Tell me about your relationship with the city. They were all boutique hotels. Restaurants were starting to open. Chris had sold Island Records and wanted to start in hotels. Restaurants began to open, there were more art experiences.»
Louis Vuitton store, Miami Design DistrictSoon, the fashion industry became interested in the area, which brought in more money and further redevelopment, which is still ongoing. Ben Hobson: Why did you start investing in South Beach property? And when you combine the solidity and power of Basel with the sex appeal and excitement of Miami, you get this amazing result that was beyond what anyone could have imagined.»
Miami Design DistrictBy that time, Robins had sold most of his properties in South Beach and had moved his attention to redeveloping another run-down area of the city – Miami’s Design District, so called because of the proliferation of furniture companies that set up there in the 1920s. I didn’t really know anything. He became instrumental in renovating the city’s iconic Art Deco district in the nineties, before moving on to redevelop the Miami Design District and co-founding Design Miami. Part of what we realised was that it was better for somebody else to own a property, to make their own expression, so the neighbourhood had this competitive, collaborative spirit, where everybody was expressing themselves in their own way – the opposite of what Disney World does, which is also an effective business model but its idea is to give you a fantasy with something that’s fake and our business model is to do something that’s real. At first I got some great brands here. People were prohibited to enter if they didn’t have a licence. By redoing the Art Deco buildings, a lot of media came to do fashion shoots, bringing in the beautiful people, creating an industry in the neighbourhood. By the end of 2015 we’ll probably have finished a series of condos and a boutique hotel. At the time I was living in this other magnificent building adjacent to it called the Webster. One of the great things about having Tony as a partner was that he gave me the freedom to do a lot of it myself but also provided guidance. Everything that was done in South Beach was all handmade, in a sense. Our great collaborator in the neighbourhood was the furniture designer Holly Hunt, who has a beautiful showroom in the Design District and is an important person in the American design industry. Dezeen Book of Interviews: our new book, featuring conversations with 45 leading figures in architecture and design, is on sale now»Initially I wanted to have a studio space so I could invite artists to paint or make art in Miami,» he told Dezeen last December, when we interviewed him at Design Miami as part of our Dezeen and MINI World Tour. The success of the fair helped boost the redevelopment of the whole area, Robins claimed. I think we have a chance to be the most interesting neighbourhood in the world, with this balance of art, design, fashion and food. So part of what we did was we brought back furniture design stores. What is the history of the area? But Robins said that Miami only started to be taken seriously as a cultural destination once the first Art Basel art fair was hosted in South Beach in 2002. South Beach was very rundown — it had become a retirement village for an ageing population that was dying off.So that became my career: trying to figure out how to adapt these great historical structures and put businesses that function in a contemporary way in them. We’re getting a lot of freedom to do things. «It was a brilliant decision,» he told Dezeen. There was a crack epidemic in the US, all of which contributed to the neighbourhood spiralling downward. Fashion is a powerful industry; it fuels the ability to do more.Ben Hobson: What’s next for the Design District? I began renovating one of the buildings to create storage spaces in order to afford the studio. I met this incredible guy named Tony Goldman, who became an important mentor. Who would go through this space into the store to buy shoes? The Design District became the place where that vision was launched, and it became more and more recognised as a cultural destination. The goal is to make it a great place to shop, find furniture, eat, but most importantly to just walk around. To me it’s a great example of how a brilliant architect or designer can interact with a historical structure and enhance the experience, not detract from it. We thought about that and said, «This neighbourhood should really take a longer-term approach and continue with that idea of the creative laboratory. The structures are smaller. Going back to the music analogy, we want to build our fan base over time: we started off in a little bar playing songs and now we’re getting to bigger venues and hopefully one day we’ll be in football stadiums. There were a lot of people who thought the buildings should be torn down. He and I did a lot of investing in South Beach, opened a bunch of hotels. Craig Robins: Fashion is a powerful industry and when you combine it with the other businesses we have, it fuels the ability to do more art and design. Craig Robins: Initially I wanted to have a studio space so I could invite artists to paint or make art in Miami. Craig Robins: I felt that things were becoming so commercialised in South Beach that Miami needed a creative laboratory, an important place where interesting things could happen and where the definition of what could happen was not so rigid. «I knew South Beach was a rundown place where perhaps I could find an inexpensive studio.»
Webster hotel in South Beach, MiamiTogether with collaborators including fellow property developer Tony Goldman and Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, Robins renovated many of the Art Deco hotels along South Beach’s Ocean Drive and the surrounding area at a time when the general consensus was that the run-down and dilapidated buildings «should be torn down.»
