Miami Design District Celebrates a Utopia of Sustainability with Lara Bohinc

Miami Design District announced Lara Bohinc as the awardee of the 2023 Design Commission where she’ll be transforming the iconic neighborhood into a Utopia.

The London-based designer founded Bohinc Studio in 2016, a creative place to explore objects and furniture design and since, has fostered a contemporary style by reconstructing forms and utilizing precious materials to create a dialogue of contradicting ideas.

Her vivid and intriguing vision will be commissioned in collaboration with Design Miami / Curatorial Lab to build Utopia. It will be her first public showing in the US as she focuses on sustainability. The transformation will radiate from December 5th into early next year with four different installations.

The installations will embody irregular shapes and bulbous forms that take on the playfulness of natural forms to further make the public space reconnect with nature. “Friendly and dynamic, the sculptures are suggestive of living objects, mushrooming across the district with their kind yet mysterious presence” as described in the press release.

A walk through the neighborhood will reveal some of these sculptures will be functional outdoor seats, tables, and lights. People will spot 900 egg-shaped birdhouses on trees to provide shelter to existing life. Bohinc used cork as the main material, which is natural, waterproof, and environmentally friendly.

Utopia’s organic vibrance and celebration can be viewed in the daylight and in the nighttime with solar-powered sculptures to embrace people with an inviting atmosphere and glow. In its ninth year, the Miami Design District’s Annual Design Commission is a family-friendly event intended to draw the community together.