Inspired to create a liveable space within a Mediterranean garden, Munder-Skiles turned to Locus Landscape and the Todolí Citrus Foundation for collaboration. Together they created ‘Máquia Cítrica’, an indoor Mediterranean garden made up of olive trees, myrtle, cypress, holm oak and unusual citrus trees that wrap around the space creating cozy living areas equipped with comfortable furnishings.

“This invitation from ARCO to design the A Very Welcoming Lounge and First Collectors Rooms was an opportunity to present our furniture pieces within the framework of the fair, surrounded by contemporary art and in direct dialogue with it,” says Chip Allemann, president of Munder-Skiles.

The result is a garden that endows the 42nd edition of ARCO with its very own citrus scent. Creating a space, which has become popularly known as the Lemon Tree Stand, filled with the colors of the open air, uniting the natural world, design and art.

Among the nearly 500 varieties of citrus fruit grown by the Todolí Citrus Fundació, Todolí proposed that the cidro (Citrus medica) should be most prominent fruit in this space created for ARCO. The history and expansion of this fruit in Europe is strongly linked to art and collecting by the hand of Cosimo de Medici, who was the first great citrus collector in the 16th century and gave great prominence to cidros for their rarity of shapes and variety of colors.

“When, in the process of my research, I discovered that Cosimo de Medici was the first citrus fruit collector, I saw the relationship between citrus fruits and art,” says curator Vicente Todolí.

It has recently opened its first showroom in Europe, choosing Calle Serrano Anguita in Madrid for this purpose.

ARCO took place in Madrid from 22 – 26 February 2023.