It’s getting hard to tell if NYC’s interest in collectible design is at a peak or there’s more space to grow. It was SightUnseen’s Offsite and the Collective Design Fair that both began about a decade ago that really were the original incubators in the city. While both have long ceased staging large annual shows, in the past couple years, Collectible and the new Contemporary Flea and Shelter fair have established dates to loosely pair with art and design calendar highlights around the city.

And then there’s DesignMiami, the long running annual South Beach show that established the template for a lot of these newer ventures. It has undertaken a global expansion in recent years to host events in Basel, Paris, LA and just this year, Seoul. NYC may not have a date yet but DM’s owners, Basic.Space might be testing that with Basic.Space NY.

This three day event is heavily design object focused but is expanded to include art and fashion. It occupied a former 20,000sqft office space above the Prada store in Soho. For essentially a one weekend only run, the space was nicely planned with discrete wayfinding graphics and freshly laid carpet. Just off the elevator in the lobby was a Nam June Paik-inspired security camera feed of a few of the interior spaces.

The event’s intention is shopping focused with nearly everything presented available for purchase through the Basic Space app. But my walkthru felt more like hopping from tiny gallery spaces to more expansive installations like Devon Turnbull’s listening room.

Two favorites were the Stack modular aluminum shelving from Studio Moto that felt in context with the space’s former life as an office.

Chicago-based Carefully Picked brought a nice collection of vintage and new furniture and lighting with a distinctly machine-driven aesthetic.

Photos and Text: Dave Pinter