Home Hotel, Buenos Aires, courtesy of Home Hotel

“¡Que linda!” In Buenos Aires, it’s the Spanish I-level pleasantry that I utter more than even “hello” and “thank you”—even if it’s to myself. That’s because this cosmopolitan city is not just “pretty,” it’s a visual feast: taxis are adorned with painted curlicues, a public-works building dubbed the Water Palace is clad in 300,000 faience bricks (by Royal Doulton) and the seat of power is a rose-hued mansion called the Pink House. Those historic edifices earned this city its “Paris of the Pampas” moniker, but they had been solely a pretty backdrop to the traveler seeking tango or steak or dollar-to-peso deals on both. For the aesthetically minded, though, that European grandeur is a gleaming gold frame on a vibrant contemporary art and design scene that is poised
to become the city’s next calling card.

My most recent trip overlapped with the Argentine capital’s yearly cultural apex, ArteBA, a week-long contemporary arts fair that draws nearly 150,000 visitors and calls itself the largest cultural event in Latin America. At night I tagged alongside collectors, curators and gallerists to the fair (open till 10pm), late-night dinners and even later parties. But by day I hit the cobblestones in search of the finest home furnishings in town.

Traveling to Buenos Aires reentered the vogue in 2002 after an economic crash crippled the peso from a first-world exchange rate to third. The city has recovered somewhat since then (it’s now $3.45AR to $1USD), but its identity was shaken. The crash had another effect: artists and designers who had previously sought outside inspiration and resources started looking closer to home. For Hernán Salamanco, that meant reusing the town’s ubiquitous metal For Sale signs as canvas for his abstract paintings, which are now shown at the blue-chip Braga Menendez gallery. It also prompted BA’s biggest home-furnishings success story, Airedelsur, a line of tabletop and accessories sold at Saks Fifth Avenue, Robb & Stucky and soon Barneys New York. Founder Marcelo Lucini hung up his suit in 2001 to explore his native country for business ideas. The result is finely crafted accessories made with local materials, such as horn, leather, wood and alpaca silver, by indigenous families in northwest Argentina.

Lucini also recently opened a boutique in Recoleta, a cosmopolitan neighborhood that’s home to luxury shops, an enchanting cemetery and the classic Alvear Palace Hotel, which serves a first-rate tea on a custom-made Limoge pattern with gold-and-aqua trim. Although the area is teeming with leather-goods shops, a design-minded shopper is better off elsewhere. Historic San Telmo is a treasure trove of antiques with an enthralling outdoor flea market every Sunday, but for quirky boutiques and only-in-Argentina finds, head to Palermo.

Vintage gloves at the Galeria de la Defensa, an 1880s house filled with quirky vendors

Entering Palemo Hollywood

The thoroughfare Godoy Cruz, which hugs the train tracks that split twin neighborhoods Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood (named for their shop and film studio concentrations, respectively), is a gold mine. There, Argentina Elementos sells fine wool and vicuna rugs and home accessories made by hand in Argentina. (For 850 pesos I picked up an 8-by-10-foot Greek key rug with natural white and black sheep yarn.) Graciela Churba offers modern rug designs that can be customized to match a Pantone swatch. At Net Furniture, goatskin and indigenous woods such as Lapacho make handsome woven seats and stools, and giant cedar-veneer pendant lights evoke tropical forests. A few blocks down, Lauro O., run by one of the country’s preeminent interior designers, sells furniture sheathed in pale linen slipcovers. La Pasionaria jumbles wares from the 1920s to 1950s in a hangar. Its 1930s-era hotel china was mesmerizing and could fit in a suitcase (especially when protected by a rug).

Deeper into Palermo Soho, Arte Ètnico Argentino is a trove of gallery-worthy handwoven textiles and rough-hewn chairs. A pretty old butcher’s shop nearby is home to Bacano, one of the few spots selling locally made furnishings side by side with fine art, including paintings by Juan Torcoletti, a Buenos Aires-born artist who works in New York. If this May finds you in BA, you’ll see Torcoletti holding court at Bacano’s ArteBA stand in La Rural.

Despite a swarm of collectors from the UK, Russia and the States, the annual fair doesn’t yet draw the crowds that Art Basel or its Miami counterpart does, but nor does ArteBA suffer its flaws. Here, you don’t have to be a boldface name to get attention from a gallery principal, poke your head inside storage closets jammed with yet-unseen paintings, or make a stunning purchase (at 10 pm)and still have funds to ship it home. That is a thing of beauty. ¡Que linda!—indeed.

La Pasionaria, a warehouse of 1920’s-1960s goods

PLANNING
The most popular times to head to Argentina are during the southern hemisphere’s spring (September-November) and summer (December-February). ArteBA 2009 is May 22-26.

GETTING THERE
LAN delivers daily, nonstop business class service from JFK to Buenos Aire’s EZE via Santiago.

SHOPS, GALLERIES and MUSEUMS
Airedelsur, Galería Promenade Alvear, Av. Alvear 1883, 54-11/4802-6100
Argentina Elementos, El Salvador 4817, Palermo Soho, 54-11/4832-6971
Arte Ètnico Argentino, El Salvador 4656, 54-11/4832-0516
Bacano, Armenia 1544, 54-11/4831-3564
Braga Menedez Atre Contemporáneo, Humboldt 1574, 54-11/4775-5577
Cualquier Verdura, Humberto 517, 54-11/4300-2474
Elementos Argentinos, Godoy Cruz 1720, 54-11/4832-6299
Galeria de la Defensa, Defensa 1179, (no phone)
Graciela Churba, Godoy Cruz 1774, 54-11/4834-6992
La Pasionaria, Godoy Cruz 1541, 54-11/4773-0563
Laura O., Godoy Cruz 1575, 54-11/4776-8899
Net Furniture, Godoy Cruz 1740, 54-11/4833-3901
Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), Ave. Figueroa Alcorta 3415, 54-11/4808-6500
Papelera Palermo, Honduras 4945, 54-11/4833-3081

DESIGN-CENTRIC HOTELS
Alvear Palace Hotel, Ave. Alvear 1891, 54-11/4808-2100
Faena Hotel + Universe, Martha Salotti 445, 54-11/4010-9000
Home Hotel, Honduras 5860, 54-11/4778-1008
Park Hyatt Buenos Aires, Ave. Alvear 1661, 54-11/5171-1234
Ultra Hotel Buenos Aires, Gorriri 4929, 54-11/4833-9200