It’s Joseph Altuzarra’s first time in Florida. The Paris-born, New York-based designer moved to the States when he was eighteen to study art and art history at Swarthmore. These are all key facts in our story: Altuzarra’s virgin voyage to Art Basel and Design Miami, a trip that will end tomorrow when he hosts a cocktail at the Webster to pre-shop his spring 2010 collection. Until then, though, there’s time for a little exploration of this new landscape, palm trees included. “It feels like you’re very far away,” Altuzarra says of South Beach.

We’re having breakfast at the Delano (scrambled eggs and bacon) before heading to the design district to see the show. “Miami tends to be very stylized in the movies or on television, very sunny and colorful. It’s more human scale than I thought it would be.” ……Continue Reading