Centre stage

last updated 31 August 2022

For Design Miami this year, architect Ole Scheeren and Dean & DeLuca will unveil a dynamic new system – entitled Stage – for the preparation and presentation of the New York grocer’s spreads of gourmet delights. The polished stainless steel prototype will combine vision with function, celebrating the heritage of the Dean & DeLuca brand, which has evolved dramatically from its first store, opened in 1977 on Soho’s Prince Street.

At the core of Stage, Scheeren considers ‘fundamental notions of beauty, making, precision and art’, working in an abstract style and experimenting with model-making. Topographically undulating, it is a sculptural piece of design, which celebrates the first year of Dean & DeLuca’s partnership with Design Miami. The idea of Stage, says the architect, was to create a ‘singular pristine object that celebrates food and the making of it’.

In this exclusive film, Scheeren explains the process of conceptualising and making Stage. Here, he walks us through a 1:1 model in his Berlin studio ahead of the project's big reveal in Miami next week...

‘Stage’ is on view from 30 November until 4 December in the main exhibition tent of Design Miami. Meridian Avenue & 19th Street, Miami Beach

Ellie Stathaki is the Architecture & Environment Director at Wallpaper*. She trained as an architect at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece and studied architectural history at the Bartlett in London. Now an established journalist, she has been a member of the Wallpaper* team since 2006, visiting buildings across the globe and interviewing leading architects such as Tadao Ando and Rem Koolhaas. Ellie has also taken part in judging panels, moderated events, curated shows and contributed in books, such as The Contemporary House (Thames & Hudson, 2018), Glenn Sestig Architecture Diary (2020) and House London (2022).