Related story: Landmark architecture helps turn Miami into the «capital of Latin America»»There was a group of us who not only thought they should be preserved but that they could become this incredible legacy that Miami could offer to the world,» Robins said. «People began to realise that furniture could be collected like art,» he said. There were no chains for years, which I think made it really cool. We’re doing buildings with architects like ArandaLasch, Sou Fujimoto, Keenen Riley. Ben Hobson: And why did Art Basel come to Miami? Dezeen Book of Interviews: with Design Miami kicking off in a few days, this week’s extract from our new book is an interview with the fair’s co-founder Craig Robins, who explained his role in helping transform Miami from a run-down resort into a major cultural centre. «The Design District became more and more recognised as a cultural destination. I knew South Beach was a rundown place where perhaps I could find an inexpensive studio. That began to attract more people and more life, the idea of restaurants and nightclubs. Well, I have to say it’s one of the most successful stores per square foot in Miami. Ben Hobson: Was this an unusual approach to development at the time? It was a special place. So we were doing well but we didn’t have a lot of people. But I realised that design doesn’t bring in people. There was really nothing else in South Beach at that time, so it was a great way to start. Suddenly furniture design was being collected side by side with this great art fair. Dezeen Book of Interviews is available to buy now for just £12 Craig Robins: It led to the next, somewhat contrarian innovation – that design was as collectible as art. Carlyle hotel in South Beach, MiamiBen Hobson: Which hotels did you work on together? Ben Hobson: Did Art Basel influence your decision to launch the Design Miami fair and the Design District? Christian Louboutin opened a store and said, «I want people to walk through an art installation into the store.» I thought he was crazy. There was a beautiful beach. Restaurants began to open, there were more art experiences. Locals would go to the beach but people weren’t flying to Miami to go to the beach. It’s not like fashion or restaurants. It’s hard to believe, looking at the urban sprawl now. That led to other brands. We had the world’s largest collection of Art Deco and Mediterranean Revival structures in the same place. Hotels became more in demand and the need for office space for music and film things happening in South Beach increased. Everybody is doing global flagships that are interesting expressions. A lot of elements will make this neighbourhood
a pleasant experience, hopefully. It wasn’t like getting Marriott to build some boring hotel. A lot of the designers who got commissions from the stores in the mall didn’t want design to be on the street. The goal is to make it a great place to shop, find furniture, eat, but most importantly to just walk around.»
You can read the full interview below, which is one of 45 interviews with leading figures in architecture and design featured in Dezeen Book of Interviews. «So that became my career: trying to figure out how to adapt these great historical structures and put businesses that function in a contemporary way in them.»
Cardozo hotel in South Beach, MiamiWith artist Keith Haring opening a shop in the area and famous musicians Gloria and Emilio Estefan investing in hotels, South Beach developed into a booming holiday destination throughout the nineties. Craig Robins: The Design District is located in what was originally a pineapple farm. Anyone can build new buildings and if it’s good architecture, that’s a good thing. But the one thing you can’t do is replace something truly historical. Craig Robins: When I look back at South Beach, there were obviously hotels but there was no one to stay in them. She was one of our first tenants, and that began a process where now you can walk around the Design District and see a lot of great furniture design. Craig Robins: I can’t speak for Art Basel but clearly it was a brilliant decision – not just because of the obvious success, but if you think about it, Basel is such a traditionally powerful, conservative city. How did that come about? One of the things that was really nice was working with another visionary, Chris Blackwell. South Beach is much more European. «Artists like John Baldessari and Nate Lowman are doing buildings. Gloria and Emilio Estefan bought the Cardozo from us early on and did a beautiful job with it. Businesses will be more inclined to establish themselves here. Ben Hobson: How did that then develop? It was an enormous success. Suddenly there was business here and everything was thriving. Some of the other properties that were especially prominent were the Victor and the Tides hotels, the Cavalier, the Cardozo, the Carlyle… A few years later when I was working in South Beach and I’d tell people I was from Miami, they would think of an Art Deco building. In 2005, Robins launched the first Design Miami collectible design fair in the Design District alongside Art Basel. That was an important renaissance in Miami. We had that going for us. How has it changed? «Fashion is a powerful industry and when you combine it with the other businesses we have, it fuels the ability to do more art and design,» Robins said. Craig Robins: It’ll happen in waves, and in part that’s intentional,because we don’t want it to be like a mall. This guy Theodore Moore, who built the Moore furniture company, built his first furniture store in the area in the ’20s. We want it to have new experiences constantly. That’s the goal. Ben Hobson: How did these hotels help transform South Beach into the hip destination it is today? Some of the brands are doing their own buildings and they will also be really powerful additions to the neighbourhood. So now stores are being operated or built by Vuitton, Dior, Céline, Pucci, Hermès, Cartier… Over the years the Design District became a centre for furniture design, but by the mid ’80s, as places became more and more «mallified» in America, the district went into disrepair. How did that happen? But it was very rundown. Artists like John Baldessari and Nate Lowman are doing buildings. It’s still an unbelievable structure, not only from the exterior but when you walk into this old furniture showroom, the proportions are just perfect. Ben Hobson: You were born here in Miami. Craig Robins, CEO of property development company Dacra, was born in Miami and started acquiring properties in South Beach in the 1980s while still studying law at university. There were also areas that had become difficult slums. It was a great time. Ben Hobson: When will the Design District reach completion? We should invest in culture, not necessarily profit and business, to continue to build the brand.»
Hermès store in the Miami Design DistrictBen Hobson: Today the Design District is as well-known for its fashion stores as it is for art and furniture design. We commissioned a prototype from Konstantin Grcic.
