8 Collectible Design Shows to See in August
From contemporary riffs on 16th-century French ceramics in East Hampton to Véronica Mar’s dynamic furnishings at Ateliers Courbet.
It may seem like the entire design world is set to “out of office” in August, but a wealth of galleries are keeping the lights on during what’s considered to be the cultural calendar’s quietest month. Some of our favorite exhibitions might even warrant their own pilgrimage, from Lily Clark’s sculptural fascinations with fluid dynamics at a lush Oregon vineyard and a Monaco gallery’s stellar showcase of ceramic oddities by Olivia Cognet to a group of contemporary makers riffing on Palissy ware at Adolph Gottlieb’s former East Hampton studio.
1. “Lily Clark: Slip Condition” at Antica Terra | Amity, OR
Installed among mossy oaks and volcanic stone at Antica Terra’s resplendent Oregon vineyard, a new solo exhibition of works by Lily Clark co-presented with Marta Los Angeles explores the behavior of water at the precipice of control. The California artist crafts steel, ceramic, and coated carbon forms that gently guide liquid into pools and oscillating flows, drawing from her fascination with fluid dynamics and geology. From inventive bird baths to wide steel bowls balanced on angled rock surfaces, the basalt, pumice, obsidian works on display incorporate materials tied to climate science and the region’s eruptive past while manipulating surface tension and playfully subverting our understanding of matter.
Until August 31
2. “Mélange!” at Cristina Grajales Gallery | New York
“Mélange!” pays tribute to the personal act of collecting, bringing together contemporary works and archival gems in a dense, lived-in installation. Highlights include Randy Polumbo’s glowing glass-and-aluminum floral sculpture Nymph, Betil Dagdelen’s woven Peacock dining chairs and satin Loominaire lamps, and historical pieces like Luigi Colani’s 1973 porcelain sake pots and Jay Milder’s 1963 oil painting Subway Runners. Anchored by a collection that gallerist Cristina Grajales has amassed over decades, the show offers a unique look at the layered narratives that emerge when objects accumulate through affection as opposed to strict curation.
Until October 3
3. “Olivia Cognet: Visions” at Mareterra | Monaco
Under Olivia Cognet’s masterful hand, ceramics seem to become a living material that exists at the threshold of sculpture and poetry. Here, she unveils a series of large-scale ceramic works shaped during a four-month residency in Monaco’s new Renzo Piano–designed waterfront district. The spellbinding pieces—bas-reliefs, enameled lava tables, vertical totems, and dazzling luminaires—engage directly with the architecture. Cognet seems to mold raw clay with a precise yet intuitive hand, allowing texture and form to mirror her deep engagement with craftsmanship and architecture.
Until November 23
4. “Une Autre Scène” at Sceners Gallery | Paris
This stellar showcase of collectible design marvels stages a cross-century dialogue between decorative forms with emotional and material resonance. Spanning 1899 to 2011 and installed like a collector’s salon, it gathers rarely seen works by Eugenio Quarti, Ryoji Koie, Marzio Cecchi, Ugo La Pietra, and more. Each piece embodies a unique language—from Quarti’s inlaid walnut cabinets to Koie’s sumi ink screens backed in gold leaf—that recasts furnishings as vessels of cultural memory and reanimates their historical contexts through form and gesture.
Until August 30
5. “Verónica Mar & the European Masters” at Ateliers Courbet | New York
Verónica Mar’s inaugural U.S. solo exhibition debuts a series of sculptural furnishings imbued with the fluidity and force of water. Crafted in collaboration with European master artisans, each of the Spanish talent’s dynamic works translate waveforms, droplets, and spiral energy into oak, cedar, and marble. Highlights include the Vortex Table—an ascending spiral carved from 150-year-old Siberian oak—and the Mayu coffee table, shaped from a single cedar trunk. She also introduces the latest pieces from her Drops series, organic wood and marble nesting tables and chairs inspired by the malleable silhouettes of clustered water droplets.
Until August 15
6. “This Is Not a Toaster” at Nazarian/Curcio | Los Angeles
A sly reference to Magritte’s masterpiece of surrealism, “This Is Not a Toaster” brings together nine talents whose sculptural works toy with notions of utility. On view are lamps, vessels, and furniture-like forms by Carmen D’Apollonio, Katie Stout, Vincent Pocsik, Woody De Othello, Brian Rochefort, and others, each dissolving the lines between art and function. Playful, materially adventurous, and delightfully surreal, the show questions what objects are meant to do—and what they might do instead—through an irreverent embrace of the domestic uncanny.
Until August 23
7. “Arnaud Eubelen: Tracking Habits” at Side Gallery | Barcelona
Arnaud Eubelen reassembles urban residue into poetic, functional one-offs that blur the line between sculpture and utility. The Belgian artist scours city streets for discarded concrete, steel, plastic, and glass, which he refashions into enigmatic objects like unconventional floor lamps or office desks. Bolts and seams remain exposed, highlighting the materials’ prior lives. The pieces resist easy classification owing to their fragile forms, off-kilter ergonomics, and raw appearances, but encourage us to rediscover the inherent beauty in the discarded.
Until October 30
8. “New Palissystes” at Stroll Garden | East Hampton, NY
For its third summer showing in East Hampton, and the first in Adolph Gottlieb’s former studio, Stroll Garden is spotlighting 14 artists—Raina Lee, Jeffery Park, Katy Stubbs, Yoshikazu Tanaka, Maura Wright, and Michelle Im among them—reinterpreting the elaborate legacy of Palissy ware. Bernard Palissy, the 16th-century French Huguenot ceramicist, made resplendent pieces defined by textural, nature-inflected surfaces that inspired scores of imitators—named “Palissystes”—in the ensuing centuries. Real Palissy pieces are ultra-rare, but seen through a contemporary lens, offer a compelling reflection on ornament and the man-made.
Until August 31