Design Miami/ returns to Miami Beach for its 17th edition this week with over 40 exhibitors and the most robust talks programming series in the fair’s history, reflecting on Curatorial Director Wava Carpenter’s timely theme Human·Kind.

This year’s edition notably marked several firsts in the fair’s history: This week, Design Miami became the first major fair to accept cryptocurrency. It also introduced the official Design Miami/ Mobile App, allowing visitors to explore and enjoy the fair in a whole new way; as well as the fair’s debut NFT collection, presented on OpenSea—featuring designs by Job Smeets, Katie Stout, Studio Proba, and Sebastian Errazuriz, contributed by R & Company, as well as multiple works by Misha Kahn, courtesy of Friedman Benda.

Among the many exhibition highlights, the Best in Show honors this year go to: Best Gallery Presentation: Southern Guild, Cape Town; Best Curio Presentation: ATRA, Mexico City; Best Historic Work: Wendell Castle Chest of Drawers at R & Company, New York; and Best Contemporary Work: Halo by Bradley Bowers at The Future Perfect, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco. The fair’s brand partners brought exceptional strong installations, fueled by powerful messaging around envisioning a better tomorrow. Ecology took center stage in Perrier-Jouët’s Embodying Nature designed by mischer’traxler, Grand Seiko’s Journey of Birch by BCXSY, Panerai’s Dive in Sustainability, and Lexus’ ON/ designed by Germane Barnes. And social engagement and equity came to the fore in Superblue’s If You Can Dream Then Anything is Possible by Yinka Ilori, USM’s HUE+MAN Design Competition, AIG Private Client Group’s Blackouflage Lounge by Black Artists and Designers Guild.

Embracing a hybrid format, the latest edition of Design Miami offers both a physical and digital offering; alongside the rich IRL offering, designmiami.com and the new app feature curated 3D virtual tours by thought leaders and experts, powered by Matterport technology. This year’s ambitious talks program, meanwhile—curated by Design Miami’s Curatorial Director Wava Carpenter and Editor in Chief Anna Carnick—comprises both in person and digital talks inspired by the Human·Kind theme, which collectively spotlight an array of voices reflecting on our current moment and promising paths for our future. A special new digital talks series, titled “15 Minutes On Design & Human·Kind Digital Talks Series,” takes on topics such as Design as Social Practice, Othering Queer Aesthetics, Engaging Identity, Designing for Biodiversity, and the Psychedelic Renaissance, and features participants like Tanya Aguiñiga, Adam Nathaniel Furman, mischer’traxler, Zizipho Poswa, Erez Nevi Pana, Asad Syrkett, and Nu Goteh of Deem Journal, among others.

Design Miami/ is open to the public through December 5th. To plan your visit, click here.