Ladurée Pops Up for Art Basel at Chrome Hearts in Design District

Art Basel is still a few months out, but already major fashion and artistic brands are planning to be a part of the multi-day art show and its numerous satellite events. 

Luxury French macaron shop, Ladurée, is popping up at the Chrome Hearts store in Miami's Design District (4025 NE Second Ave.). Maison Ladurée will open a ground-floor café, with a temporary Sean Kelly Gallery setting up house on the second floor. Although there are no official dates, the café is tentatively scheduled for a Saturday, November 21, opening date and will close sometime in February, though those dates may change.

The café will feature a menu of dishes exclusively for the space, offering both sweet and savory choices. Offerings will include salads, club sandwiches, ice cream, milk shakes, teas, jams, and macarons.

The most coveted item on the menu will surely be a special collectible box featuring illustrations from Chrome Hearts' Pete Punk Offspring line. The box can be filled with any of the 16 different flavors of macarons including vanilla, coffee, green apple, orange blossom, and a blue-hued Marie Antoinette version. Macarons cost about $2.80 each. 

The Sean Kelly Gallery will present a selected installation of work by several artists including Marina Abramovi?, Los Carpinteros, Jose Dávila, Robert Mapplethorpe, Mariko Mori, Alec Soth,and Kehinde Wiley.

The French pastry company was founded in 1862 and was the first ever tea salon in Paris. It's most famous for the colorful, delicate macarons. Although Ladurée is an international brand, it has only three outposts in the United States. Two are located in New York City. The third U.S. Ladurée opened on Lincoln Road in February 2014.

Chrome Hearts in the Design District has long been known as more than a retail store. Since the boutique opened in December 2014, it's housed the work of numerous artists. Co-owner Laurie Lynn Stark says of the collaboration: "Working with Sean on the gallery aspect was only natural — he’s been a friend of ours for over a decade and have a mutual trust in each other’s instincts. With Ladurée, I think of what they do as an art form as well. We have built a close personal friendship as neighbors on Madison Avenue [in New York City] and will now collaborate on our space in the Design District. While this may seem like an unexpected union, we are both family businesses with a persevering commitment to quality and design distinction. Since we are both working so much, it was all about making work a pleasure."

The Ladurée café hours will be Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sunday from noon to 6 p.m. The gallery will be open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.