"Sexy furniture" and five other trends from Collectible design fair in Brussels

Design fair Collectible has returned to Brussels to spotlight emerging designers from across the continent, creating unique and limited-edition pieces. These are the key trends to know from this year's event.

Now in its eighth year, the collectible design fair is taking over the Vanderborght Building in central Brussels from 13 to 16 March to showcase new work by more than 100 exhibitors.

Read on for six key trends from the event including fireplaces and weird and wonderful uses for plastic:

Weird plastics

Unencumbered by the drive to eliminate virgin plastic from mass-consumer products, collectible designers focused instead on finding interesting new applications for this everyday material.

There was a bench padded with layers of rubber similar to yoga mats by Parisian duo André Jacob and a rug made from the same rubber-granule flooring used in playgrounds, courtesy of German designer Carsten in der Elst.

Reinforced with skeletons in metal or wood, plastic was used to make seemingly fragile pieces that, in reality, were capable of holding the weight of at least one Dezeen reporter.

Ukrainian designer Illya Goldman Gubin turned polyurethane foam into a standalone bench by bathing it in resin, while Austrian duo Basil Schu and Laura Dominici showcased functional stools that resemble stacks of towels (above).

The stools' fuzzy texture was achieved by pressing silicone through a mesh sheet to create the impression of a textile threads. Once dried, these sheets are folded and reinforced with sheets of plywood to create a fully functional seat.

Playing with fire

This year's Collectible featured a surprising number of fireplaces, including a steampunk steel stove by London artist Tom Bull and a monstrous mantle by ceramicist Antoine Moulinard (above) that places the firebox inside the screaming mouth of a yeti – a mythical beast from Himalayan folklore.

The latter was on show as part of an exhibition by Paris design platform The Steidz Studio, centred entirely around fire and flames. As part of that, designer Nicolas Zanoni created a series of shelves and plinths for the scenography by burning polystyrene foam until charred solid.

Nearby, Antwerp-based Yoon Shun exhibited wood-veneer lamps with a zebra-stripe pattern achieved at the hands of a blowtorch

I can't believe it's not butter

Fashion's fascination with butter yellow has seeped over into design, as seen in Pablo Octavio's roughly hewn Lapis Lazuili chairs and the glossy surfaces of Jord Lindelauf's 808 table.

"It's an interesting colour but it's not a very bright or very obvious, loud colour," Lindelauf told Dezeen. "So it goes well with all different types of materials and colours."

Elsewhere there was a table wrapped in mycelium leather by Studio TOOJ and the Daydreamer chaise by Latvia's Only Only studio (above), consisting of an almost surgical metal frame that holds up foam-filled capsules of yellowing natural latex.

Experimental lighting

Several studios experimented with novel materials and techniques to create unconventional lighting.

Industrial designer Samuel Tomatis and upholsterer Anaïs Jarnoux collaborated to create a biodegradable light (above) – combining algae bioplastic and a traditional French pleating technique – while Eindhoven-based Lucas Zito showed two different 3D-printed designs.

One resembles a light-up HVAC duct, while the other lets its supportive scaffolding shine through.

On the more low-tech end, Brazilian studio Palma exhibited lamps with eggshell-mosaic shades – each tiny piece of shell painstakingly stuck on by hand – and bases gilded in metal chocolate wrappers instead of silver leaf.

Sex appeal

People might be having less sex than ever but references to sensuality and the body were rife at this year's fair. "Designers are more and more going towards metal, leather, a bit more rough, sexy furniture," Collectible founder Liv Vaisberg told Dezeen.

There was a rubber-covered loveseat by LS Goma and a leather-upholstered platform daybed by Rotterdam studio 304.cage embroidered with lewd and cartoonish scenes by Viennese artist Chun.

Curator and collector Jean-Francois Declercq conceived his whole booth (above) around a vinyl-wrapped dining table decorated with metal bondage hooks by Turin-based Studio Greca, paired with two vintage Philippe Starck chairs with details suggesting high heels and corsets.

Nearby, Spazio Viruly showed plexiglass lights evoking different private parts by the late Dutch artist Mathieu Ficheroux, which are more than 60 years old but reminiscent of work by modern designers based in his native Rotterdam like Sabine Marcelis and Laurids Gallée.

Silver metals soldier on

Whether stainless steel or aluminium, last year's trend for cool-toned metals continues to have a chokehold on collectable designers, with almost every booth featuring at least one massive, silvery furniture piece.

Parisian designer Pauline Leprince created a Bauhaus-informed courting chair (above), while recent Eindhoven graduate Myeonga Seo folded sheet metal like origami to create a series of seating. Elvis Wesley and Bram Vanderbeke both showcased craggy metal shelving while Nicolas Zanoni and André Jacob used chainmail to make different chairs.

The next evolution of the trend sees designers contrast sleek metal elements with hunks of natural wood, as seen in a desk by London studio Soft Baroque and the Parasiting Factors chair by Amsterdam-based Sai.E Studio (top image).

Collectible 2025 takes place from 13 to 16 March 2025 at the Vanderborght Building in Brussels. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world.

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