Art

’Tis the season of art trudgery, but steel yourself, because some art fairs (there are at least eight taking place in the next two weeks) can be soulless events; miles of white booths filled with as much product as the partition walls can handle. Design fairs are often even worse; veering between stalls for wholesale trade suppliers of laminate floors or tacky wallpaper and the kinds of stand usually found in Ideal Home Shows – selling window-washing or carrot-slicing gizmos. Even then, there’s nothing to prepare you for that simultaneous look of hope and horror in the eyes of the genuinely innovative young designers who’ve eagerly taken out a second mortgage to pay for a tiny space at these stuffy airport hangars.

A newcomer to the fair calendar, Designart, on the other hand, is an altogether different proposition from most be-carpeted souk marketplaces. Not only does it have a very swish Parisian cousin, the Pavillon des Arts et du Dessin, held in the Tuileries gardens every April, but its entire ethos is built around putting on a show, rather than piling ’em high and pulling in the punters. The organisers’ concept is to establish a twenty-first-century ‘Design Salon’ that mixes historical pieces with recent design, in a walkway of museum-quality rooms. It’s also mercifully small, with only 32 international galleries exhibiting in its marquee this year. Feature continues

Each gallery, vetted by a selection committee headed by London gallerist David Gill, really has to make an effort with their booths or risk looking cheap. Some bathe their whole space in black or marble effect, placing the limited-edition pieces of furniture on plinths as though they were sculpture. Others devise theatrical room sets with futuristic, Japanese or minimalist themes. Designart’s carefully manicured environments have less in common with the curated booths of top-end art fairs such as Frieze and are perhaps more like the bijou antiques stalls found among the mazes of the Parisian flea market at Porte de Clignancourt, the best of which are also miniature design exhibitions in their own right.

Not to be outdone by a panel of distinguished judges who will be awarding prizes to the best stands and individual exhibits at Designart, we at Time Out are inviting readers to vote for their favourites, both online and at the event. Our ‘People’s Award’ will be selected by you from a shortlist of five of the most interesting exhibitors at this year’s event, so start voting!

Which of these five galleries has the best booth? Pick your favourite from below vote in our People's Award or by voting at the fair – you might even win a case of Ruinart Champagne.

Carpenters Workshop London
One of a recent crop of galleries crossing high-end design with sculptural art, the Workshop shows futuristic designs by Jurgen Bey, Ron Arad and Atelier van Lieshout. For Designart, they will be unveiling a collaboration with British artist Marc Quinn as well as furnisculpture by Wendell Castle. View gallery

Dansk Møbelkunst Copenhagen
Vintage Scandinavian design has become a staple at mid-century furniture fairs and the look was endlessly copied in the 1970s. However, local expert Dansk shows the real thing – chairs by Fin Juhl and Arne Jacobsen for example – always set within a stunning arrangement. View gallery

Mouvements Modernes Paris
These young Parisian gallerists are newcomers to the Designart fair and are just as likely to collaborate on installations with fashion or industrial designers such as Doshi Levien of London as they are with one-off furniture makers such as Rolf Sachs or Nanda Vigo. Expect pop colours and exotic influences. View gallery

Pierre-Marie Giraud Brussels
Specialist in the much-maligned decorative arts (an older name for ‘Designart’), this Belgian gallery shows artists working in silver, stone and ceramics. Its slick presentations combine the functional and wearable with the out-and-out bizarre and colourful work, seen in a special display of American potter Ron Nagle that the gallery is bringing to the fair. View gallery

R20th Century New York
All participants pay close attention to their lighting but this Tribeca-based furniture dealer has decided to entrust the illuminations entirely to US designer Jeff Zimmerman, who has created a site-specific ceiling of glass-blown sculptural chandeliers to help show off its wares. View gallery.

Pick your favourite from below vote in our People's Award