Photo: Maral Fard
July always feels like a lull in the cultural calendar as the design world decamps to the beach, but galleries continue to mount compelling exhibitions worth seeking out. This month’s standout presentations span the globe, from a collaboration between Antwerp’s St Vincents and Soleille in Ibiza to Fran Aniorte’s luminous ceramics inspired by Balearic symbolism in Istanbul. Closer to home, Darcy Miro builds on the momentum of her standout presentation at the inaugural NOMAD Hamptons with an expansive solo exhibition that reveals the full breadth of her practice. Scroll on for more of Galerie’s favorite collectible design exhibitions this month.
Photo: Ida Havn
Photo: Ida Havn
1. “Wunder” at Studio Oliver Gustav | Copenhagen
Oliver Gustav’s studio in Copenhagen already evokes a cabinet of curiosities. The former 19th-century museum later housed the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and its lofty galleries, weathered timber, and ancient stone provide a fitting setting for the multihyphenate artist and curator’s latest presentation, which channels the atmosphere of a traditional apothecary. Belgian designer Michaël Verheyden contributes sculptural vessels carved from richly veined marble alongside luminous white bronze works that complement the building’s stately character. Georg Jagunov, meanwhile, introduces living micro-landscapes of moss, stone, and plant life that lend an uncanny vitality to the historic interiors.
Photo: Lindsay Morris
2. “Darcy’s World” at JK Art + Design Projects | Southampton, New York
Raised in Detroit as the daughter of an art critic during the city’s creative boom, Darcy Miro developed an appreciation for artistic expression early. Her latest body of work pairs masterful bronze, gold, and silver casting with ceramics inspired by matriarchal storytelling and the everyday rituals of motherhood. The presentation features sculptural vessels—including one with molten bronze flowing across ruby-red glass, a highlight of NOMAD Hamptons—alongside jewelry, furniture, and planters that reveal her fascination with expressive organic surfaces and carefully articulated geometry. A sculptural mirror doubles as a jewelry holder for her hand-cast bracelets, rings, and necklaces, while a monumental bronze coffee table and lyrical planters mark her first exploration of 3D technologies alongside artisanal craftsmanship.
Until July 19
Photo: Courtesy of Salù Iwadi Studio.
3. “Salù Iwadi Studio: Ìmolé” at Atlantic Art Space | Ouidah, Benin
In Yoruba, the word Ìmólẹ́ (“light”) encompasses illumination, hope, ancestral presence, and the arrival of guidance. That layered meaning informs the latest sculptural lighting collection by Nigerian studio Salù Iwadi, founded by Toluwalase Rufai and Sandia Nassila. Handcrafted between Lagos and Marrakech, the carved oak lamps draw inspiration from the womb, the calabash, and the orí, the Yoruba concept of the head as the seat of consciousness and destiny. Sand-cast brass spirals pierce each vessel, filtering light through textured metal that references gestation in darkness and Ayé, the earthly realm through which life, ancestry, and cosmic force circulate. Three variations comprise the collection, from an intimate tabletop lamp to a towering composition of vertically stacked vessels that evoke ancestor, mother, and child.
Until August 2
Photo: Maral Fard
4. “Fran Aniorte: Balearic Constellations” at Art On Istanbul | Istanbul
Mediterranean motifs have long animated Fran Aniorte’s handcrafted ceramics, from fish and amphorae to shells and radiant suns. For his latest solo exhibition, the Barcelona and Istanbul–based artist turns his attention skyward, creating hand-painted works conceived as fragments of a larger constellation. Each ceramic “star” bears the marks of touch, fire, and transformation, while reflecting the spontaneity of the Balearic landscape. Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró serve as touchstones throughout the collection, which celebrates the handmade through expressive surfaces and elemental motifs such as birds, plants, seeds, and celestial bodies. Together, the works reveal Aniorte’s deeply personal visual language, one that draws on Mediterranean culture and centuries of ceramic tradition.
Until July 11
Photo: Courtesy of R & Company
5. “Haas Brothers: Tree House” at R & Company | New York
Simon and Nikolai Haas have long transformed the natural world into fantastical collectible objects, whether furry chairs, insect-like bronze tables, or mirrors inspired by marine life. Their latest show turns its attention to trees, introducing sculptural lamps whose branching silhouettes draw on the structures and growth patterns found in nature. Handmade in California, the works combine cast bronze with handblown glass by Ethan and Amanda Stern and Venetian glass beads, creating richly textured surfaces that showcase extraordinary craftsmanship. The collection marks the latest chapter in the brothers’ acclaimed tree series, expanding it through more intricate compositions and a more expressive palette. While a concurrent retrospective at the Museum of Arts and Design surveys more than 15 years of their practice, this more intimate outing offers a focused look at one of the studio’s most enduring bodies of work.
Until August 14
Photo: Courtesy of St Vincents
Photo: Courtesy of St Vincents
6. “Duet” at Soleille presented with St Vincents | Ibiza
This summer, Antwerp design gallery St Vincents brings its roster to Ibiza for a four-month collaboration with local dealer Soleille. The exhibition evolves throughout the season as works are introduced, rotated, and reconfigured in dialogue with the gallery and one another. Marking St Vincents’ first long-term presence beyond Antwerp, the show features works by Brian Thoreen, Nick Valentijn, Luna Paiva, EWE Studio, Kimy Gringoire, Studio HAOS, and Emily Thurman, with additional artists joining over the coming months. The changing installation encourages repeat visits to the island—and reveals fresh new relationships between contemporary and collectible works as the summer progresses.
Until August
Photo: Dan Bradica, courtesy of Southern Guild
7. “Zizipho Poswa: iMbewu (The Seed)” at Southern Guild | New York
This landmark survey traces a decade of Zizipho Poswa’s monumental ceramic sculptures, from celebrated earlier series to three new works that continue her exploration of South African cultural traditions and symbolic motifs. Drawing on the lived experiences, ceremonial practices, and matriarchal knowledge of Southern African women, the artist hand coils each sculpture, creating richly textured vessels that honor generations of care, ingenuity, and resilience. A recurring thread is Umthwalo, the isiXhosa word for “load” and the custom of women carrying heavy objects atop their heads. Poswa transforms this everyday act into soaring ceramic totems that celebrate what she calls the “life-sustaining roles that African women play.” Cow horns, braided coiffures, stacked vessels, hair combs, ukhamba beer pots, and bronze crests recur as motifs, paying tribute to the women who sustain cultural traditions and communal life.
Until September 2
Photo: Courtesy of Wexler Gallery
8. “Marcus Vinícius de Paula: Interstice: Thresholds Carved With Light and Time” at Wexler Gallery | Philadelphia
Marcus Vinícius de Paula’s childhood bridged two worlds. His father directed missions to Mars at NASA, nurturing an early fascination with the cosmos; his mother, a painter and ceramicist, instilled a deep appreciation for craftsmanship. Those influences converge in monumental sculptures carved from volcanic rock, granite, and alabaster, illuminated by integrated bands of light that evoke distant celestial bodies. Installed as a cosmic sculpture garden, this presentation centers on Titan, a ten-foot-tall structure first shown at Burning Man in 2022. Carved from 500 million-year-old black granite, two towering monoliths frame a passage leading to a mirrored chamber that glows from within.
Until August 1
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