Fendi is a longtime exhibitor at Design Miami and always gives the designers it collaborates with full control over what they present. Lewis Kemmenoe created a patchwork motif for his AEnigma collection, combining wood, brass, aluminum, and alabaster in the furniture and for the Peekaboo handbag, a mix of leathers.

At Design Miami, the end-of-year fair dedicated to collectible furniture, lighting, and objets d’art, designer and furniture maker Lewis Kemmenoe stands unassumingly in the Fendi booth. During the VIP preview, a steady stream of people stop by, looking closely at the collection of design objects made by Kemmenoe, including a cabinet, two chairs, and wall panels. Design enthusiasts inquire about the origins of the material, often following up with an inquisitive “And who is the designer?” Kemmenoe answers: “I am.”

Kemmenoe’s Design Miami collection, by invitation from Fendi and titled Ænigma, gestures toward the craftsmanship Fendi is known for. The collection is a study in subtle details. Central to the collection are the puzzle-like shapes Kemmenoe incorporates throughout, taken from a Fendi jacket sewing pattern. “Often in my work, I’ll use organic shapes, organic forms, and I was really keen to take that and evolve it to feel suitable for this project,” the London-based designer says, gesturing to the abstract shapes that repeat through the collection. “It has a multi-narrative. It’s a visual thing, but also it has a tie-in to the Fendi history,” he continues. By using the motif from the Fendi jacket, Kemmenoe incorporates his own design style with that of Fendi.

Fendi has been present at Design Miami since 2008, always giving designers it collaborates with—including Lukas Gschwandtner, Kueng Caputo, and Bless—full control over what they present. The Roman fashion house provides guidance and material support when needed but otherwise allows designers to create what they wish. “We give total freedom,” says Silvia Venturini Fendi, creative director of accessories and menswear for the brand founded by her grandparents. “Every project is free to use the Fendi history, the Fendi references, and our artisans if they need any materials. That’s the base of the collaboration.”

Materials like plywood, timber, brass, and aluminum transform into transcendent objects that articulate Kemmenoe’s Ænigma design when paired with elements that draw from the history of Fendi—such as the subtle logo placements and references to the pine trees that populate the city where Fendi was founded. The booth is spartan yet inviting, the type of living room layout that could easily be mistaken for a chic loft in Milan or New York. The young designer received a bachelor’s degree in fine art at Central Saint Martins and a master’s in design at the Royal College of Art. Kemmenoe is also known for his use of unassuming materials like plywood and bark, as well as inlay, creatively weaving various shades of wood together to create abstract arrangements.

When the fashion team first reached out to Kemmenoe to gauge his interest in being their pick for Design Miami 2024, he thought he was one among many designers being considered. He was surprised when they immediately announced that if he wanted the gig, it was his. Two weeks later, he was on a flight to Rome to visit the company’s headquarters at Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, home to a museum, archives, and an impressive garden. Kemmenoe was especially intrigued by the atelier and the craftsmanship that goes into creating each Fendi collection, as well as the city that houses the 100-year-old brand.

In the 16 years since Fendi landed at Design Miami, the city has become a hub for contemporary art and design.

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“I’ve been witnessing how this city has been changing and how much the culture that is around design, fashion, and art has been contributing to the change,” Venturini Fendi says. “It’s so important, the contribution that we creative people can give.”

 

One of Fendi’s latest contributions is the recently reopened Design District boutique, with sleek marble and references to the codes of the house, such as large-scale Fendi-yellow marble stitches that connect the first and second floor and geometric patterned floors that are an ode to the Temple of Venus in Rome.

As Fendi celebrates its 100th year, the success of the brand can be attributed in part to its ability to collaborate and evolve. “It’s nice to see the approach of other people, when they play with your codes, when they approach your history. I think it’s a conversation that opens new paths. Not only are they inspired by Fendi, but we are very much inspired by them, from their vision of Fendi. It’s a way of enriching and also having another point of view,” the 64-year-old creative director says.

Ænigma is hard to pin down; it’s something that benefits from careful study over time—exactly what Kemmenoe wants. “It’s an interesting name because it can act as a metaphor for what the project is. And also it means ‘puzzle.’ It means ‘discovery,’ ” he says. “If you describe someone as an enigma, you have to peel the layers away a little bit. That’s how I want people to interact with the collection itself.”

In Kemmenoe’s version of Fendi’s Peekaboo bag—which was originally designed by Silvia Venturini Fendi in 2009 and, as its name suggests, provides moments of unexpected discovery—elements from the collection are condensed into a portable object. In Kemmenoe’s version, the compartments unfold to highlight interior details, including wood, adding the delight of discovery upon opening. “I was really keen for it to embody the collection, so needing to feel minimal, but there are intricate elements. The patchwork is the same jacket pattern, and the hardware is offset, so it’ll be gold and silver, and it has a timber on the inside,” Kemmenoe says. “You can pull the layers about and expose them, which is the concept of the Peekaboo in the first place. The initial Peekaboo was very minimal, and then you would open it up, and it would be a different colour or something like that inside,” he continues.

“Fashion, architecture, and furniture are always something that I’m absorbing,” he explains. “I think it’s quite interesting to design a functional furniture piece that’s inspired by a piece of fashion, inspired by something that is also in itself functional, but it serves a different purpose. It serves a wearable purpose, but allowing that to integrate itself into how you approach that design product is something that I’ve definitely applied to this project.”

The function of the collection is cemented by Venturini Fendi herself. “I really love the golden armchair. I would love to have it in my apartment. I see myself writing or doing needlepoint. I love to do needlepoint, so it’s the perfect armchair.”

Photographs courtesy of Fendi.

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