• by Tanya Gazdik , Staff Writer, December 5, 2022

Miami Art Week attracted some automotive brands including Porsche, Lincoln and Bentley. 

Much like The Quail: A Motorsports Gathering and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Art Basel and Miami Art Week have taken on a marketing element. With 20 international art fairs, more than 1,200 galleries and thousands of artists in attendance, Miami becomes a magnet for design lovers.

Non-automotive brands who signed on to various art week events as sponsors included Christie’s International Real Estate, Clarks, Hennessy, Tito’s Handmade Vodka and LaCroix Sparkling Water.

Porsche launched a brand experience in the digital world and unveiled its first collection of non-fungible tokens. Buyers can influence the design of their individual NFTs in a collaborative journey lasting several months, choosing from three core themes of the Porsche brand.

The Performance, Heritage and Lifestyle routes will influence the appearance and character of the digital collectibles. Owners then have access to their individual collector’s items in the virtual world, with each created by the Unreal Engine 5.

Starting in January, prospective customers will have access to a total of 7,500 unique digital collector’s items. Purchase of the NFTs is limited to three per person.

Meanwhile, Lincoln enlisted tennis icon Serena Williams for its Art Basel Miami Beach activation. In advance of the event, Serena Williams teased on her channels that a new fragrance was coming soon -- without revealing who was behind it.

Thursday night at the SLS South Beach Miami, Lincoln hosted “The Intersection of Scent and Sanctuary,” a panel discussion that included Williams and Lincoln Interior Design Chief Ryan Niemic. 

Following the panel, Lincoln unveiled an installation featuring the Lincoln Star Concept, which hints at the brand’s design for its future electric vehicles alongside its vision for a reimagined interiors sanctuary with Rejuvenation Moods, a harmonized sensory experience involving massage, motion graphics, audio and even scent.

The installation showed that the scent Williams teased on her channels was Coastal Morning, a fragrance of sea mist that's included in one of the Rejuvenation Mood Concepts that also uses gentle, oceanic sounds and dynamic lighting throughout the cabin to replicate a stroll on the beach at sunrise.

The evening ended with Williams signing hand-blown glass scent bottles containing Coastal Morning, which will be auctioned off to benefit The Boys and Girls Club of West Palm Beach.

Finally, Bentley unveiled a bespoke and distinctive Flying Spur Hybrid.  The car follows the launch of a limited-edition line of Bentley-inspired sneakers designed by customized shoe industry veteran Dominic Ciambrone, who is also known as “The Surgeon.”

A visit to Bentley in early 2022 inspired him to create a limited run of 10 pairs of bespoke sneakers, featuring Bentley craft signatures such as diamond quilting and cross stitching as well as his signature “Surgeon” skull and scalpel monogram. The sneakers were the springboard for the vehicle, based upon Bentley’s recently-acclaimed Flying Spur Hybrid.