Anna: What a week! Did you feel the good energy at PAD London? A fantastic attendance, with so many international collectors, and always new, surprising and interesting pieces on show! As member of the jury, I can tell you we had a hard time selecting the best design, as we all had a different favorite.
Isabelle Dubern: When talking to gallery owners and collectors and to many journalists I was surprised to hear such contrasting feelings : on the one hand you could sense the uncertainty looming -with Brexit and all- and on the other hand sales were positively skyrocketing!
Anna: I felt it too… On a different note: I found a new way to catch up with more than 50 friends in one single day by attending some cool events: the Jury at PAD, the Phillips viewing, the Art 200 collectors’ party in Mayfair, and finally a private dinner at George… I must say I loved this intimate dinner for the legacy members: the perfect setting to preview the AKO chair designed by Ron Arad in collaboration with OKA, sold exclusively on The Invisible Collection…
Lily: Call me biased, but if I had to choose one piece of furniture right now it would be the AKO chair with their funny texts hidden in the back! Ron wrote them himself with a permanent marker! Pitty that it comes in a limited collectors-edition of ten unique pieces, my favorite one “Why bark when you have a dog?” is already sold …
Isabelle: Well, you are in good company! So many of our guests at the PAD dinner we hosted on Wednesday night to unveil the AKO chair shared the same thought… but that’s the point of a limited edition… Sue Jones told me that they are planning to launch a new collaboration with Ron Arad, for a wider audience in 2020. Circling back to our PAD dinner: Anna, your speech ! We finally know who makes Ron Arad’s hats!
Anna: Ah ah ! I’ve always wondered…turns out he makes them himself. Although he did tell me that he would much rather have beautiful hair than wear interesting hats. While giving the speech, I realised something that I was too shy to share with the guests: his AKO chair has the exact same shape of his hat… in reverse!
Lily: Jokes aside, I think that in your speech, your remarks about breaking the rules did strike a cord. It made me think about our story when we launched The Invisible Collection three years ago, we kept hearing “as a rule, people don’t buy bespoke furniture online”, “there’s no way you can show the prices online for everyone to see.” Well, we are the living proof you can! We disrupted the existing model and now, our platform has become the go-to place for collectible design. What’s interesting is that the curated selection of furniture we sell is both collectible and livable :even the most iconic pieces are destined for people’s homes, rather than auction houses.
Isabelle: Tell me about it… I just completed my London apartment : fully fitted with The Invisible Collection pieces! My newest acquisition: Osanna Visconti bronze pieces. Her collection is exquisite! And right now on view in our Belgravia showroom as well. It’s amazing the way she manages to work with bronze as if it were the most delicate material. All her designs are so charming and poetic: she’s so talented!
Anna: I agree, during the reception we hosted to celebrate her launch in London, all our guests showed great appreciation of her work. Between us,… I tried to keep the entire collection for myself at home… maybe I’ll get some pieces back… If not, I’ll have to pay her a visit in Milano, to her atelier to understand how the lost wax technique works.
Lily: But first the US! Art Basel Miami is coming up soon….
