Less & Luxe in Miami

A model condo in Canyon Ranch Living on South Beach by The Rockwell Group pairs warm walnut woods and sandy French limestone with a brilliant floor mosaic in blue bahía marble.

Decorati guest blogger Karin Edwards takes our readers to the tropics, where the tides of contemporary couture lull design aficionados in Miami .

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Design Aims for Splash in Miami. Whether visiting the latest hotel confections on South Beach, Mediterranean manses in the Gables, or under gothic vaults and stenciled coffers at the Biltmore, there’s a sensibility to interiors in this city that says, no matter your style, presentation counts. Not the room, which, no matter how remarkable, is only a backdrop for living fabulously. In New York you have to try and in L.A. you have to pretend not to. In Miami, however, design is a natural extension of a fabulous mood, a fabulous setting, and one’s never ending walk-in role in an unforgettably fabulous scene.

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Maybe that’s what makes exploring bath design in Miami so very extraordinary. Here, the bath is less a quiet retreat than an active stage for one’s entry into each day (or night). Natives recall the legendary Fountainbeau Resort’s “stairway to nowhere” built solely for the purpose of allowing guests to make a grand entrance in their evening wear. A half century later, at this bath in the Canyon Ranch Living condos on South Beach above, architects at the Rockwell Group Architects imagined a turquoise floor mosaic leading to the vanity for a similar spotlight effect.

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I toured showrooms with a colleague and friend, Saxon Henry, Miami native and author of the popular blog Design Commotion. Having a favorite uncle who used to restore centuries-old furniture for Sotheby’s and now stays busy at Jalan Jalan in the Miami Design District,I was aware that Miami loves Baroque carvings and a good French polish as well it does lucite and chrome. Saxon’s explanation, “No matter if the home is traditional, Miami craves contemporary—and baths are a particular case in point. Even in neo-Mediterranean manses, sumptuous but minimalist baths rule.”

A bath clad in Trend USA’s Wild mosaic, part of their new Wallpaper collection, uses bold scale to make a strong contemporary graphic.

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At the Trend Tile showroom, Saxon’s insights proved right on-trend. Their newest collection, Wallpaper, uses large-scale formats to punch up the graphic power of some otherwise familiar looking patterns. Motifs range from tiger stripes in a mellow beige to traditional scrolls, damasks, fern leaves, and florals. And installations of these patterns show the modernized mosaics inset in traditional paneling with crown molding. Asked about the line between traditional and modern design in Miami, Trends marketing manager Daniele Busca laughs “Here the 1950s is tradition. It’s what we feel most as a native style.”

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Indeed, “MiMo” (short for Miami Modernism) reverberates in a variety of ways. At Avant Gallery, we spied this tub by Rapsel whose sleek organic shape also recalls a classic, cozy wingchair . Called Arne, its high back is an homage to Arne Jacobsen’s legendary Egg Chair. Finished in an impeccably smooth, matte titanic resin, it was so alluring I actually slipped off my shoes to try it out. “That’s perfect,” says Saxon, “Now imagine it in tropical light. Smooth-skinned, buxom white tubs lolling womblike center stage—that’s a Miami bath.”

The midcentury-minded Arne tub by Rapsel is one of many well-curated furnishings at the Avant Gallery in the Miami Design District.

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The cabinetry we viewed proved mostly sans-hardware. Faucets and fixtures all very sleek. As streamlined as Miami bath design gets, however, it’s not Minimalist. Here, in the words of legendary MiMo architect Morris Lapidus, the creator of1950s and 60s celebrity mecca hotels, “Too much is never enough.

Sleek contemporary fixtures look at home with Venetian mirrors in the all-white envelope of a Miami condo bath by the design firmMale Cahlin.

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Sleek and modern can blend with over-the-top. A pair of Venetian mirrors is the perfect complement to gleaming white surfaces and pure geometry in this condo bath by Male Cahlin, for instance. Just as sweeping curves and theatrical changes in elevation infuse this contemporary bath by Michael Wolk with Miami luxe.

Miami Modernism reverberates in the sweeping lines, freeform shapes and changing elevations of this Miami bath by Michael Wolk Design Associates.

Paring down, in this town, is about clearing the stage to prop up a style, a mood, a personality, to its best advantage. Call it maxed-out Minimalism. Or Minimally traditional. In Miami, design is what’s most essential to celebrate you. And what (or who) could be less interesting than anyone outside that kind of tradition?.

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