Inaugural Design.Space event in Los Angeles features Jean Prouvé gas station

Design marketplace Basic.Space has launched the first edition of its Design.Space event in Los Angeles, featuring curated collectible design and a full-scale gas station created by French designer Jean Prouvé.

Open for one weekend only, Design.Space filled the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, a collection of colourful glass office buildings and event spaces designed by Argentinian-American architect Cesar Pelli.

It brought together sections of curated pieces by contemporary designers as well as thematic exhibitions exploring historic work.

These exhibitions included the iconic Sainte-Marie model gas station designed in 1969 by Prouvé for French energy company Total.

Polygonal in shape, the metal-and-glass gas station was meant to be modular and adaptable while being efficient and structurally sound.

Presented on the grounds outside the event – referred to by the organizers as a "retail experience" – the model had been converted for residential use, with home furnishings visible through the glass facade.

Inside the Design Center, an office-like installation was devoted to the Enorme telephone, designed in 1985 by Italian designer Ettore Sottsass and American engineer and IDEO co-founder David Kelley.

The period-correct office installation was installed to sell the telephones after a "time capsule" was found with hundreds of the rare objects in California, according to the fair.

Design.Space emphasised the commercial nature of the evenet and tried to merge the commercial experience of a mall with the exhibitionist impulses of the art fair.

"From large-scale art installations to smaller collectible design objects, Design.Space combines the familiarity of a department store with the world-class culture of an art and design fair," it said.

Basic.Space founder Jesse Lee emphasised the integration of fashion and art sales models into the scheme.

"Design.Space is doubling down on what curation in design, art and fashion really means to us," said Lee.

"While design is the leading category, art and archival fashion are what consumers want as well. Through this IRL-to-URL shopping experience, we are trying to establish a different kind of market that offers a mix of familiarity and discovery."

Since October 2023, Basic.Space has owned the annual international fair Design Miami and Design.Space featured mainstays from that fair, including Italian design outfit Gufram and American musician ASAP Rocky's Hommemade brand.

Other installations included one based around a sensuous red sofa designed by French design outfit Paulin Paulin Paulin and environmental organisation Parley for the Oceans, using fabric from artists Jean Claude and Christo's drapery of the L'Arc de Triomphe.

Salon 94 worked with British designer Max Lamb to present 50 iterations of the designer's Economy Chair, all made in three days from five four-inch slabs of polystyrene.

Meanwhile, Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis showed a new series of her Stedelijk Chair, presented exclusively for Basic.Space in a lavender colourway.

Several local designers were presented in a curated collectible design section. These included Sam Klemick, Caleb Engstrom and Tristan Marsh.

International design brands and galleries such as The Future Perfect, USM, and NO GA also contributed to Design.Space.

In recent years, multiple design fairs have popped up in Los Angeles, which was recently affected by devastating wildfires.

These newfangled fairs include a Los Angeles edition of Design Miami, as well as the community-oriented Los Angeles Design Weekend.

The photography is by Elizabeth Carababas. 

Design.Space ran from 28 to 30 March in Los Angeles. For more international events in architecture and design visit Dezeen Events Guide.

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