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Collectible Fair Interview

Sitting at the crossroads of design, architecture and art, where did the vision for COLLECTIBLE initially begin, are there particular styles or mediums you champion?

Liv Vaisberg:
The reason we started COLLECTIBLE was exactly because of this type of design: unique pieces of very limited editions created with a mindset and process that does not fall into a traditional category and that didn’t yet have a platform to promote it. We wanted to reach a broad audience, giving them access to functional art and collectible design, showing them, you can collect pieces the same you collect art.

COLLECTIBLE platform exhibits galleries, designers and design studios split along a ‘Main Section’, ‘Bespoke Section’ and ‘Curated Section’. How do you find the balance between galleries and designers and what opportunities can this offer for emerging designers to exhibit in this setting?

Clélie Debehault:
Since its inception, we have always worked with our exhibitors. The collectible design scene is a community, a kind of interdependent ecosystem where we wanted everyone to be able to find their voice and discover what he or she wants out of COLLECTIBLE. This is why we have this array of museums, design magazines and exhibitors taking part. We created the curated section to allow for both emerging and established designers to present pieces.

Collaborating with leading curators, design institutions and foundations for COLLECTIBLE Fair, how does this diversity across practitioners impact upon the approach of the fair? How can this interplay across the creative sector inform the structure of your platform?

Liv Vaisberg:
We have always strived to involve all aspects of the creative community. Whether it be speakers for our talks, members of our committee or simply as visitors, we welcome curators and leading museum directors to take part. Collectible design is a design that is good enough to be collected by both private collectors and museums and this is an idea we have fostered from the beginning. We are delighted when we hear that some institutions have bought works from our exhibitors at COLLECTIBLE for their permanent collection.

The selection committee and honorary committee as part of COLLECTIBLE is built up of leading design industry figures. How did you come about building this committee and what is their selection criteria and involvement in the fair?

Clélie Debehault: Every year we have four different leading design industry figures that come from different countries and different sectors. We usually have a representative from an institution, one from an architectural and interior design standpoint, a journalist or editor and a director of a school. The jury selects who will take part in the fair. In order to build a COLLECTIBLE community, we invite our jury to stay involved by being part of an honorary committee.

‘Breaking the traditions of conventional fairs’ we’d love to hear your opinion on the importance of providing unique and immersive experiences for collectible design fairs? Should this be developed in the design community further?

Liv Vaisberg: Our starting point was really to captivate our audience and help them to better understand what collectible design was. We decided to treat the fair as an exhibition to sell the pieces in order to elevate design to the level of museum shows. Our floors are all curated, some are more radical, some more decorative while others focus on materials.

What advice would you offer for emerging artists and designers in developing their practice and getting recognition by such a fair as COLLECTIBLE? What engages the curator and committee in selection?

Liv Vaisberg:
Originality, savoir-faire, choice of material and meaning. What is interesting nowadays is how much environmental and social commentary young designers can put in their works to convey a message. Design is no longer purely functional but has also something to say, in the same way that art does, whilst retaining the importance of shapes, forms and materials.

Recently we have seen the launch of COLLECTIBLE Salon, an online showcase of exhibiting artists from the 2020 collection. In a time with physical events postponed, should there be a greater shift to online and will physical events prevail in the same way again? Is physical attendance ‘key’ with creative fairs?

Clélie Debehault:
Design is first and foremost tangible. You need to sit on chairs and sofas, which is something that differentiates design from art. It is meaningful but it is also useful. For us, any online initiative is a way of complementing real life. We launched Salon as a simple way to support our past exhibitors in reaching out to our audience while everyone was in lockdown. We are now working on new digital strategies to complement, but by no means replace, our fair.

With COLLECTIBLE entering its fourth edition, what can we expect to see from future projects?

Liv Vaisberg:
COLLECTIBLE is growing and evolving every year in line with feedback from our exhibitors and audience. This fourth year will be a challenge in the current landscape, but we are confident. People need to see design in real life, and we need to put in place the best platform for it despite the current climate. While keeping our ‘mother fair’ in Brussels, we have received several invitations to be part of other international events and have just secured a very exciting partnership of our COLLECTIBLE Curates at Paris Design Week and look forward to participating in more of these events in exciting venues such as Monaco in April 2021.