Longtime DESIGN MIAMI Show Partner FENDI returns to the fair with an intricate, intriguing exhibition of new works by London-based designer-maker Lewis Kemmenoe.

Following a period of research — which included visits to Rome’s museums and botanical gardens, FENDI’s headquarters at Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, and the FENDI Factory in the Tuscan countryside — Kemmenoe developed what he has dubbed the ænigma collection. The title references both the Latin word for “puzzle” and the English word meaning “something hard to understand or explain.”

Representing a unique confluence of the sensibilities of Kemmenoe’s own practice and those of the distinctly Roman luxury fashion house, the ænigma collection comprises two chairs, a cabinet, two wall panels, two lamps, a coffee table, three vessels, and an iconic Peekaboo Soft bag. A closer examination of the pieces invites reflection on the production processes that Kemmenoe employed, revealing an overarching duality in materiality.

Box joints are used as both a construction technique and an organic vehicle to integrate the FENDI FF motif. A jacket pattern from FENDI’s atelier is reimagined as timber patchwork, a signature of Lewis’ work. The bark of Rome’s famous pine trees are cast into brass and aluminum. Kemmenoe’s reinterpretation of the Peekaboo bag introduces a patchwork pattern of FENDI leathers on the exterior and unexpected wooden elements hidden inside.