Hot on the heels of summer, the first week of September feels like “back to school” for the New York creative set as a series of major transdisciplinary initiatives draw the artistically-inclined out of vacation mode. Beyond the usual fall buzz fueled by The Armory Show and Fashion Week, popular Belgian design platform, Collectible, landed in New York for the first time, bringing with it an impressive roster of international creatives.
Within the raw, postmodern shell of WSA—the FiDi insurance-tower-turned-cool-kid-office that became prime real estate for tastemaking agencies, outlets, and studios after a series of heavily instagrammed celebrity soirees, culinary demonstrations, and art installations executed by interdisciplinary creative platform, Water Street Projects—Collectible’s inaugural New York edition presents over 100 exhibitors across two of the building’s unobstructed and unfinished concrete and travertine floors.
Announced in March at the opening of the fair’s seventh Brussels edition, Collectible New York managed to pull together an impressively varied list of exhibitors in just six months. Under the stewardship of Collectible co-founders, Clélie Debehault and Liv Vaisberg, and with direction from French design advisor and curator, Emily Marant, this new edition sought to “engage in cultural exchange” and further bridge the collectible design markets of the U.S., Europe, and beyond.
Unlike most U.S. design fairs, Collectible focuses entirely on work produced in the 21st century and welcomes a healthy mix of established and up-and-coming galleries, studios, and independent designers. While a number of the Belgian fair’s European exhibitors elected to also show in New York, much of the roster is made up of newcomers hailing from the U.S., Canada, and Mexico.
With a layout designed by scenography specialist, Volfram, the fair is divided into four distinct sections and four curated spaces. Across categories and themes that inventively and intuitively engage with multiple creative disciplines, Collectible New York introduces a fresh, inclusive, and, frankly, much-needed platform for contemporary collectible design in the U.S. The show brings with it an energy that stands to firmly position design among the ranks of art and fashion within the creative fervor of this September period, with some going as far to deem this New York’s “new design week.” It will be interesting to observe how the design industry capitalizes upon this postulation in 2025, but for now, here are some moments from this year’s fair that we’re still thinking about.
Courtesy of Matthew Gordon Studio
Courtesy of Matthew Gordon Studio
Immediately upon entry to the fair, visitors are engulfed in a bold sea of red. Plush carpet and wall-to-wall pipe and drape set the stage for a black and white sound system from Silence Please, a young collective of artists, musicians, acousticians, and product designers united by their love for music. The three-way system is completely analog, consisting of a vinyl plater, rotary mixer, and custom tube amp monoblocks. Its large, bulbous horns naturally amplify sound, allowing for a stadium-quality sound stage using very little power.
The “St Vincents edit by Michael Hilal” included works from Brian Thoreen (Los Angeles and Mexico City), Christopher Norman, (Los Angeles), EWE Studio, (Mexico City), Hadge, (Ghent, Belgium), Haring, (Antwerp, Belgium), Michael Hilal, (San Francisco), Nick Valentijn, (Roermond, Netherlands), Samantha McCurdy, (Los Angeles), and Studio Kuhlmann (Cologne, Germany). (Jonathan Hökklo)
St Vincents Edit by Michael Hilal at Collectibe New York
Upstairs in the MAIN section, a group of 19 galleries and collectives occupied the fair’s largest booths. In the “St Vincents edit by Michael Hilal,” Antwerp-based gallery St Vincents granted San Francisco-based interior designer, Michael Hilal, carte blanche to curate a thoughtful showcase that bridges the artistic sensibilities of North America and Belgium/Europe. The presentation is built on a long-standing collaboration between the designer and the gallery, and features new works from Hilal’s Big Sur collection, including a massive, ice blue edition of the Big Sur modular sofa, made in partnership with Los Angeles-based studio, Christopher Norman Projects. The presentation comprises the work of nine international designers, including Los Angeles and Mexico City-based Brian Thoreen. His cast bronze and neoprene rubber Elephant Chairs explore the weight, shape, and malleability of rubber to create playful and striking seating.
A presentation in the main section of the fair by London-based Max Radford Gallery included work by Isabel Alonso, EJR Barnes, Amelia Stephens, Lewis Kemmenoe, Eddie Olin, and Charlie Humble Thomas. (Simon Leung)
Eddie Olin, Lewis Kemmenoe, and More Presented by Max Radford Gallery
Next door, London-based Max Radford Gallery presented a compelling composition of furniture and lighting. Many of the pieces, including the carved wood Modern Patchwork Chair by Lewis Kemmenoe and the British limestone and cast stainless steel Expedition Table by Eddie Olin, were created as part of Now4Then, an exhibition in partnership with London’s famed modern furniture purveyor, Aram. This past May, Now4Then showcased work by ten emerging UK designers to launch the Aram store’s collectible gallery space.
