Nomadic collectible design showcases are gaining traction the world over. Within the span of just three months, the likes of Alcova Miami Beach, Nomad St. Moritz, and one of the most exciting additions, Unique Design X (UDX) Mexico City, have all taken place. With two of those fairs only in their second editions, the years ahead seem poised to welcome even more. Newcomers would do well to take note from the successes of the latter, Unique Design X Mexico City.
For the uninitiated, Mexico City Art Week is one of the most frenetic and rewarding contemporary art and design showcases. By sheer sprawl, the capital dwarfs Miami, and its traffic at peak hours can be ghastly enough to send even seasoned Milan regulars spiraling. And yet, art enthusiasts from within the city and far beyond its borders alike flock to its galleries, showrooms, casonas, cultural centers, and even restaurants to celebrate its rich makers’ scene. Amid the fray this year, Unique Design X made a compelling case for one more addition to a jam-packed art week calendar.
This year’s edition, only its second in Mexico City, was held within the city center’s Expo Reforma convention center—which concurrently hosted fine art showcase Material. As the sole major fair offering free admission to the general public, Unique Design X cultivated an exciting atmosphere for locals and visitors alike with its balance of much-loved Mexico City-based talents and compelling international names. The first exhibition to greet visitors to the fair was “Echoes of Tomorrow,” a dramatic installation of mirror-polished metallic furniture and totemic lighting by Atra Form Studio and styled as a post-apocalyptic vignette. Just nearby, a pop-up with collectible interiors magazine Apartamento brought an edit of texts carried by Roma Norte-based art bookstore Casa Bosques to fairgoers. It also hosted the fashion and industrial designer Esteban Tamayo’s collectible design debut, “Under the Sun.”
Its international edit presented a blown glass installation by Sema Topaloğlu, whose showing at Alcova Miami Beach 2024 reverberated around the industry, while Carpenters Workshop Gallery overshadowed its Design Miami installation from December with a superior presentation that encompassed works from Vincenzo De Cotiis, Ingrid Donat, Maarten Baas, Rick Owens, and Nacho Carbonell. With less than 20 exhibitors, Unique Design X founder Morgan Morris managed to create a compelling, of-the-moment showcase of talent that demands attention in one of the most saturated creative landscapes in the world.
