Collectible: Second Fair of Collectable Design in Brussel
Design fair Collectible returns for its second edition in Brussel on March 14th – 17th. The unique feature of this fair is that it is exclusively dedicated to contemporary collectible design of XXI century. The fair participants are designers and galleries from Europe, and mainly from Belgium and nearby France and Netherlands, but although from a number of other countries. Today we are going to tell you about main highlights and peculiarities of Collectable in this year.
Collectible was founded in the fall 2017 by art and design consultants Clélie Debehault and Liv Vaisberg, who made a bet on the symbiosis of design and art, which came up trumps. If even here, in Moscow, the collectible design galleries keep opening one after another, then it becomes quite easy to imagine what’s going on in Europe. This year, the connection between the design and the art is probably stronger than ever, since the fair is hosted at the Vanderborght Building – a former furniture department store located at the very heart of Brussel. According to Collectible official website, ‘the fair intends to break the mould of traditional fair formats, with an atmosphere and a set up very similar to a biennale. This feeling will be accentuated by the architecture of the space, which allows the visitor to naturally find the pathway.’
Among the design gallery heavyweights like Maniera (Brussel) and Valerie Traan (Antwerpen), 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 (gallery that was founded in 2013 in Los Angeles and held its first exhibition in 2015 in Brussel) will debut new works by Paris artist duo Ker-Xavier, architect Marie Corbin and artist Benoit Maire.
ORTAMIKLOS ARMCHAIRS, FUNCTIONAL ART GALLERY
Individual designer and design studio highlights include the modern architectural creations of Emily Forgot (represented by London gallery, SKAL) and already famous surfaces from ceramic sponge-like foam by Studio Furthermore from UK.
Wall panels Emily Forgot, Skål
Item is from the collection of Tektites, Studio Furthermore
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 – if previously Collectible viewed design as a form of art, then now the fair attempt to see the art as design. The section is relatively small, but bright and impressive. For example, Almine Rech Gallery (Paris, Brussel, London, New York) this year exhibited the ultra-textured ceramics of Johan Creten and the dreamy tableaux of painter Jean-Baptiste Bernadetm while Galerie Nathalie Obadia (Paris, Brussel) displayed the installation by Laure Prouvost, a French artist who resides and works in Antwerpen. The pieces by Prouvost are often called the art of Instagram generation, since the srtist skillfully combines the reality and the fiction as part of her works.
Ceramic sculpture Johan Kratena, Almine Rech Gallery
The other new section is dedicated to the young artists and in particular will show the works by recent graduates of the Royal College of Art and the Design Academy Eindhoven, among other European design schools. The only Russian participant of Young Designers & Design Studios Section is Taras Zheltyschev, who presents his Lymphochair chair at the fair.
Lymphochair, Taras zhEltyshev
Unmissable in the Special Projects section is an immersive tube light landscape installation by New York- and Athens-based design studio Objects of Common Interest. Their light installation is called Landscape and appears to be a still-life painting made of soft sculptures and abstract lamps that look like as if they grew directly from the mirror floor. The shapes and colors of objects are reminiscent of the natural curves often seen in the sand dunes, which is a tribute to the designer’s memories of their childhood in Greece.
FRAGMENT OF LANDSCAPE INSTALLATION BY OBJECTS OF COMMON INTEREST, CURATED PROJECT OF SIGHT UNSEEN
Another light-focused project was exhibited by Noguchi Museum. The Lights Fragments installation is composed of 26 lamps designed by the leading French design studio YMER & MALTA in collaboration ith six designers, including Japanese Nendo. The project is dedicated to the interdisciplinary interaction: the lamps are made of paper, resin, Plexiglas and concrete.
NENDO LAMPS FOR LIGHTS FRAGMENTS INSTALLATION, NOGUCHI MUSEUM
Since the visitors are encouraged to come to the fair with their family, on the 5th floor of the venue, there is dedicated Kids Corner. Of course, this play zone is not that simple. The project belongs to the Centre for Innovation and Design in Grand-Hornu (CID) that has designed the Kids Corner in collaboration with EcoBirdy. The studio designers focus on children furniture made of recycled plastic waste, and primary, the old children’s toys. The Kids Corner is opened from 12:00 to 20:00 and welcomes the children between 4 and 12 years old.
Children's furniture EcoBirdy
Seven interesting items at the Collectible fair
Side table OS ∆ OOS (Netherlands)
Collection The Gestalt, Sment (Belgium)
Bent table, Maria Takina (Netherlands)
Iridescent vase Johan Holtz, SEEDS Gallery (London)
Chair Schimmel and Schweikle, alfa.brussels (Brussels)
Collection New Moon Rock, Furthermore Studio (UK)
Table lamp Ker-Xavier, The Impermanent Collection (Brussels)