A Whole New World

Life after this pandemic will look like rainbow colors on skatepark grounds, Alice and the Wonderland tick-tockers and glazed stoneware adorned with rope handles.

At least these are the interpretations of some international artists.

The nomadic boutique design fair, Unique Design X Group, will bring these exotic interpretations to Trustees’ Garden for their first show in the U.S.

Unique Design X Savannah will post in the Kehoe Ironworks at Trustees’ Garden from April 28- May 2, between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. daily. Tickets will be sold for $10 - seniors and children will recieve free admission - and will include access to an indoor exhibition, a colorful outdoor skatepark, food trucks and more.

According to the show organizer for Unique Design X Savannah, Morgan Morris, Unique Design X Group is a nomadic boutique platform - which is a commercial platform - that promotes contemporary design, specifically contemporary collectable design.

Unique Design hosted its first show in Shanghai in November of 2019, followed by another successful show in Paris in October of 2020. Now Savannahians get to experience the show before the group continues on to Los Angeles in early 2022 to align with a big art fair there called Freeze LA Art, Morris said. The show at Trustees’ Garden will include 18 different artists and designers that make collectable design at eight different international galleries.

“France, Italy, Chile, Columbia, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Taiwan, China, all over the world,” Morris said. “Most of them work with pretty important design galleries. The tricky part is that no one could travel this year, so they trusted us to bring this show over and represent them as best as we can.”

Morris said the Unique Design X team requested from the artist’s galleries and representative entities that they come up with a concept whereby they each create a small booth area which is their articulation of what the world will be like when they come out on the other end of COVID.

“Most of the designers and artists that are a part of this project are from all over the world and most of them were closed up in small spaces during lockdown, so it gave them a period of reflection,” she said.

Within the booth areas are purchasable, collectable design pieces created by the artists.

“They are things that really give something special to an interior environment, and I think we can expect to see people have a new perspective on their interior environments after this period we’ve been through with COVID,” - Unique Design X Group Show Organizer, Morgan Morris

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The show organizer said she has a passion for art, though she does not create it.

“I don’t create, but I support creators,” Morris said. “I’ve always really enjoyed music, art, and design and I never wanted to be a maker myself, but I’ve always been very inspired by what other people create.”

Morris founded Unique Design X Group in 2019 as the first nomadic platform for the promotion of collectible design and beyond.

“Collectable design is a really interesting field because it is a crossover between many different things. Collectable designs are objects which have a function but are made though a very artistic approach,” Morris said. “You may have a chair that’s made by an artist, or you may have a table that’s made by an architect or you may have a fashion designer who makes a bench, so collectable design is what encompasses that beautiful gray area between architecture, pure product design, contemporary art and fashion. The beauty of that gray area is the cross fertilization because this cross fertilization brings a lot of innovation.”

Morris has worked with contemporary art and design since the early 90s with a special focus on Chinese contemporary art and design culture. She began her art career working at Sotheby’s in London.

Morris studied Art History for undergrad at Tulane University in New Orleans before continuing her studies in Europe, obtaining her Masters at the Sorbonne in Paris.

“All of that opened me up to the big world that’s out there and the very interesting creative platforms that there are around the world,” Morris said. “The different perspectives and not only the history of creativity but the future of creativity.” The venue’s indoor capacity will be limited and guests will be prompted to enjoy activities outside until they can come in.

Visit Unique Design X Group on Instagram at @unique_design_x_group or their website uniquedesignxgroup.com. for details on the upcoming exhibition.