During Miami Art Week, Alcova once again staged its design fair at the Miami River Inn, one of the city’s most historic hotels, where more than forty exhibitors presented work throughout the site’s pastel houses and lush gardens. The 1908 mansions of East Little Havana became the backdrop for installations, performances, and experimental furniture that activated every corner of the property and highlighted Alcova’s ongoing commitment to design shaped by the interplay of architecture, landscape, and the social histories embedded in the site.
On December 2, PALMER joined Alcova’s public program with a packed talk titled The Magic of Palm Beach. Moderated by Stefano Tonchi, co-founder and Editorial Director of PALMER, the conversation explored Palm Beach as a center of art, design, and cultural renewal. Tonchi was joined by gallerist Sarah Gavlak, artist and curator Maynard Monrow, Norton Museum of Art senior curator Arden Sherman, and designer Robert Stilin. Together they traced how Palm Beach has become an unlikely but increasingly influential cultural hub, shaped by a mix of collectors, institutions, architects, and an expanding year-round creative community.
The conversation took place within The Garden Game, a courtyard installation by Patricia Urquiola created with Haworth, Alcova’s main partner, which transformed the inn’s oval lawn into a structured gathering space for talks and events. Rietveld’s Utrecht Outdoor armchair for Cassina and Cappellini’s Thinking Man Lido chair were placed by the pool and within a grid painted in Alcova’s signature pink. Haworth’s Cardigan Lounge chairs lined the perimeter, reinforcing the installation’s rhythm.
The Garden Game by Patricia Urquiola in partnership with Haworth
Across the property, studios and design houses including Objects of Common Interest, Laufen × Roberto Sironi, Pininfarina, and Studio Mærz presented installations that underscored Alcova’s hybrid identity as a platform for both established names and emerging voices. Their projects guided visitors through verandas, timber rooms, and garden paths, engaging directly with the site’s architecture.
Rietveld’s Utrecht Outdoor armchair for Cassina
As Palm Beach’s cultural profile expands, the talk at Alcova situated the city within a broader conversation about regional identity. Tonchi and the panelists noted how the area’s current momentum reflects a convergence of institutions such as the Norton Museum of Art with independent designers, galleries, artists, and makers. The conversation pointed to a landscape in flux, where art, design, and architecture are increasingly operating as agents of change in Palm Beach’s evolving identity.
Cappellini Thinking Man’s Lido Chair (1988) by Jasper Morrison