If animals could speak through scent, what stories would they tell? This was the question that ignited an unexpected partnership between New Delhi, India-based designer Vikram Goyal and Berlin-based olfactory artist Sissel Tolaas. Igniting four of the five senses — sight, smell, hearing and touch — the duo kicked off Design Miami.Paris with a display that emphasizes the poetic potential of materiality.
Named “The Soul Garden,” the immersive installation was presented by Los Angeles-based gallery The Future Perfect and staged in the historic gardens of the former home of designer Karl Lagerfeld. L’Hôtel de Maisons, a palatial 18th-century mansion in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, hosted a roster of international galleries and designers during the five-day Design Miami.Paris event that began Wednesday.
“At ‘The Soul Garden,’ smell functions as narrative. It mirrors the way ancient fables once carried wisdom through generations, invisible but enduring,” Goyal, the Princeton-educated creative, who traded finance for wellness and design, told WWD in an interview.
To accompany the display, daily readings of the Panchatantra, a collection of Indian fables, will be held every day at 5 p.m. from Wednesday until the close of Design Miami.Paris on Sunday.
Animals designed by Vikram Goyal on the occasion of his exhibit “The Soul Garden” during Design Miami.Paris.
Alfredo Piola
“The Soul Garden” draws from ancient Indian literature and lore, where animals were revered as divine beings with profound spiritual significance. The menagerie of animals was made from wood and sheet metal and refined through a hollowed joinery technique.
With the exhibit, Goyal showed off his own characters: Gaja & Karabha are an adult and baby elephant, symbolizing wisdom, memory and communication. Kurma is a tortoise and represents endurance, patience and cosmic time. Vyaghra is a tiger embodying power, stealth and protection, while Nakra is a crocodile evoking strength, adaptability and primal force.
Intensifying this unique storytelling, Tolaas transformed scent into a medium of emotion and communication. For each sculpture, Tolaas captured molecules present during its material creation, alongside scents drawn from the animals themselves, their habitats and their interactions with humans. Using a combination of nanotechnological and analogue diffusion devices, these scents permeate the surrounding garden.
“To mix scent with design is to reintroduce the body and the breath into our encounters with art. It reminds us that design is not just about what we see, but what we feel, remember and carry with us afterward,” he mused.
Beyond design, Goyal’s is a long-standing patron of wildlife conservation and is an ardent supporter of the work of the Elephant Family and their mission to protect the Asian elephant.
Goyal’s New Delhi-based studio is represented by leading international design galleries including Nilufar Gallery in Italy and The Future Perfect in the U.S., and collaborates with design houses such as De Gournay.
New and Established Names at Design Miami
Design Miami.Paris, which debuted in 2023, is a platform for deeper storytelling and dialogue between creative fields.
“Design Miami.Paris represents a distinct intersection of design, art and culture, a space where ideas are as valued as objects,” he said. “It brings together a curatorial community that seeks meaning and material innovation rather than mere display.”
Other highlights during the five-day event include the Designer of Tomorrow showcase, an initiative by Design Miami and Apple celebrating the future of design at the fair. The inaugural edition features the work of four emerging talents, including London-based designer Marco Campardo, Paris design duo Marie et Alexandre, Shanghai-based Duyi Han and Vietnamese-American ceramicist Jolie Ngo. Each creative showcased how the iPad powers their process from research to the crafting process.
L’Hôtel de Maisons.
James Harris
The work of designer and jeweler Lavinia Fuksas, the daughter of Rome-based design duo Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas, was also unveiled at L’Hôtel de Maisons. Marking her foray into collectible design, Fuksas showcased Paris Kalyka, a coffee-table made in collaboration with architect and designer Pietro Franceschini and Milan-based Mondavilli Scagliola Gallery.
Paris Kalyka table by Lavinia Fuksas.
Stéphane Aboudaram
Italian design and decorative arts house Fornasetti unveiled Surface Narratives: a new series of unique pieces exploring the narrative potential of surfaces, conceived as a meeting point between matter and vision.
Wood, glass, metal and zinc intertwined in a series of designs that include tables, a buffet and a mirror, which incorporate the designs of its founder Piero Fornasetti from the 1950s. Case in point, the buffet —named Strumenti da Disegno, Italian for drawing tools — was originally housed in the Fornasetti family’s home, Casa Fornasetti. Piero Fornasetti’s son Barnaba reimagined the piece with hand-inlaid panels depicting rulers, set squares, protractors and other drawing tools, crafted from a medley of wood veneers, brass and aluminum details.
Design Miami.Paris is part of the Design Miami ecosystem that has grown significantly in the past five years. In September, organizers hosted its first event in Seoul. In 2024, it launched the inaugural Los Angeles and Basel editions.
The Strumenti da Disegno buffet by Fornasetti.
Courtesy of Fornasetti
