Katsuyo Aoki
FOR THE FIRST TIME, COLLECTING DESIGN, AN EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM ON COLLECTIBLE DESIGN ORGANIZED AND HOSTED BY DR. DANIELLA OHAD IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE NEW YORK CHAPTER OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF ARCHITECTS, GOES VIRTUAL WITH LEGENDARY DESIGN EXPERTS.
Collecting design requires more than a great eye; it requires a trained eye, one that can discern not just the value and pleasing aesthetic of an object but its sentiment, its provenance and its revolutionary place in the canon. Since 2011, design historian Dr. Daniella Ohad has organized and hosted Collecting Design, a biannual education program in partnership with the New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, that gives architects, interior designers, collectors, and design aficionados the chance to develop their own tastes for objet d’art, furniture and more with guidance from some of the world’s top design experts. This year, for the first time, Collecting Design is moving online and will be presented as a series of virtual study programs by global collectible design legends, from three-generation Italian midcentury design dealer Rossella Colombari to American contemporary clay authority Jason Jacques.
While some collect for beauty, some for a passion for the historical and others still for objects in which they find their own selves expressed, collectors of all types contribute not only to some of the most beautiful 21st-century interiors but also to a greater responsibility to preserve, appreciate and study history of our decorative arts. The newest generation of collectors are interested, too, in the sustainability of preserving the old and the beautiful in favor of something new, a mindset that our planet needs desperately. Beginning on October 6 and running weekly until December 16, this fall’s Collecting Design: The Legends will give unprecedented access to experts including the aforementioned, as well as, Marc Benda, Michael Boyd, Ulrich Fiedler, Evan Snyderman, David Gill, Paul Jacksons, Ben Brown and Libby Sellers, who will lead a virtual audience in discovery, education and critical analysis of collectible design from a variety of time periods and origins. Ahead of the accredited program, we spoke with five of those dealers and collectors about the enduring interest in their design eras of specialty and how the marketplace moves, or doesn’t move, their spirits.
