This series, COLLECTIBLE In-Depth, unveils the backstage of contemporary creation. Tackling various topics from personal designer processes to the position of collectible design on the global design market, COLLECTIBLE In-Depth offers different views to suit all tastes. Today we speak with Ruben de la Rive Box from Form Editions.

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COLLECTIBLE: Why do you focus on contemporary collectible design? What does it mean for you?

Ruben de la Rive Box: Since we live in an increasingly hybrid world, most barriers between different cultural traditions are fading. You see this in almost everything, from youth culture to high fashion. Collectible design is emerging as the area where art and design meet. It is driven by the desire of designers to focus on their personal expression, rather than fulfilling a specific client brief or a functional challenge. But collectible design is also a result of a growing desire within society to own very personal and unique objects. Since our phones have eliminated scores of functional objects from our homes (calendars, radios, clocks, etc) and we have started to see the dark side of mass-consumerism, people want to be very intentional in their purchases, and align what they own with how they view themselves.

C: What are the challenges in presenting contemporary collectible design?

RdlRB: Collectible design is still much less established and accepted than art and sculpture. The collecting culture of contemporary design is still in development, the budgets are often lower and there is less knowledge among collectors. Yet the making quality is often superior and the level of artistic and conceptual thinking is very high. As an emerging niche within the art world it is up to all the different players in this field to educate collectors and position collectible design as a full grown and relevant option within an art collection.

C: What can collectible design bring to the daily lives of the people who collect?

RdlRB: Owning art and collectible design objects is about much more than material ownership. It is about a deeply felt emotional bond to what it means to the owner, the history of its making and the contribution to the evolution of culture.

Purchasing a collectible object therefore isn't about transactional ownership, but much more about becoming part of the history of the object and its aura. 

C: In what way will the digital realm become a part of collectible design?

RdlRB: The digitisation of production has been instrumental to the practice of a lot of designers. New digital production techniques have made production feasible for small runs and allow craftsmen to achieve industrial precision and quality to supplement their handcrafted skills.

The other great benefit to collectible design is that digitalisation has created a worldwide market, which allows designers to find highly niche customers across the globe and makes it feasible to build a business around low quantity production runs and unique works.

C: Can you talk about the designers you present at COLLECTIBLE this year, what makes their practice/pieces unique?

RdlRB: Our designers and artists are experts in their craft and are driven by innovation, experimentation and artistic passion. They all run professional, sustainable practices with an eye for consistent quality.

We present new and existing work by designers that have been part of our collection, including Frank Penders, Studio Verbaan, Rive Roshan, Marc Meeuwissen and Collin Velkoff.

This Collectible will also see the launch of a new sculptural light object by Pepe Valenti and Lucas Zito.

C: What is the relation you hold with the designers you work with?

RdlRB: We build long lasting working relationships with our designers. We focus on building deep relationships with designers, building a small group of people that we know well, trust completely and have a good connection with.  

We focus on giving objects a long lifespan in terms of public awareness, and we place less emphasis on newness. Each exhibition we'll launch some new objects, but they'll be exhibited among existing pieces, so that there is a context to them and they can become iconic.

Form Editions is not a gallery, it is a label for collectible objects, run and curated by Rive Roshan. This makes the way we operate different from most galleries. It also allows our designers to include works in our collection and have other works with galleries.