The goal is to make it a great place to shop, find furniture, eat, but most importantly to just walk around. This guy Theodore Moore, who built the Moore furniture company, built his first furniture store in the area in the ’20s. «Basel is such a traditionally powerful, conservative city. A lot of the designers who got commissions from the stores in the mall didn’t want design to be on the street. People began to realise that furniture could be collected like art, so you could do these limited-edition contemporary pieces, which offer a level of freedom and experimentation, a creative approach that’s different from mass-production. They were all boutique hotels. That led to other brands. In 2005, Robins launched the first Design Miami collectible design fair in the Design District alongside Art Basel. Who would go through this space into the store to buy shoes? By the end of 2015 we’ll probably have finished a series of condos and a boutique hotel. It was contrary to contemporary thought at the time. Ben Hobson: How did these hotels help transform South Beach into the hip destination it is today? How has it changed? Craig Robins: The first exciting thing was that I convinced Keith Haring to open a variation of his New York store, Pop Shop, in South Beach. I went away to school, of course – spent some time at the University of Michigan and the University of Barcelona – then I came home after college and went to law school. South Beach is much more European. I remember Keith at the door and he was customising things for people and there was a line down the block. 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. 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. Chris Blackwell approached real estate like a guy who made records.Ben Hobson: So Miami overcame the seedy reputation and now it is emerging as a serious cultural centre. 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. «The Design District became more and more recognised as a cultural destination. We want it to have new experiences constantly. They didn’t want the client to be able to walk in and look at things. When I was in law school, I started acquiring properties on South Beach. It was an enormous success. We had that going for us. We’re getting a lot of freedom to do things. Suddenly there was business here and everything was thriving. People might buy a sofa every ten years. I learned the value of design and style and doing things in a special way, because even though people didn’t see it at the time, it was the unique thing Miami had. Craig Robins: It was a big contrast to how things were done in the States. What is the history of the area? 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. The success of the fair helped boost the redevelopment of the whole area, Robins claimed. We had the world’s largest collection of Art Deco and Mediterranean Revival structures in the same place. When we started in the Design District, what I found astounding was that almost nowhere in America could you see furniture design other than in a fortress-like mall. There were also areas that had become difficult slums. «Artists like John Baldessari and Nate Lowman are doing buildings. Elastika does that beautifully in the Moore building. You can buy the book now for just £12. It was then that I realised the final ingredient that was going to really catapult this neighbourhood to another level of creative offering would be if we could bring the fashion business here. Craig Robins: It’ll happen in waves, and in part that’s intentional,because we don’t want it to be like a mall. «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. Craig Robins: Initially I wanted to have a studio space so I could invite artists to paint or make art in Miami. Some of the other properties that were especially prominent were the Victor and the Tides hotels, the Cavalier, the Cardozo, the Carlyle… It’s a beautiful, historical structure. I began renovating one of the buildings to create storage spaces in order to afford the studio. That was an important renaissance in Miami. Restaurants were starting to open. One of the things that was really nice was working with another visionary, Chris Blackwell. Ben Hobson: And why did Art Basel come to Miami? That in itself was a great challenge. We commissioned a prototype from Konstantin Grcic. The Design District became the place where that vision was launched, and it became more and more recognised as a cultural destination. Craig Robins: The first hotel that Chris and I did together, which is sadly not anything like it was, is the Marlin. It had become a retirement village for an ageing population that was dying off. 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 no chains for years, which I think made it really cool. Restaurants began to open, there were more art experiences. Fashion is a powerful industry; it fuels the ability to do more.Ben Hobson: What’s next for the Design District? 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 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. Ben Hobson: Did Art Basel influence your decision to launch the Design Miami fair and the Design District? They wanted to control the environment, and we took that on. I met this incredible guy named Tony Goldman, who became an important mentor. Ben Hobson: Was this an unusual approach to development at the time? There’s a reason for you to come back each year for the next three years and catalogue the art, design and fashion happening. The Fujimoto building will be complete, as will this ArandaLasch building that will house four brands, including Tom Ford. At the time I was living in this other magnificent building adjacent to it called the Webster. You can come here and just enjoy yourself. Christian Louboutin opened a store and said, «I want people to walk through an art installation into the store.» I thought he was crazy. 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. Craig Robins: Furniture was very successful. It’s hard to believe, looking at the urban sprawl now. 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. 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. Hotels became more in demand and the need for office space for music and film things happening in South Beach increased. 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. The structures are smaller. That began to attract more people and more life, the idea of restaurants and nightclubs. Gloria and Emilio Estefan bought the Cardozo from us early on and did a beautiful job with it. Miami Design DistrictBen Hobson: So tell me about the Miami Design District. So we founded the Design Miami collectors fair, which I continue to chair. It wasn’t like getting Marriott to build some boring hotel. Tell me about your relationship with the city. 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. How did that happen? 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. These synergies came together and began to really churn in a way that was unexpected and, to some degree, uncalculated, because it was something new, a completely different approach to anchoring a neighbourhood. Businesses will be more inclined to establish themselves here. People were prohibited to enter if they didn’t have a licence. 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. Craig Robins: Miami with South Beach had become known as «funinthesun.» The transformation from a hedonistic place that people were flying to from around the world to a city of cultural substance really happened with Art Basel, not just as a commercial fair
but also as a cultural happening, with parties and events, with exhibitions that weren’t necessarily oriented for profit. 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. 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. It was treated like a prescription drug where it would maybe hurt you to see it. So now stores are being operated or built by Vuitton, Dior, Céline, Pucci, Hermès, Cartier… I knew South Beach was a rundown place where perhaps I could find an inexpensive studio. Craig Robins: When I look back at South Beach, there were obviously hotels but there was no one to stay in them. The store did really well. There will be 16 more stores, 15 buildings, retail shops, restaurants – a continual experience. Craig Robins: I was born in Miami Beach and I’ve always lived in Miami. 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. But the one thing you can’t do is replace something truly historical. The first phase of the Design District is complete and there are some great shops. It was a special place. «It was a brilliant decision,» he told Dezeen. «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. Suddenly furniture design was being collected side by side with this great art fair. But I realised that design doesn’t bring in people. We’re doing buildings with architects like ArandaLasch, Sou Fujimoto, Keenen Riley. Even more perfect because Zaha Hadid – she won Design Miami’s Designer of the Year in 2005 – was commissioned to do Elastika, a magnificent installation inside the space. 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. Artists like John Baldessari and Nate Lowman are doing buildings. Everything that was done in South Beach was all handmade, in a sense. Ben Hobson: How did that then develop? Ben Hobson: You were born here in Miami.
