09.13.24

Fair Report

Everything We Loved at Collectible’s First Design Fair in New York City

Last Sunday afternoon, as the first NYC edition of the Brussels-based contemporary design fair Collectible was just about to wrap, one of the fair directors paused in front of our booth and asked me how I thought the show had gone. “There are designers here we’ve never heard of,” I marveled, intending it as high praise indeed: For a European fair to show up on New York’s doorstep and show us something new (especially a fair planned in less than four months), well, I’d call that a success. Collectible, which took place at the burgeoning FiDi creative hub WSA, managed to both assemble a cornucopia of new ideas and draw a crowd, all from across the Atlantic. We brought our own dose of novelty to the show, with a booth that — while similar to our NY Design Week exhibition — showcased a new batch of 11 cabinets by 11 different design studios, all punctuated by hardware from my recently launched showroom, Petra.

Over the course of Collectible’s five-day run, we inevitably heard many fond comparisons to our own erstwhile New York design fair, Offsite, which ran from 2010 to 2018. But while both shows share(d) a focus on up-and-coming contemporary talent, Collectible — in New York last week as well as in its six-year Belgian run — skews more gallery-based, with a mission statement that’s reflected in its name. Offsite was always meant to be a little more down-to-earth; less about collectible design as a category and more about pieces that the average aesthete would want to live with. The first Collectible New York was an homage to artistry and craft at the highest level, from Karina Sharif’s chair nestled in a cloud of metal petals to the most insane 10-foot-tall garden folly we’ve ever seen (and loved), by Nicholas Devlin. In our own own booth, we made an effort to lean more towards that world with pieces like Jesse Groom’s aluminum cabinet, which was created through more than 200 hours of hand-welding, and a “bird house” that combined a wild 3D printed silhouette by Tristan Marsh with a meticulously eggshell-encrusted exterior by Caleb Engstrom.

Here, we’ve assembled some of our highlights from the show, from names both known to us and new to us, in case you missed it. With luck, you’ll get the chance see for yourself next year.

PHOTOS BY MATTHEW GORDON, JONATHAN HOEKKLO, SIMON LEUNG, PETER FAVINGER, AND JEONG HUR

Sight Unseen x Petra Hardware

Clay Brown (left), Studio POA (right)From left: Jesse Groom, Ryan Jones (wall/rectangular), Muhly, Alexis & Ginger (wall/hand), Tristan Marsh x Caleb EngstromRyan Jones, Alexis & Ginger
From left: Muhly cabinet with Fort Standard knobs, Tristan Marsh x Caleb Engstrom with UBR Studio knob (coming soon)
From left: Fort Standard, Charles Constantine, Clay Brown
From left: Steven Bukowski with Forever Studio knob, Luke Malaney with own knobs (coming soon)

Tang Badham

(Red bench by Chuch Estudio)

Atelier de Troupe

St. Vincents x Michael Hilal

Featuring works by Michael Hilal, Brian Thoreen, EWE Studio, Hadge, Haring, Nick Valentijn, Samantha McCurdy and Studio Kuhlmann

Curated by Sonya Tammadon

Florence Provencher-Prouix for Bruises GalleryLamp by Sophie Wahlquist, vase by Devin WildeSam IndamanMarquel WilliamsERM StudioPanorammma
Mehdi Dakhli Tino SeubertLuna Paiva

Room 57 Gallery

Brecht Wright Gander, Daniel Widrig

Karina Sharif at Lyle Gallery

Clara Jorisch

Otras Formas

James Dieter Booth installation Malcom Majer Kate Duncan

Aalvo Gallery

Rafael Triboli Pedro Ávila

Caleb Ferris x NJ Roseti

Max Radford Gallery

Featuring works by Amelia Stevens, Charlie Humble-Thomas, Lewis Kemmenoe, Anya Glik, Freddy Tuppen, EJR Barnes, Eddie Olin, Nic Sanderson, LS Gomma, Grace Prince, Isabel Alonso, and Andu Masebo