains fresh and unpredictable.

There's something to be said about Design Miami being primarily run by a group of women. How do you find working in an environment with mostly women?

I'm incredibly proud to work with a company that is run primarily by women, all between mid-20s and mid-30s. Right now, including myself, the Design Miami core team includes nine females and one male. I'm not exactly sure how or why it happened, but our team has always comprised a majority proportion of uniquely smart, tenacious and talented women. The fast pace and high profile of the company has obliged the long-time team members to excel at multitasking and not taking 'no' for an answer.

​In a tough market, what is it that makes Design Miami standout from other fairs? Do you think the versatile cultural programming is a large factor of the success?

Having been with the company nearly since the beginning, I've witnessed first hand DM's transformation from obscure, upstart project to respected international destination event. Every year we have topped our own past performance, and, especially with our move to Miami Beach this year, we are quite confident we will do so again.

I believe DM continues to shine, because it is a very layered endeavor, mixing extraordinary exhibitions with chic events, having an acute dedication to high-quality and representing the current pulse of creative culture. Without a doubt we offer the best selection of international design galleries of any fair in the world, and then we couple this with a refined selection of unique projects by established and emerging designers as well as visionary brands.