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COLLECTIBLE: Why is it important to collect contemporary collectible design?

Coryander Friend: My focus has always been contemporary craft, and I’m deeply connected to the history of the decorative arts. Collecting the work of our time matters because we need beautiful objects that speak to this moment. We are creating a future for history, which is why I titled my exhibition at COLLECTIBLE New York A Future for History. Collectors are essential: by buying and collecting this work, they become patrons who allow artists, designers and craftspeople to keep practicing. In an increasingly automated marketplace, where fewer things are made by human hands, that support is how we resist.

C: How do you think the collector base for collectible design can be expanded?

CF: We have to recognize that we’re entering what some call a post-literate society. We mostly watch videos and listen to people share their opinions through a screen. Young collectors especially live in an overwhelming sea of trends. To reach them, we need publications, exhibitions, events and books that encourage critical thinking and trace the lineage of design. We need to show why collectors are an absolute necessity for artists to keep making work. They sustain this movement as stewards of creative thinking and of a creative process that is uniquely human.

C: What can galleries, designers and fairs do to make collecting contemporary design feel more accessible to new audiences?

CF: This is central to my work as a curator and unconventional gallerist. Emerging artists and designers are the community I’m most drawn to, and they’re also the key to new collectors, who can begin collecting from a place that feels close to where they are. Part of my mission is making sure artists don’t have to lower their prices too much, by explaining value to new collectors. In contemporary craft, price isn’t arbitrary. It reflects time, materials, skill and years of study. It’s not just a price tag; it’s a whole life brought into making a work.

C: Who or what is influencing you most at the moment?

CF: I’m close with the artists and designers I work with, and we talk deeply about how their lives fit with their practice. What I think about most is how fast everything moves: the antithesis of craftsmanship. I’m inspired by slowing down—or at least lightening the load, through communal ways of working. Last May, during New York Design Week, I launched Put Together, a collective design fair in an architecturally significant, donated space, so participants paid nothing. They collaborated: bringing and installing their own work, sharing tools and helping one another. I hope to host conversations about studio movements in Montana, possibly as a residency.

About Placed

Placed is led by its Founder, Director and Principal Advisor, Coryander Friend, who organizes exhibitions between Montana and New York, stewards the contemporary craft design fair Put Together, and advises private collections and commercial projects. Friend places special focus on emerging talent in craft-led design and art, working with collectors and patrons to emphasize the importance of supporting and preserving the handmade, as well as the future of decorative arts.

At COLLECTIBLE New York 2026, Placed presents “A Future for History”, a showcase of 27 new and debut works by established and emerging contemporary craft artists and designers, including Dotan Appelbaum, Faye Hadfield, Yik Heng Lee, Giselle Hicks, Corwyn Lund, Luke Malaney, Henry Merker, Mothership Studio, Aydan Nova, Ellie Richards / ER Studio, Steph Trowbridge, Wretched Flowers, Emily B. Yang and Thomas Yang.