Design Highlights to Look For at TEFAF Maastricht 2026

“If you gave me a blank check to buy one object at one fair, I’d take it to TEFAF,” says Marc Benda of New York gallery Friedman Benda. “Of all the fairs, it’s the one I most enjoy taking time off the booth and wandering around.” This is an opinion that’s widely shared. TEFAF, which held its inaugural edition in the small Dutch city of Maastricht in 1988, is unique in its breadth and quality. While its newer New York sister fair—which takes place at the Park Avenue Armory on May 15–19—focuses on the best of modern and contemporary, the Dutch edition roams across centuries with nearly 300 dealers who bring everything from archaeology and Old Masters to fine jewelry and Sèvres porcelain.

“TEFAF is magnificent in its diversity,” says Boris Vervoordt, whose father, Axel—famed for introducing eclecticism to the interior—was one of the founders of The European Fine Art Foundation. “Visiting year on year since my teens has really helped me understand art history in all its breadth.” The younger Vervoordt is the president chair of the executive committee, a post he will hold for six months; his family also has a stand at the fair. “We will bring modern and contemporary works and three archaeological pieces,” he says.

Vervoordt pins the fair’s success down partly to its geography: “The Maas valley—the river which gives Maastricht its name—is the birthplace of Renaissance art in this region. With that comes generations of collectors, all within a 200-kilometer radius. The elegance you find at the fair (it’s known for elaborate floral arrangements and top-notch catering) is part of the culture of the area. It’s an extremely welcoming part of the world.”

Highlights this year will include a stand by Demisch Danant dedicated to the 19th-century French realist artist Antoine Vollon—a celebrity in his lifetime and currently undergoing some reassessment. Dutch gallery Van den Bruinhorst is focusing on furniture by the Dutch designer Gerrit Rietveld, most famous for the radical modernism of his Blue and Red chair, which did away with upholstery and foregrounded strong lines and blocks of color. Below are other highlights to enjoy.

1. Fernando Jorge

The Brazilian jeweler Fernando Jorge is coming to TEFAF for the first time, with 13 newly made pieces, each one unique. “They are very much centered around specific gemstones,” he says. “One oval pendant has a type 2A antique stone, framed by smoky quartz. Another has Brazilian emeralds framed with jasper.” (The Brazilian stones, says Jorge, are more intensely green than their better-known Colombian counterparts.) Elsewhere, expect the petrified wood, mother of pearl, ebony, and other organic materials, which is part of his work’s identity.

2. AGO Projects

Another newcomer is AGO Projects from Mexico City. “I admire TEFAF so much. It’s history come to life,” says Rudy Weissenberg, the gallery’s co-founder. “It was important for us to bring work that clearly demonstrates who we are and what is happening in Mexico right now.” Isabel Abascal and Alessandro Arienzo of Lanza Atelier are designing the booth, appointed by AGO before it was announced that they are also designing this year’s Serpentine Pavilion in London, which will also feature work by Alma Allen, chosen before he was designated as the artist representing the U.S. at the Venice Biennale. “This is very much his design practice,” says Weissenberg. “Little stools and tables in bronze.” Joining him are Los Tepelcates—60-something sisters from Oaxaca who make large-scale ceramic vessels; mirrors and banquets by Fernando Laposse; and Korean ceramist Myungjin Kim with extravagant works inspired by a visit to Mexico City.

3. Friedman Benda

“I like to do a solo booth at TEFAF, because you can introduce new designers to a highly informed public,” says Marc Benda of Friedman Benda. This year, the focus is on Formafantasma, the Italian duo who seems to be everywhere all at once (they designed the scenography for Fondation Cartier, which opened last year; the sets for Marni’s Autumn-Winter 2026 fashion show; and are presenting Prada Frames during Milan Design Week) but produce very little product. “It’s a very programmatic collection, with a lot of lighting,” says Benda. “And it has a great materiality, being made in cherry wood. It’s very disciplined and it is deeply embedded in design history.” Benda presented the collection in New York last year. This represents its European debut.

4. Cora Sheibani

“Being at TEFAF is like joining a club, because it’s other jewelers and dealers who decide if you’re good enough,” says London jeweler Cora Sheibani, of her newly acquired status as an exhibitor. Known for a strong Art Deco influence, and a love and understanding of colored stones—she trained in gemology—a piece launched last year called the Double Trouble ring exemplifies these characteristics. With its geometric form, the chunky gold band contains both a spinel and a stunning pink Edison pearl. A new necklace, Triple Pill, is a witty assemblage of turquoise, silex jasper and malachite.

5. Thomas Schulte

A standout in the Focus section, where dealers are invited to create monographic booths, Berlin gallerist Thomas Schulte is showing a carefully curated series of Robert Mapplethorpe’s Flower portraits. “We felt the subject connected very strongly with TEFAF and Dutch culture. Flowers are part of the country’s export identity, but also feature in Old Master paintings and still lives,” says Schulte. Mapplethorpe was very concerned, too, with the vases in which the flowers were placed, choosing high-design objects to evoke certain atmospheres. Some of these vases, of design historical significance, might even be on other booths in the fair.