Six Booths You Need to Visit at Collective 2
As we launch our preview of New York City’s newest design fair, Collective 2, we look to the new kids on the block—first time exhibitors on Artsy—many of whom have been fixtures in the design world for decades.
Donzella 20th Century Gallery, New York City
For over 20 years, Donzella 20th Century Gallery, spearheaded by Paul Donzella, has been known for showing emerging designers, artists, and architects, due to the gallerist’s penchant for a hunt and the thrill of a score. (Before opening his gallery in 1990 in a storefront space in NYC’s East Village, he collected records, vintage clothes, and would take road trips to the midwest, bringing back design finds by the vanful.) Once opened, the gallery quickly became known for a roster of American designers, many whom Donzella helped create a market for. More recently, the gallerist has set his sights on Italy—particularly postwar works by lesser-known Italian architects and designers. At Collective 2, he shows a rare, studio-built console table by Sicilian-born architect-turned-designer Ico Parisi; sculptural works by French designer Alexandre Logé; tables by New York-based father-and-son artisans Philip and Kelvin LaVerne, and more.
Fuglen, Oslo + Tokyo
Fuglen, Norwegian for “The Bird,” was born as a coffee shop in Oslo in 1963. Today, the company is renowned not only as a stalwart of Oslo’s coffee scene, but for having shed light on mid-century Norwegian design, previously overlooked next to Danish cabinetry, Swedish glass, and Finnish architecture. Now equal parts café, cocktail bar, and design boutique, Fuglen opened a second location in Tokyo in 2012, featuring hand-picked vintage design. In addition, the company collaborated with Takashi Murakami to create café Bar Zingo, which is also in Tokyo. To Collective 2, Fuglen brings Arne F. Tidemand Ruud’s Holmenkollen Lounge Chair, named for a ski jump in Oslo, a Krobo bench by Torbjørn Afdal, a signature piece by one of Norway’s most prolific post-war designers, and more.
Dienst + Dotter Antikviteter, New York City
After a lifetime of collecting and decades spent submerged in prestigious studios and institutions (the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Didier Aaron, Inc., and Jacques Grange’s design studio, among others), design expert Jill Dienst opened a gallery in Sag Harbor, New York in 2005. In 2012, with the reputation for having one of the sharpest eyes in Scandinavian antiques, Dienst moved her gallery to lower Manhattan, where she filled the space with pieces dating from the 17th to mid-20th centuries. At Collective 2, the gallery is bringing work by two Danes: ceramic artist Christina Schou Christensen’s bubbling earthenware sculpture and Poul Henningsen’s stunning amber-colored bedside table lamp.
Domestic Furniture, Seattle
In 1987, artist and designer Roy McMakin opened a small furniture company in Los Angeles—and 27 years later, Domestic Furniture, now stationed in Seattle, is renowned for the art-meets-furniture-meets-sculpture designs of McMakin, which toy with the familiar American design vernacular. Under the design and direction of McMakin, each piece is handmade by specialty workshop Big Leaf Manufacturing, including the two collections Domestic Furniture is bringing to the fair: Group A, which includes iconic pieces still in production, and Group B, featuring time-limited works in production for one year only.
Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia
Established in the year 2000 in Old City, the historic district of Philadelphia, Lewis Wexler’s eponymous gallery space sits at the intersection of fine art, design, decorative art, and craft. Wexler, who served as the Assistant Vice President of 20th Century Decorative Art & Design at Christie’s in the late ’80s, is known for challenging boundaries and categorization, and represents both established and emerging artists. At Collective 2, Wexler is bringing Atlanta artist Brian Dettmer’s wooden door, covered in cinged paperback books; a bench from furniture maker Vivian Beer’s new “Streamliner” series, made with automotive paint; and a layered sculpture from a series NYC-based glass artist and designer Jamie Harris calls “paintings done in glass.”
Lost City Arts, New York City
New York City-based Lost City Arts has, since 1982, been known for showing 20th-century design and decorative fine arts, particularly post-war American craft furniture and works by Italian visionary sculptor Harry Bertoia (of whom the owner, James Elkind, happens to be an expert and a major collector). You might know Bertoia for his wire-mesh latticework Diamond chair, but at the fair, you’ll find another of his most iconic pieces, the stainless steel Willow Sculpture, made of hundreds of draped wires recalling the age-old favorite weeping tree. Other works include a George Nakashima walnut desk from 1980, an early kinetic sculpture by Beverly Pepper, and more.
Other galleries new to Artsy: Gallery Anne Autegarden, 88 Gallery, Gallery Loupe, Nicholas Kilner, Sienna Patti Contemporary, Vance Trimble
