{"id":39903,"date":"2026-03-14T07:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-14T07:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/39903\/"},"modified":"2026-03-14T07:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T07:53:13","slug":"discover-design-highlights-from-collectible-brussels-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/39903\/","title":{"rendered":"Discover Design Highlights from Collectible Brussels 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

Now in is ninth edition, the Belgian design fair Collectible<\/a> is all grown up. What started as an exhibition mostly focused on recent graduates and highly experimental projects has evolved into a full-fledged fair with a compelling range of participants, from emerging designers to some highly sophisticated offerings. This year, you can find a young Latvian architects, Studio Sija<\/a>, showcasing a one-of-a-kind chair in stainless steel and walnut, and a specialist in sought-after French design from the 1980s and 1990s nearby. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The Belgian setting is no coincidence. The city is still a place where young designers and artists can thrive. Rents are not exorbitant, the cost of living isn\u2019t unreasonable, and there are various types of government and private support. Mode and Design (MAD)<\/a>, for example, is a hub for creatives that opened in a 3,200-square-foot space in the city center, financed by the city of Brussels and the regional government, among other sources, which offers exhibition space, mentorship, and a coherent sense of community. An adjacent building contains ten studios offered on a two-year, cost-free basis.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Outside the city, at Zaventem Ateliers<\/a>, is a complex of 30 studios housing 32 designers run by the designer Lionel Jadot<\/a>. The fruits of this artistic community are on show during Collectible at Villa Empain<\/a>. The 1930s building is radical Art Deco<\/a> luxury at its best\u2014polished granite external walls, gilded window frames, a horseshoe-shaped swimming pool, and a marble interior flooded with light from a glazed roof. It was intricately restored by the Boghossian family from 2006 to 2010, and now hosts exhibitions.<\/p>\n

It is the perfect setting for Jadot\u2019s equally radical tribe. Candy-colored ceramic furniture and lighting come courtesy of Pierre Coddens<\/a>. Roxane Lahidji<\/a> fashions furniture, including small tables and stools and even a shower tray, out of compressed salt. Mathilde Wittock<\/a> makes panels and surfaces from discarded tennis balls colored with plant-derived dyes. Xavier Servas<\/a>\u2019s 6.5-feet diameter pendant light shade evokes Isamu Noguchi<\/a> but is actually fashioned from translucent pig intestine. Jadot\u2019s own work includes rough-hewn tables fashioned from salvaged asphalt and a bath in an exterior made of tires.<\/p>\n

Collectible co-founder Liv Vaisberg opened the fair on Wednesday morning in the modernist Vanderborght Building in the city center. \u201cThe collectible design sector seems to have a renewed energy and purpose,\u201d explained Vaisberg, buoyed up by two successful editions of the fair in New York<\/a>. (The 2026 edition takes place September 23-27.) \u201cWe weren\u2019t sure if we\u2019d chosen a good location in Manhattan,\u201d said Vaisberg of the WSA building in the Financial District. \u201cBut people were queuing round the block from day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Confidence in the fair is demonstrated equally by the participation of Pierre Frey, who provided acres of stunning fabrics for the scenography, and also by RADO<\/a>, which chose it as the venue to launch the three new colors of its True Round timepiece in Europe. \u201cThe initial launch took place at Art India,\u201d explained Adrian Bosshard, RADO\u2019s genial CEO. \u201cThe new colors are named after three buildings by Le Corbusier\u2014the Cit\u00e9 Radieuse in Marseille, the Carpenter Center for Visual Arts in Cambridge, Mass., and Chandigarh in India. We\u2019ve worked with the Le Corbusier Foundation for seven years now.\u201d The values of the Swiss architect\u2014a master of material, line, and color\u2014align well with the watchmakers, the first to produce high-tech ceramic timepieces and still leaders in material research.<\/p>\n

As for the rest, here are some highlights:<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"A\"A<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKia Utzon Frank, Tragic Magic.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: @ He\u0301le\u0300ne de Cartier<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Stacked\"Stacked<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKia Utzon Frank x Michel Mansour, Aleppo Soap (2025).
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Joe Chaaya<\/p>\n

