Is handmade design the answer to artificial intelligence?

There’s something deliberately anachronistic about a fair dedicated to handmade objects in 2026. As the world accelerates—artificial intelligence generates images in seconds, 3D printing replicates almost any form, and global production churns out objects at ever-lower costs—Collect art fair continues to fill Somerset House with wheel-thrown ceramics, handwoven textiles, and meticulously crafted jewelry. It is precisely in this gap, in this almost programmatic resistance to the logic of immediacy, that its relevance lies. The fact that its new director comes from journalism—a decade at Wallpaper, followed by years spent shaping a critical look on objects and how we tell their stories—says a great deal about a fair that doesn’t just aim to sell, but to persuade.

TF Chan does not fit the typical fair director profile. He comes neither from galleries nor collecting, but from writing—from that territory where things are observed, described, and placed in relation to one another. His relationship with objects was largely shaped during his editorial career. The idea of taking objects seriously, he says, has never left him. He continues to believe that well-made, carefully chosen objects can genuinely shape the way we experience the world.

What has changed is the scale of that perspective. His years in publishing were years of factories, industrial processes, and mass production—a close-up view of the global design machine. Now the viewpoint has flipped: proximity to making is where the magic happens. The object becomes a more immediate expression of its maker’s intelligence and touch, more capable of conveying emotion and telling stories. In other words: less assembly line, more human imprint.

Collect was founded in 2004 by the UK Crafts Council, at a time when the contemporary craft market in Britain was still in its early stages. The first edition at the V&A in South Kensington—partly inspired by SOFA Chicago, a now-defunct American fair—brought together 41 galleries from three continents and was considered a success. Twenty years on, the structure remains faithful to that original impulse: ceramics, textiles, glass, metal, lacquer, studio jewelry, and increasingly collectible design, presented as unique pieces or limited editions. Eighty percent of the works on view have been made within the last five years. It is a fair designed to exist firmly in the present—or even slightly ahead of it.

Collectible design is the area Chan addresses with the greatest critical precision. It is also the most slippery: a category enthusiastically embraced by the market, not always with clarity. For him, collectible design occupies the space where function and form meet emotion and narrative—objects that are usable, yet possess qualities more often associated with art: a point of view, a sensitivity to materials, and a clear intention that makes them unique.

This definition does not exclude industrial production, nor should it. The industrial and digital revolutions cannot be ignored. But precisely because we live in an age of abundance, there is a growing risk that objects become invisible: too available, too easily replaceable, part of a disposable culture that is, among other things, causing serious harm to the planet. In this context, the handmade object is not about nostalgia. It is a form of active, conscious resistance.

Collect is also a non-profit fair. This allows it to move beyond purely commercial logic and build a context in which works can be properly understood and preserved over time. Operating in the primary market, sales go directly to artists and galleries, rather than intermediaries. There is also a deliberate choice not to grow at all costs: to keep the number of exhibitors limited and prioritize quality over quantity.

Chan’s role is also to translate all of this for a broader audience—to make the value of handmade objects clear and compelling, not in opposition to industry, but in terms that resonate even with those who have never truly considered them. Because ultimately, that is the point: it’s not enough to have a good eye. You also need to explain why something is worth looking at—and, perhaps, worth buying.