An art fair, but with a focus on design: my highlights from Art Basel 2026
At Art Basel, it’s often just a matter of seconds that determines what catches your eye – between artworks worth millions and, of all things, a church. Once again this year, there are some exciting collectible designs tucked away.
Officially, everything at Art Basel is all about art. Unofficially, though, there’s plenty of collectible design making its way through the halls, showrooms and satellite events again this year. I’ve disciplined myself to wade through Art Basel, the Maze, the Swiss Design Awards and the Social Club Basel on your behalf, focusing solely on furniture and the like. My personal highlight: a design exhibition in a real church. But first things first.
The bench with the flies
For the fountain on Art Basel’s Messeplatz, Nairy Baghramian installed her work «Modèle vivant (S'empilant)» Installed: four sculptural groups combining biomorphic forms with geometric supporting structures. As an Art Basel Gold Awardee, the Berlin-based artist has transformed the otherwise overlooked fountain. Abstract aluminium castings in delicate colours appear to balance precariously on polished steel fittings, without disrupting the fountain’s water features. Next to it stands a bench, tiled and dotted with photographic imprints of flies.
A work that lies somewhere between the body, tranquillity and a state of suspension. And one you’d hardly expect when you’re just strolling past the fountain.
Clay draws its own map
Seven sieves float in the space, each filled with a different type of clay. For over a year, Roger Boltshauser and his team collected samples from all over Switzerland to investigate the origin, load-bearing capacity, colour and properties of the material. In the installation, the sieve bowls set these types of clay in motion, and a map of its own gradually takes shape on the floor. A topography of colours, textures and origins.
What appears to be random is in fact a precise process of decomposition, sorting and recombination – an experience for the senses. «’s ‘Map of Clay’» is on display until 21 June at the Swiss Art Awards during Art Basel.
When an oil canister becomes a lamp
Alfredo Aceto creates lamps using old motor oil containers as bases, combined with perfectly ordinary lampshades. Logos and signs of wear are still visible on the containers, almost like an upcycling project complete with its own graphic design. Industrial scrap is thus transformed into a home accessory with a story.
His wide range of «Oil Lamps» were showcased at both the Swiss Design Awards and the Social Club Basel.
A chair born of pure abstraction
How far can a chair be simplified without losing its function? That is precisely the question posed by Syndicate Architects in their ‘ «’ Polygon» collection, which breaks design down into abstract, geometric elements, inspired by computer graphics from the early 90s.
In the ‘ «’ Polygon Chair», these are individual, familiar components which, taken on their own, remain entirely abstract. It is only when combined that an object with recognisable meaning emerges. The connection between the elements is deliberately kept so tenuous that they do not lose their abstract quality: a familiar object, composed of pure abstraction, almost like a computer graphic. The collection is on display at the Basel Social Club.
A classic wears pearls
What happens when you reinterpret a design classic? Hella Jongerius has reimagined the «Chair One» by Konstantin Grcic and has partially wrapped its bright red, geometric frame with hand-knotted cotton rope and hand-glazed porcelain beads.
The result: a chair that straddles the line between industrial design and craftsmanship – hand-picked by Galerie Kreo.
A chair as a gesture of welcome
Satyendra Pakhalé describes himself as «a cultural nomad»: raised in India, educated in India and Switzerland, and now with a studio in Amsterdam. It is precisely this blend of traditional craftsmanship and new technology that is evident in the «Flower Offering Chair», one of his best-known works, which was exhibited by the Ammann Gallery at the Maze/Design Basel.
For Pakhalé, it’s not simply about sitting, but about a gesture of welcome – symbolic, like a bouquet of flowers you present to someone.
An old design, reimagined
Sometimes it’s worth taking a second look at old ideas: the «Dyad Stool» by Edward Robinson dates back to one of his earliest designs from his student days, originally produced in 2010.
In this second edition, the piece has been refined in terms of form and material and is manufactured in Paris using a metal-forming technique: two aluminium halves are individually shaped and then seamlessly rolled together. Available in two sizes as a standard version in polished aluminium or as a children’s version, also in polished aluminium or in six lacquer colours. Exhibited by Jousse Entreprise.
Like a cheerleader, I love celebrating good design and bringing you closer to everything furniture- and interior design- related. I regularly curate simple yet sophisticated interior ideas, report on trends and interview creative minds about their work.
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