LUXURY 24

Her beauty is undeniable as well as her intelligence. The two qualities, joined with a great instinct for business and the right men, make her the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Ambra Medda is 26 years old and it seems as if art comes in the family as her mother, Giuliana Medda is a famous art gallery owner, and her husband, Craig Robins is the greatest real estate tycoon in Miami as well as important collector of art and design. She is the girl who revolutionized the concept of an art fair, not only attracting collectors and trade operators to her Miami/Basel, but a great public as well. Today the 2007 edition kicks off.
A famous list had put Ms. Medda among those women "to keep an eye on" in 2007. They were right: this has definitely been her year that is ending with the new edition of her creature, the Miami/Basel. There are many eyes on her and not all of them are generous. How do you defend yourself from expectations and criticism?
There is a lot of excitement in the air. I'm sure we will know how to make this energy explode. Besides having the best galleries in the world this year - 26 of which 8 are at their debut, this time I want to give more importance to the young designers by enhancing their work. We have asked ten artists to create fragments of artistic productions only for us, "live" spaces and moments of pure creation. The target is to create a big art workshop in which every day the state-of-the-art gives us an exclusive performance.
For example?
There will be a tattoo party, instant works with bottles of water, with felt pens, with paper. There is Jason Miller with a hypnotic show, "Better than you remember" in which the visitors will be asked to describe objects from their past to retrieve the significance of lost things. The memory will then be the starting point to create something new, the future.
Actually a few famous names, the coolest galleries, some arising artists and a good dose of experiments: this is the right recipe to attract rich collectors, right?
The fair is a forum and it is built on a combination of culture and commerce: one supports the other; a beautiful synergy is created among the galleries, performers and the public. Our panorama is very ample. People come to Miami to realize how the designers work, what materials they use, and the shapes they prefer. Of course they also come to purchase. But the basis is a cultural objective: I do not work for the market.
Yet there are many who believe the contrary. From Architect Zaha Hadid to the designer Marcel Wanders, up to Ross Lovegrove who actually refused the invitation for a lesson in Miami. Many think that the fair has a pure commercial value and that it mortifies real art…
Reasoning according to rigid categories of dualism is stupid, it is like saying that art and the art market are two different things, or that two ways of making a design exist: a good one and a bad one; there are many designers who work in various environments, they create objects of a limited nature and others for the industry. It seems silly to think that art gets dirty with money; art lives thanks to money, as all the designers and artists who, although critical, know very well and participate in the fair.
Therefore it is simply a matter of being a bit less disillusioned and more practical and perhaps even less hypocritical?
I repeat: the fair is a forum in which one participates to meet and to exchange ideas, but it is clear that commerce is the basis. We are not here for the pure love of art or for philanthropy. One comes to understand the new trends, to see who the arising designers are.
Also because, considering the prices of the objects in the fair, it would be a very small market for the super-rich…
This is the moment for design; it is the moment for creativity. And those who say that art design mortifies art, I instead reply that it has had the capacity to make the market younger: before design was not attainable nor appreciated by a young public. Decorative art was boring, for few and for the elders. Instead design is within everyone's reach; it has entered the concept of beauty to be enjoyed. Our fair is a panoramic show of what it is really worth. I have seen a revolution in the world of design: in 2005 after Miami/Basel we had an enormous acknowledgement, collectors who had never taken design into consideration started to approach this sector, there was a stir of interest, a revival. We give the youngest a sense of liberation.