Colony Gallery X Ventura Projects

Client’s wish

Jean Lin, founder of Colony, and Margriet Vollenberg, founder of Ventura Projects and Organisation in Design, met during an opening event in New York in 2016, when Ventura Projects organised its first trade fair exhibition focusing on Dutch Design at WantedDesign. Sharing an intrinsic passion for design and both having a keen eye for beautiful products and designs, they were interested in collaborating and showcasing Dutch Design in Colony Gallery.

Analysis

Colony is the designer’s co-op and well-known gallery in the heart of Manhattan. Ventura Projects are known for their curated design exhibitions with a special focus on quality and concept in major design hotspots such as Milan and Dubai. This was the first collaboration between both companies, giving Dutch designers the opportunity (after the first steps in NY at Ventura New York) to move into the American market via Colony, the designers’ co-op.

What we did

Margriet Vollenberg and Jean Lin jointly curated the exhibition Colony x Ventura Projects: Dutch Design in NYC. This ran from September till December 2019 in the Colony Gallery in SoHo New York and featured process-driven work by seven leading Dutch designers: Aleksandra Gaca, Aliki van der Kruijs, Alissa+Nienke, Rick Tegelaar, Studio Jeroen Wand, Studio Kalff and Studio Nienke Hoogvliet. The work was shown alongside Colony’s regular roster of independent American designers, highlighting the juxtaposition of tangential markets. The selected designers were represented by Colony Gallery in New York, and they gained the opportunity to extend their American contacts and open up an entire new international market.