At the seventh of edition of Collectible, Brussels’ international fair dedicated to 21st century collectible design, the lines are blurred between the functional and the conceptual. This year’s show (7-10 March 2024) returned to the 1930s Vanderborght Building. Founders Clélie Debehault and Liv Vaisberg have brought in a mix of returning gallerists and designers as well as newcomers.
BEST OF COLLECTIBLE 2024
Varna Collection by Atelier Pendhapa for Boon Editions
On the functional side, there’s Paris-based Boon Editions' collection of tables and seating designed by Atelier Pendhapa, which was founded by architects Antonin Hautefort and Ignatio Tenggara. With its curves and simple lines, Varna - in massive American oak and mohair velvet - has a 1970s vibe.
Relay Design Projects’ Ghost Series by HAHA Studio
Commissioning platform Relay Design Projects in London presents Ghost Series by Stockholm’s HAHA Studio. Made in Sweden, the limited edition aluminium wall lights, floor lights and stools were inspired by computer chips and made using a CNC machine, which created subtle surface details. As part of Relay’s brief to HAHA, all the pieces can be flat-packed, for ease of shipping and to help their sustainability.
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LALA Cabinet by Reda Amalou
French architect Reda Amalou has his own furniture collection, Galerie, and this LALA Cabinet stood out with its cloisonné enamel decoration. The Chinese art of cloisonné, where coloured pieces are held in place with metal strips, was once reserved for imperial use. Here, it’s applied to bronze-backed enamel tiles, which cover this geometric piece on slender legs of American walnut.
Dirk Duif, Arthur Vandergucht and Nicolas Zanoni for Uppercut
This is the first ever fair for Antwerp’s Uppercut gallery, which was only established in 2023. The brutalist, sand-blasted steel mirrors with balustrade-style shelving by Eindhoven-based designer Dirk Duif, ooze functionality.
Less brutal and more playful is Flemish designer Arthur Vandergucht’s offering. The laser cut, white coated layers of stainless steel with blue flowers, is not a precarious baby-changing table but a shelving unit titled Flower Rivet Shelf.
More experimental is Uppercut’s lava dining table. Created from heat-pressed Polystyrene waste, Paris-born designer Nicolas Zanoni has used flames to give the table top a marble effect and a burnt effect on the base.
Diederik Schneemann’s 1st Lucky Dynasty Ming Vase
Rotterdam-based designer Diederik Schneemann also experiments with materials, but ones that already exist. His 1st Lucky Dynasty Ming Vase is fashioned from dice whose dots are Delft blue, which he had specially made. The top part of the vessel lifts off to reveal a glass vase inside. In a similar vein, his 2020 Matchbox King grandfather clock was also on show here.
Ariel by Federica Zama
Italian designer Federica Zama embraces the theme of the Curated section of the show: ‘a public display of affection’. 'The topic is love,' says Curated’s curator Rawad Baaaklini, 'because love stories, like collectible pieces, endure the test of time.' In a previous life, Zama designed kitchens for Poggenpohl in London.
Here, she combined an oven with a writing-desk-cum-vanity-unit and mirror. Does it embrace, question or mock traditional domestic roles? Zama says she has 'a feminine eye for design. I see Ariel as sculpture and classical design,' she says, and it’s also a message to her partner that she wants them to live together. The briar wood and plywood piece hangs from the wall, 'to remind us that love is fragile,' she says, and also to make it mobile. So even artistic statements can be practical.
From 5-8 September 2024, Collectible will make its first foray beyond Brussels. It’s debuting at New York City’s cultural hub WSA, in collaboration with Water Street Projects during the Armory Show art fair. The plan is to take some existing Collectible exhibitors over, and also to show north American gallerists and designers.
