Inside New York’s Collectible Design Fair
What It’s Really Like to Spend a Week on a Fair Floor
Opening night at the second year of Collectible was shoulder to shoulder. Our booth, M17, became an unofficial lesbian meet-up, though I’d say half of the women we invited never found us in the maze of colorful 10x10 booths and the very chic crowd. The fair took place on the 39th floor of Water Street Projects (WSA), with incredible panoramic views paired with a raw industrial space of concrete floors and exposed ceilings. That seems to be the quintessential look for Collectible, which returned for its second New York edition, showing some of the best in contemporary collectible design.
We showed work by three artists: Karina Sharif, who had a solo show with us earlier this year; Clarissa Guzman of Platform Studio; and Steffany Tran of Vy Voi, both part of our New York Design Week presentation, Outside/In.
Karina Sharif’s Sometimes Mother and Totem, made of ceramic and hand painted paper petals. Her work honors the Black femme, woman, trans, gender expansive, and non binary diaspora.
Platform Studio’s hand built candelabras, Sanctum and Ceremonia, rooted in Clarissa’s childhood memories of gazing up at grand church candelabras, honoring the architecture and symbolism of her forbears.
Vy Voi’s Kite In-Flight, featured in the New York Times earlier this year, telling the story of whistling kites in Vietnam.
We chose a bold wall color, Farrow & Ball’s Titmouse Blue, which drew overheard comments like “witchy” and “a vibe.” I’ll take it.
What I Saw Walking the Floor
Kombi, our neighbor to the right, spotlighting South African designers.
Exclama, my neighbor to the left, a nomadic gallery from Colombia. Their tea light sconce by Juan Echeverria sold immediately.
Jesse Groom and Yuxuan Huang joined forces for a collaborative booth showcasing their new sculptural light collections.
Ollin’s Viktoria Barbo and Noel Hernandez, debuting their stone, steel, and leather inspired collection Umbral. By Sunday I spotted Viktoria in the corner firing off invoices left and right. You go, Ollin.
Down the hall from us, our friends at Jamieri, telling the story of Georgian culture through objects made by local artisans.
Emily Thurman’s presentation, chic as ever. Hardly a day goes by that I don’t think about her Stacks Smoking Table, the Sunday night pre-roll accessory of my dreams.
Monica Curiel’s piece Sewing on Saturday Morning, a vessel inspired by summers on her grandmother’s porch sewing, mending, and washing clothes, shown at The Object Boutique booth.
Kritika Manchandra’s As You Were, an ethereal resin table and chair draped in silk organza with a pressed shirt. I love her pressed textiles. We showed her piece Dinner Napkin in our Gathered exhibition.
I always love an Of The Cloth and Kawabi’s collaboration. Irisa and Aaron of Kawabi created larger than life sculptural paper lighting that always had a crowd around them, probably because it was impossible not to feel a sense of calm standing in front of their work.
By Sunday, the last day, it was all of us exhibitors holding on for dear life. On opening morning I was told that my little stool for sitting was not allowed in booths; by the end of the week one exhibitor had brought in a camping chair and I was perched on a spare pedestal in the hallway. The fair began with everyone in their chic little shoes and outfits, then slowly surrendered to sneakers. You could find us all circling the floor asking how everyone was holding up, counting down the hours left of introverting. And then suddenly it was over. That same night you pack up, load out, and already it feels nostalgic in a way.
The best part of doing this fair, in my opinion, is the bonds it creates between exhibitors. When you’re standing for five days side by side, sharing snacks, talking shop, asking if they need anything on your brief trip to the outside world for Walgreens runs, you can’t help but connect.
Those who visit rarely see how much goes into fairs like this. Which is fair, because at the end of the day when you look around you’re like, how hard could putting on something like this really be? But it takes a village. So here’s to the Collectible team, to the designers whose work we were proud to show, and to everyone who came through the doors during a very calendar-packed week of events in New York. Until next year.