Courtesy of Simon Leung
French Cliché’s MAIN section presentation consisted of a series of bold, chromatic works, including three jellyfish-like Pulpopolis lamps by Brooklyn-based designer Kickie Chudikova. Founded in 2019 by Collectible New York director, Emily Marant, and Hugo Matha, French Cliché is driven by the idea of supporting the new generation of talent in collectible design. Every piece is developed collaboratively between these emerging designers and renowned craftsmen as numbered and signed limited editions.
The travertine floors of WSA served as a complimentary background for Of the Cloth’s “A Dream Affirmed” presentation. (Simon Leung)
A Renewed Focus on Contemporary Design
The work of Atlanta- and New York-based collector and curator Tione Trice has existed in many forms over the years, from the curation of international exhibitions to filling brick-and-mortar stores with nostalgic, one-of-a-kind wares centered around a dialogue of spacial wellness and renewal. This work falls collectively under the umbrella that is Of the Cloth, which returned after a year-long reflection to present “A Dream Affirmed” in Collectible’s MAIN section. Representing a renewed focus on contemporary works that draw inspiration from the past, the showcase is a curated selection of works from Kevin Claiborne, lighting sculptures by Kawabi, reimagined 19th-century chairs by Kim Hill, and a thoughtfully arranged collection of objects that inspired the exhibit.
The “An Emporers new clothes” totem chair. (Courtesy Jack Simonds Studio)
The “Does the devil live inside me?” lamp is made from a dead agave titonoa plant found in Mallorca. (Courtesy Jack Simonds Studio)
The BESPOKE section of the fair includes a number of commissioned installations from independent designers, like Brooklyn-based British artist, Jack Simonds. Demonstrating the breadth of his surrealist, nature-inspired portfolio, the space juxtaposes biomorphic furnishings made from carved wood and natural stone with spiked plantings and delicate brass baubles.
Courtesy of Simon Leung
A New Garde at Collectible New York
Within the NEW GARDE section, which is dedicated to galleries and collectives conceived within the past 3 years, Brooklyn-based Studio S II announced the House of S II: a collectible design gallery that will launch in Ridgewood, Queens in early 2025. Led by longtime collaborators Erica Sellers and Jeremy Silberberg, the studio used Collectible as a platform for a satellite version of the impending physical space. The presentation showcases works from 13 designers and artists, including Mark Malecki, Yolande Milan Batteau, J Mcdonald, and Nima Jeizan.
Courtesy of Simon Leung
Courtesy of Senne Van der Ven & Eefje De Coninck
Charged with constructing the CURATED section of the show, New York-based independent curator Sonya Tamaddon took inspiration from New York poet, critic and Museum of Modern Art curator Frank O’Hara‘s 1960 poem Having a Coke With You. “To step into New York one steps into countless other cities, journeying through past and present,” says Tomaddon. “In Having a Coke With You, places and memories create a rich tapestry of references to the many geographies our section’s exhibitors represent whilst nodding to COLLECTIBLE’s roots in Europe and the fair’s expansion for its debut New York edition.” Multidisciplinary designer and founder of Savvy Studio, Rafael Prieto, reconciles these layered references with an exhibition design composed of printed wallpaper containing film photography of his own home in Manhattan as well as travels abroad.
One corner of the exhibition contains Italian designer Federica Zama’s Domenica, a unique oxidized stainless steel breakfast console for indoor and outdoor use. A large, printed paper lantern, the product of a collaboration between Charlap-Hyman & Herrero principal, Adam Charlap-Hyman, and his mother, the artist Pilar Almon. Across the way, a delicate screen by Antwerp-based textile designer, Nathalie Van der Massen, creates a gorgeous backdrop for a chocolate ceramic vessel by native Brooklyn artist, Devin Wilde. Further into the exhibition, the MD Stool from Mexico City-based ERM Studio acts as a striking side table, its form akin to a three-dimensional Rorschach print.
Courtesy NJ Roseti
Last but certainly not least, curation by San Francisco-based art and design collective, Studio AHEAD, produced a number of standout presentations in the ARCHITECT ⇔ DESIGNER section. Seeking to highlight the overlap between architecture and design, founders Homan Rajai and Elena Dendiberia tapped NJ Roseti and Caleb Ferris, two recent California transplants who share a studio in Brooklyn, to design architectural columns, evocative of their respective styles but presented in tandem to highlight the diverse approaches that emerge from shared creative challenges.
Courtesy of Simon Leung
Argentinian designer, chef, and Fefo Studio founder, Fernando Aciar, teamed up with Hungarian architect Kamilla Csegzi to present Act II of The Ephemeral Table. After allowing a mycelium table structure to grow around discarded scraps from Aciar’s Brooklyn ceramic studio, the impressions were then used to inform the shape of 10, hand blown glass vessels. The collaboration uses the growing vegetative structure of mycelium to present a playful dialogue between positive and negative, content and container, and natural and artificial.
Collectible New York was on view at 161 Water Street from September 5th-8th.
