Organic forms, pop geometry and plenty of bling set the mood for this year’s Collectible design fair in Brussels. Established in autumn 2017 by art and design market veterans Clélie Debehault and Liv Vaisberg, Collectible is a conscious step away from the reductive feel of most design fairs. Favouring tomorrow’s tastemakers over yesterday’s greatest hits, Collectible is dedicated exclusively to 21st-century collectible design, and the increasing overlap of art, design, and architecture that we are currently witnessing.
This vision expands in Collectible’s second edition, which runs 14 – 17 March 2019. Art galleries and cultural institutions join forces with over 90 designers filling the sumptuous digs of the Vanderborght building, a former 1930s furniture store located in the heart of Brussels.
Among the design gallery heavyweights like Maniera and Valerie Traan, this year’s run includes young blood. Functional Art Gallery, Berlin’s first space for contemporary collectible design, will exhibit the armchairs by OrtaMiklos, while The Impermanent Collection will debut new works by artist duo Ker-Xavier.
Trilithon Side Table by OS ∆ OOS.
Individual designer and design studio highlights include the modern architectural creations of Emily Forgot (represented by SKAL) and the otherworldly surfaces of Studio Furthermore’s ceramic foam forms.
There will also be two new sections of the fair this year. One of these is dedicated to art galleries exploring the porous boundaries between art and design, including Almine Rech Gallery, exhibiting the ultra-textured ceramics of Johan Creten and the dreamy tableaux of painter Jean-Baptiste Bernadet. Meanwhile, the other new section will show work by recent graduates of the Royal College of Art and the Design Academy Eindhoven, among other European design schools.
Above, ‘Barbar’ table by Studio Anne Holtrop, for Maniera. Below, Harry Morgan for Modern Shapes Gallery.
A trio of Belgian institutions, Design Museum Gent, the Brussels Design Museum and CID du Grand-Hornu, will come together to serve up a slice of history amid all the new ideas, by exhibiting their latest acquisitions and donations that span from the 14th century to the present.
Unmissable in the special projects section is an immersive tube light landscape installation by New York- and Thessaloniki-based design studio Objects of Common Interest. For those seeking refuge from the sensory overload of this year’s fair, a specially curated bookstore by the Amsterdam-based art specialist San Serriffe offers an alternative environment.
With site-specific scenography by the Rotterdam-based architects Studio Verter, Collectible will no doubt offer the perfect setting for the collision of disciplines and mould-breaking approach that this category of design defines, offering an inviting environment in which to peruse and purchase.
Objects of Common Interest’s immersive light landscape installation at the fair.
INFORMATION
Collectible continues until 17 March. For more information, visit the website
ADDRESS
Rue de l’Ecuyer
1000 Brussels
Belgium
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