Craig Robins Donates Netscape Installation by Konstantin Grcic to Miami Art Museum

MIAMI, FL.- Craig Robins, co-founder of Design Miami /, has donated this year’s Designer of the Year installation to Miami Art Museum (MAM). Entitled Netscape, the large-scale outdoor seating installation was created by Konstantin Grcic as a centerpiece of the December 2010 edition of Design Miami /, a global forum for design. Robins made the donation with the Museum’s new, Herzog & de Meuron-designed facility in mind. The new Miami Art Museum is scheduled to open to the public in Downtown Miami’s Museum Park in 2013.

As part of the honor of receiving the Design Miami / Designer of the Year Award, Grcic was invited to create a site-specific installation for the fair. Netscape features a star-shaped, modular steel structure, with hammock-like swings made of fiberglass and polypropylene netting which rock gently when used by visitors. Like the design for the new Miami Art Museum , Netscape was created with social interaction in mind.

“Craig Robins’ foresight and experience in integrating art and design and cultivating creative communities has been a great asset to Miami Art Museum in preparing for the move to Museum Park ,” said MAM Director Thom Collins. “The new Miami Art Museum is going to be a place where community, nature, contemporary art, architecture and design merge, and Netscape really exemplifies this convergence. Netscape will provide a space for guests to rest as they enter and exit the museum, engage and interact with one another, and enjoy South Florida ’s unique, tropical landscape.”

“Konstantin’s Netscape is a beautiful piece that should be experienced on a permanent basis,” said Robins, who also sits on Miami Art Museum ’s board of trustees. “I am thrilled to donate the piece to Miami Art Museum and I think it will be a great addition to their new location. Netscape is a work that shows that good design is beautiful and functional. It was built with the idea that it would be used and enjoyed. This piece is a perfect example of why Design Miami / honored Konstantin Grcic with the Designer of the Year Award.”

Each December, the Design Miami / Designer of the Year Award recognizes an internationally-renowned designer or studio whose body of work demonstrates unmatched quality, innovation and influence, while expanding the boundaries of design. According to Design Miami/, the Munich-based Grcic is not only one of the world’s most influential designers, but his disciplined, architectural, and boundary expanding approach to industrial design continues to set his work apart from his contemporaries. Founded in 1991, Konstantin Grcic Industrial Design (KGID) has worked in fields ranging from furniture and product design to exhibition design and architecture-related commissions. Grcic’s products have received awards including the Compasso d’Oro (for the MAYDAY lamp in 2001) and are part of the permanent collections of world renowned institutions including The Museum of Modern Art in New York City and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris . Throughout his career, Grcic has designed for companies including Cappellini, Established & Sons, Flos, Iittala, Krups, Magis, Moroso, Muji, and Vitra, among others.

Miami Art Museum’s new, Herzog & de Meuron-designed facility, located alongside Biscayne Bay and next to the future home of the Miami Science Museum in Downtown Miami’s Museum Park, is scheduled to open to the public in 2013. Herzog & de Meuron’s design responds to Miami ’s climate, working in concert with its natural surroundings to enhance the museum experience. The three-story building will sit upon an elevated platform and below a canopy, both of which will extend far beyond the Museum’s walls, creating a shaded veranda and plazas. Working with local horticulturists and landscape designers, the architects will use this space to “bring the park into the museum” in new and innovative ways. The canopy’s overhang will create a series of outdoor spaces that bridge the museum, park, and city.

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