1. Kia Utzon-Frank + Michel Mansour | Sila<\/p>\n

Sila is another Boghossian Foundation<\/a> initiative that aims to keep endangered crafts alive. Since 2021, for example, the Danish designer Kia Utzon-Frank has collaborated with the Syrian soap master Michel Mansour to create sculptural works that are almost too beautiful to use. Mansour, who is based in Koura in Lebanon, works to a 3,000-year-old recipe, and with olive oil from his family\u2019s own trees. The results are available in the boutique at Villa Empain.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Unique\"Unique<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tInstallation view, Galerie Libert\u00e9 at Collectible Brussels, 2026.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Courtesy of Galerie Liberte<\/p>\n

2. Axel Chay + Elisa Uberti | Galerie Libert\u00e9<\/p>\n

Fran\u00e7oise Kuth established Galerie Libert\u00e9<\/a> in Luxembourg in October 2024 and has had her greatest success selling to interior designers in the United States. On show in Brussels, a ying and yang pairing of Marseille-based Axel Chay\u2014a minimalist chair and ottoman in stainless steel and black pony skin inspired by 1960s Italian design\u2014and softly organic work by Elisa Liberti. The Liberti desk and chair, in cream stoneware and softly carved oak, are \u201ca tribute to Artemis,\u201d says Kuth. \u201cThe goddess of wild nature.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Modern\"Modern<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tAlessia De Pasquale, Domestically Dysfunctional series.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Giorgos Vitsaropoulos<\/p>\n

3. Alessia De Pasquale | Spazio Viruly <\/p>\n

Not for the faint-hearted, Alessia de Pasquale<\/a>\u2019s chaise longue, at Rotterdam gallery Spazio Viruly, partially resembles a large and rope-lashed body bag. Made in vegan leather in a deep aubergine and tied in violet rope, and from her Domestically Dysfunctional series, it is as much conceptual art as furniture, with shades of Japanese photographer Araki. Look out for Viruly next month in Milan, where it will present more experimental design, this time by Matthijs Koerts at Superattico.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Bronze\"Bronze<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGarouste Bonetti, Mask Lamp.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Gregory Barrois<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Unique\"Unique<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEric Schmitt, Marie Antoinette Chair.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Gregory Barrois<\/p>\n

4. 1980s French Design | Galerie Ja\u00efs<\/p>\n

Adrian Ja\u00efs<\/a> is one of several young Parisian gallerists to fall in love with the 1980s. \u201cIt\u2019s what we grew up with,\u201d he says. Ja\u00efs\u2019s enthusiastic collecting led him to designer Frederic de Luca, who started Paris\u2019s first contemporary design gallery\u2014En Attendant Les Barbares\u2014in the early 1980s. When de Luca passed away in 2025, Ja\u00efs acquired his inventory, and now puts on exhibitions periodically in rented spaces in Paris. On show here are prime pieces by Eric Schmitt and Garouste and Bonetti.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Modern\"Modern<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLaura Mrska, installation view.
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Courtesy of Laura Mrksa<\/p>\n

5. Laura Mrska <\/p>\n

Time is not the issue for the young Croatian designer Laura Mrksa<\/a>, who is based in Amsterdam. First, she sources perfect pieces of 1960s and 1970s design to upcycle, spends weeks in her studio restoring the items, and finally wraps them in a spectacular layer of net. Using standard maritime cord, which comes in a huge variety of wonderful colors, she makes the net using a method that goes back centuries. \u201cIt\u2019s really about the invisible labor carried out by women,\u201d says Mrksa. \u201cThere are still women all over the world repairing fishing nets in this way.\u201d In Mrksa\u2019s hands, however, it becomes a way to combine three Thonet S33 chairs into a sublimely beautiful bench.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Now in is ninth edition, the Belgian design fair Collectible is all grown up. What started as an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39904,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[211,210,22642,22643],"class_list":{"0":"post-39903","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brussels","8":"tag-belgium","9":"tag-brussels","10":"tag-collectible","11":"tag-collectible-brussels"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116226451438368376","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39903\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}