Design Snobs Assemble: Collectible Has Touched Down in NYC
September is a notoriously jam-packed month in the creative industries (NYFW, Paris Design Week, London Design Festival...you get it), and Collectible—the world’s only fair dedicated to contemporary collectible design, founded by Clélie Debehault and Liv Vaisberg—jumped on the bandwagon in a major way. Through September 8, their annual exhibition (which had its past seven iterations in Brussels) has placed itself firmly in Manhattan’s newest art space, Water Street Projects.
“Collectible is more than just a commercial fair. Over the past seven years, we’ve built a strong community of designers, galleries, collectors, curators, and enthusiasts of contemporary design,” the cofounders tell us. “Our goal is to bring that same sense of community to the U.S., fostering connections and creating bridges across the ocean.”
After all, despite buzzwords like globalization, European and American design approaches are not mirror images of each other. Per Debehault and Vaisberg, “European designers tend to experiment with materials in ways that result in more tech-driven designs—often blending craftsmanship with the digital world. This contrasts with the more organic lines often seen in U.S. design.” The duo wanted to create a fusion of such approaches, and thus a place ripe with inspiration, via Collectible.
No matter how chock-full your schedule is right now, this is one event you don't want to miss. Those who are, indeed, able to attend (public day tickets cost $45; all-access passes cost $75) are in for a treat and a half. Collectible’s inaugural NYC edition will feature four sections and four curated spaces—including Bespoke, highlighting commissioned works; New Garde, which aims to boost contemporary design’s next generation of talent; and Curated, with works by the likes of the ELLE DECOR A-List Debut firm Charlap Hyman & Herrero.
Debehault and Vaisberg have a particular penchant for the latter. “We are particularly enthusiastic about the Curated section. Designed by Sonya Tamaddon and inspired by Frank O’Hara’s poem 'Having a Coke with You,' with scenography by Rafael Prieto, it creates the feeling of an ideal apartment—one you’d want to move into immediately,” they tell ELLE DECOR. “The atmosphere, combined with the objects, resonates well in New York.”
If all this sounds amorphous, that’s partially the point. After all, the exhibition is highly conceptual—aimed at interrogating dense topics such as post-postmodernism while remaining rooted by the three-dimensionality of objects visitors will come face-to-face with.
For design aficionados who are also auditory learners, Collectible will host a daily talks program to spotlight leading voices and fresh perspectives in design. On mic rotation will be Vaisberg herself, ELLE DECOR A-Lister Oliver Furth, and beyond. On Saturday at 11 a.m., our editor-in-chief, Asad Syrkett, will moderate a panel on NYC’s design scene and all of its accompanying dynamism.
Your forecast going into the weekend? Sunny, with a chance of glimpsing some of the most avant-garde and trailblazing pieces of collectible design at present.
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