Play is a central tenet of life, for both kids and adults alike – imagination, free play, and experimentation fuel creativity, whether through doodling, building, or a game of tag, nurturing confidence and social connection along the way. Yet as academic pressures intensify and parenting styles evolve, children are left with less time for unstructured play, and adults even less so, despite our shared need for moments of silliness. Paving the way for new paradigms, Keep It Curious by Tuleste Factory opens the door to a fantastical, surreal realm where imagination meets refinement, and design itself becomes a form of lived fantasy.
Presented at Design Miami 2025, the exhibition illustrates a world of whimsy: bold greens and blues meet pastel hues, creating an environment that feels both otherworldly and oddly familiar – a place we wanted, but didn’t know we needed. Curated by the New York–based gallery founded by sisters Satu and Celeste Greenberg, Keep It Curious champions design that transcends function, inviting curiosity, wonder, and emotional connection. Featuring work by Marina Abramović, Miranda Makaroff, and Pilar Zeta, among others, the tableau celebrates color, light, materiality, and creativity as vehicles for storytelling rather than mere utility.
A multitude of artists and designers are represented here, with mint green walls serving as a welcome backdrop for the lighting, furniture, and sculptural works on display. Featuring work by Karen Atta, Facture Studio, Ian Alistair Cochran, Lyora Pissarro x David Rodriguez, Merve Kahraman, Bert Furnari, Courtney Kinnare, Brandi Howe, Kim Mesches, and Lucia Neamtu, “interdisciplinary” doesn’t quite cover it. Expansive yet concise, Keep It Curious spans art, design, and engineering, deliberately blurring the lines between craft and concept. More than functional objects, these works operate as storytellers – each carrying its own narrative, assembled here in thoughtful concert.
On the right wall, a vibrant large-scale work by Miranda Makaroff anchors the space. Working across art, fashion, and interiors, Makaroff brings her signature sense of density, pattern, and saturated color to the composition. The palette lends itself naturally to its surrounding inhabitants: Lucia Neamtu’s Melted Lamps in Large and Small, Ian Alistair Cochran’s Dew Drop 1, and Merve Kahraman’s Chicklet Table Lamp frame the piece from left to right, all grounded atop a bed of checkered Astroturf that adds an unexpected tactile layer underfoot.
Nearby, Pilar Zeta’s Egg of Reflection invites viewers to inspect both themselves and their surroundings through a perfectly polished chrome egg perched atop a satin-finished gold sphere. The piece blends clarity and obscurity in real time, collapsing reflection and perception into a single moment. Flanked by Zeta’s Side Table, Karen Atta’s delightfully biomimetic Cloudbusting 2 towers above, introducing a sense of vertical drama and dynamic tension within the vignette.
Along the left wall, the lilting gradients of Facture Studio come into focus through the Wave Desk, Wave Mirror, and Wave LL Side Table. Their aquatic hues ripple gently across the surface, offset by the bright cyan-and-white checkerboard pattern of Merve Kahraman’s Hozcal Lamp, which injects graphic contrast and visual rhythm into the composition.
In the left corner, four distinct pieces join the choir. Courtney Kinnare’s Plume Mirror floats on the wall, while Brandi Howe’s Mushroom Side Table sits directly in front, grounding the arrangement. A Chicklet Floor Lamp claims the true corner, and Bert Furnari’s Contour Mirror on the back wall neatly reflects the Mushroom Side Table, folding the objects back into one another through repetition and reflection.
Lit with an almost unearthly brightness, Keep It Curious embraces contrast – between softness and structure, fantasy and function, polish and play. Exactly what it promises, the exhibition from Tuleste Factory is ephemeral, eclectic, and unafraid of difference, toeing the line between what is earthly and what feels just beyond reach, the crunch of Astroturf underfoot serving as a final reminder that curiosity, like play, is best experienced with the whole body engaged.
To learn more about the Keep It Curious exhibition by Tuleste Factory, visit tulestefactory.com.
Photography by Matthew Gordon.