Have you ever thought of museum gift shop items as simple souvenirs?
For years they were treated exactly that way — pleasant mementos rather than pieces with artistic or cultural weight. Yet the landscape has shifted dramatically. Blockbuster exhibitions from Jeff Koons at the Whitney to Yayoi Kusama at M+ have shown that collectables aren’t an afterthought. They’re becoming part of the art ecosystem itself.
Design-led collectables, especially those connected to home or lifestyle, are now genuinely sought after. They’re bought to be displayed, enjoyed and kept, not tucked away. And the most compelling examples are the ones that double as functional objects. Kara Walker understood this a decade ago when she created her beautiful ceramic sculptures — artworks you could actually use. That fusion of art and utility is exactly where things get interesting.
It’s also where we’ve quietly been operating for years.
Our own work in this space has grown out of the belief that functional pieces can hold the same emotional and aesthetic value as traditional art objects. When something is designed with intent, made with care and carries the language of an artist, the line between “art” and “play” dissolves.
A few recent moments have shown how far this idea can go.
We created a table tennis bat set for the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at M+ Museum, giving collectors a way to engage with Kusama’s iconic visual world through an object they could actually use. And earlier this year, our limited-edition ArtTable with Javier Calleja was exhibited at Almine Rech in London as part of his summer show. Seeing a piece designed for play sitting confidently within a contemporary art gallery — that was a proud moment.
For us, this is the future of collectables.
Not just objects to look at, but objects to live with. Pieces that sit at the intersection of art, design and a life well played.
