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 studio NAWA.

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

studio NAWA: We are in love with collectible design, as a genre straddling the worlds of art and design, but also functioning as everyday objects. Special objects have a capacity to animate our material world with meta-narratives, remixes and hommages, memories and fantasies. Unlike more traditional artforms, Collectible design is enchanting because it often requires intimate, embodied encounters - we interact with it as we use and touch it in our daily lives. These encounters evoke the interplay between familiar and strange: familiar furniture archetypes are rendered anew, and made strange. There is a provocative richness and depth in this reciprocity.

C: How does the digital sphere impact your work? What is your relationship to 3D, AI?

SN: Our relationship to 3D and AI is very intimate. We work with gaming engines, real-time simulation, 3d software and different custom AI models as a part of our experimental process. We recognize the incredible cultural, economical, political and environmental implications and relevance of computer graphics, broader digital imaging tools and computation in general. 

In our work we use CGI and digital technology both as one of our tools and mediums of choice, but also as a site of critical investigation. We are intrigued to analyze the inconsistencies, oscillations and murmurs between AFK and IRL and express them in our objects.

C: Can you talk about a new collection that you release for COLLECTIBLE this year?

SN: Our Surface Collection we released for COLLECTIBLE this year is a design experiment to bring digital objects into a physical space. Exploring the process of translation of ideal digital objects, with virtually no tolerances, into a fuzzy, imperfect material space, the melding of these two worlds create hybrid objects that straddle the boundary between the two worlds.

The collection, consisting of sculptures that double as functional articles—coffee table, chair and a side table—challenges perceptions of materiality, capturing the dynamism of undulating digital surfaces in a moment of stasis, while simultaneously reflecting and distorting its environment. 

C: How do you see the role of interdisciplinary collaboration shaping the future of collectible design?

SN: Interdisciplinarity is the future of collectible design - as it encompasses the broadest range of human experiences and insights, and by that enhances aesthetics and storytelling. This is the beauty of being a designer - to actualize the objects of design you must seek different expertise and build networks of collaborators. In our creative practice we are humbled and grateful to have these experiences, to be able to glimpse into and work with minds that think so differently from us, from the fabricators we work with to other artists, designers and thinkers. We want to continue to revel in this difference.

C: What ethical considerations guide your material choices and sourcing practices in the production of collectible design pieces?

SN: We believe that design should be sustainable, from how it is sourced, made, used, repaired, and discarded. For the Surface collection, we chose to work with stainless steel because it is a recyclable, sustainable, extremely durable and long-lasting material. Our objects are made entirely out of stainless steel with no additional surface treatments or finishes, but rather a careful polishing to reveal the inherent smoothness and reflective properties of the alloy. Currently we are exploring to source and work with fully repurposed, recycled stainless steel for our next iterations of this line.

C: When designing a collectible object, what do you think about its various environments where it can end up?

SN: This is an ongoing conversation for our collection released at Collectible NYC 2024. The reflective, mirror-polished surfaces of the objects create a mesmerizing dialogue with their surroundings, wherever they are. In that sense, they extend and enhance their milieu and the narratives of their contexts as well as create new meanings. When light is directed to the objects, they create truly magical glimmering effects that spread to the surrounding surfaces. Much like digital objects, which can at once assume the appearance of any form, we are fascinated with how the surface collection seamlessly inhabits and interacts with any spatial context.