The Miami Design District as we know it today began with a meeting of minds.

In 2008, Michael Burke, then at Fendi and now chairman and CEO of LVMH Americas, was introduced to Miami entrepreneur and developer Craig Robins through Design Miami, the annual design fair Robins cofounded and which originally took shape in the district. Burke had made Fendi a fair sponsor in 2009, but the collaboration sparked something much bigger.

“We spent the week together,” Burke recalled during Miami Art Week on Tuesday afternoon. “And it turned out we had similar ideas.”

It was an unlikely moment to dream big; it was amid a recession.

“I’ll never forget,” he said of the time, remarking that economic downturns also bring opportunity.

Together, they envisioned converting the underutilized neigh

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