Collect turned towards collectible design in 2026, its first fair under a new director, with forty galleries and a strong showing of lacquer.
Collect, the Crafts Council’s fair, returned to Somerset House in Covent Garden from Wednesday 25 February to Sunday 1 March 2026. It was the 22nd edition, and the first under a new director, TF Chan.
Chan set out to make Collect a platform for collectible design as well as craft, with unique and limited-edition furniture shown with the same care as museum-quality work.
Forty galleries took part, 11 of them new, with work by more than 300 living artists. They came from countries including Canada, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Poland, South Korea and the UK.
Lacquer led the stands. Mono Art of Tokyo showed Yoshito Yamashita, one of ten artists designated a Living National Treasure for Japanese lacquer, beside his son Kojin. The public programme billed a talk on lacquer led by the V&A curator Masami Yamada, ahead of the museum’s Urushi Now display.
Peter Layton London Glassblowing marked its 50th anniversary with work by James Maskrey, Heike Brachlow and Colin Reid. The Loewe Foundation returned as fair partner for a ninth year, and Collect Open gave 11 individual artists installations of their own.