Big news today! Alongside a sneak peek at our highly anticipated, inaugural DESIGN MIAMI.LA fair, we’re unveiling a completely new look for this year’s global events. The electrifying rebrand is the brainchild of Design Miami’s Global Creative Director for 2024—South Africa-born, Los Angeles-based photographer and film director Henrik Purienne, known simply as Purienne.

Since co-founding Mirage Magazine together with Art Director Frank Rocholl in 2009, Purienne has been making waves with his atmospheric yet intimate reportage aesthetic, attracting frequent collaborations with international tastemakers and fashion houses, including Saint Laurent, Moncler, Gucci, to name just a few.

Purienne’s rebrand for Design Miami explores the concept of “Living with Design,” blending coolly minimalist graphics with dynamic, candid photography that documents creatives engaging with the design objects in their own living spaces. “This is a deliberate move to delve deeper into the essence of design,” Purienne explains, “capturing moments that transcend mere visuals to touch upon the profound interactions between people and design—to highlight the emotional and experiential aspects of design, making it more relatable and impactful.”

Purienne will select different creatives for each of Design Miami’s four fairs in 2024. For DESIGN MIAMI.LA, he has pointed his lens at LA-based artist and founding Memphis Group member Peter Shire. Reflecting on this choice, Purienne tells us, “A vital figure in Los Angeles' creative landscape, Shire’s work bridges the gaps between artistic disciplines and challenges our perceptions of art, design, and craft… From the 1970s to the present, Shire’s prolific range of ceramics, furniture, and works on paper inject humor and whimsy into the everyday, offering both a critique and celebration of pop culture, aesthetics, and the social constructs surrounding taste and class distinctions​.”

To commemorate this landmark evolution in Design Miami’s history, we sat down with Purienne to learn more about his distinct, in-demand approach to image-making.

DM/What is your creative origin story?

HP/The idea of a “creative origin story” is an absurd simplification. The true essence of creativity lies not in a definitive beginning but in the ongoing, chaotic interplay of experiences.

DM/How does the way you see the world show up in your work?

HP/My work isn't just a reflection of how I see the world; it's more about how it shapes my view. It's the unspoken—the spaces I leave empty—that define my perspective.

DM/What initially attracted you to the Design Miami brand?

HP/It was less about attraction and more about reciprocal interests, where Design Miami's evolving canvas found a resonance with my own creative mindset. The potential for a symbiotic fusion of perspectives, particularly at the intersection of design and fashion.

DM/How do you envision the Design Miami identity evolving?

HP/Anchored by a coherent language and vision, blending tradition with more avant-garde paths, the envisioned trajectory for Design Miami is designed to be one of minimal evolution—a brand.

DM/What does collectible design mean to you?

HP/It is a relationship with the object, where each piece chosen is a reflection of a personal narrative, an artifact that transcends its physicality to become a fragment of one's existential mosaic.

DM/What is one design object you can't live without?

HP/With its multifunctionality and childlike simplicity, the Alvar Aalto Stool 60, designed in 1933, stands as an indispensable beacon in my daily landscape.

DM/What aspects of your work bring you the most joy?

HP/Moments of unexpected discovery and innovation, where the outcome transcends the initial concept.