Designer: Laurinda Spear (b. 1950)

Item: Picture Frame

Manufactured by: Plata Lappas, Buenos Aires for Swid Powell

Country of origin: Argentina

Year made: 1986

Materials: Silverplate over brass

Dimensions: 4” x 3 ½” x 1 ¼”

Condition: Excellent.

Description: This is the second Spear frame for Swid Powell we’ve had the opportunity to sell. It is marked on the back Swid Powell, Made in Argentina with the Spear’s signature. Spear designed several items for Swid Powell including a baby cup and tray.

Spear is an FAIA, ASLA, LEED AP American architect and landscape architect based in Miami, Florida. She is one of the founders of Arquirectonica, an international architecture, planning, and interior design firm formed in 1977. One of Spear’s designs, the Atlantis tower, became a symbol of Miami due to its frequent appearances on the television show Miami Vice. Spear has designed several hundred buildings located around the world. In 1992, she was made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. In 1999 she was inducted into the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame and she was also the winner of the prestigious Rome Prize in Architecture. Examples Spear’s designs for Swid Powell can be found in the Yale University Art Gallery and Brooklyn Art Museum collections. Her Swid Powell objects are increasingly difficult to find.