A former movie theater at 210 East 86th Street, between Second and Third Avenues, opens to the public on Friday as the home of COLLECTIBLE New York, a three-day fair of contemporary collectible design. It is the fair's third New York edition and its first on the Upper East Side: the organizers describe the move as a step uptown into a building chosen for its high ceilings, large open volumes and its architecture.

The public days are Friday, November 6, and Saturday, November 7, from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, November 8, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Earlier days are by invitation: a press preview and a collectors' evening on Wednesday, then a VIP preview and an opening night on Thursday.

What is inside

More than 100 galleries, design studios and independent designers from more than 25 countries are taking part. Collectible design is the category between furniture shopping and the art market: chairs, tables, lighting, ceramics, textiles and objects made in small runs or as single pieces, often by designers who show in galleries rather than in stores. Visitors can look, and many pieces are for sale.

The fair is organized into sections, each with its own brief:

  • Main, where galleries present the contemporary designers they represent.
  • New Garde, for collectives and nonprofit groups founded within the past three years.
  • Bespoke, a set of tightly edited presentations of commissioned work by independent studios.
  • Curated, a showcase of emerging and mid-career independent designers, put together this year by Alex Tieghi-Walker, founder of TIWA Select. His theme, Human Resources, looks at the late twentieth-century appeal of the office: the desks, partitions and furniture of working life recast as design objects.
  • Fashion, furniture made for the fashion world, from retail interiors to runway sets, chaired by Lynette Nylander, executive digital director at Harper's Bazaar and a former executive editorial director of Dazed.
  • Special Projects, a sixth section of installations.

Talks every afternoon

The fair is running six conversations with designers, curators, editors and collectors, two a day at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They take place inside the fair, so a visitor with a ticket can plan a visit around one.

How to go

COLLECTIBLE New York is at 210 East 86th Street. The 4, 5 and 6 trains stop at 86th Street and Lexington Avenue, two avenues west, and the Q stops at 86th Street and Second Avenue, at the corner. The M86 crosstown bus runs along 86th Street, and the M15 runs on First and Second Avenues.

Tickets are sold online through the fair's booking page, linked from its website. Hours are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday. General questions go to info@collectible.design.

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