Collab: Collecting Design
Collab is a volunteer organization with a board at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and we support the museum’s collection of modern and contemporary design. Through the lens of collecting design, Collab’s programming contributes to the design legacy of Philadelphia and beyond. Our collection is one of the largest and most important holdings of any encyclopedic museum in the world.
Egg Chair, Arne Jacobsen, Designed 1957, Made by Fritz Hansen Eft., Molded plastic, leather, chrome-plated steel, Gift of the National Society of Interior Design, Pennsylvania Chapter in memory of Jim Prosper, 1971-30-1
For fifty years, Collab has grown the museum’s design acquisitions while celebrating the ideas, designers and design movements that have shaped history. In addition to building a world class collection of design, Collab shares unique exhibits, lectures, tours, and publications that provide an insider’s view to the global design community. We do all those things and so much more, sharing design that extends beyond a collection in a building. We bring design to life for our community.
Collab is a unique organization among Museums. As a committee composed of professionals in various design fields, we have served as advisors to as well as patrons of the Museum, and in the process, helped build one of the best design collections in any museum anywhere.
Chair, Charles Eames and Ray Eames, Designed 1945, Made by Evans Products Company, Molded and bent plywood, rubber, metal, Gift of Professor and Mrs. Eugene Schneider, 1999-106-3
Collab has four beliefs that guide what we do: We are collecting design to build the PMA’s design collection through acquisitions and gifts. We are sharing design, providing access to the collection through tours, exhibits, and events. We are connecting design to the local community, to design students at colleges and universities in Philadelphia and beyond as well as the international design industry, and we are advocating for design to be in the service of humanity.
Collecting by Collab for the PMA began in 1969 through a new group of design advocates who represented professional design organizations in the Philadelphia area: they would start the new collection by securing funds and organizing public programs that featured talks by nationally known designers such as George Nelson and Charles Eames. During 1970 and ‘71, this new group put on their first exhibits at the PMA, showing the new design acquisitions they purchased. These included now famous examples of furniture design such as an Eames bent plywood chair, a Barcelona lounge chair made by Knoll here in Pennsylvania, and the Egg Chair designed by Arne Jacobsen. There were also lamps, ceramic bowls and vases, and contemporary jewelry. This first collection spanned design, decorative arts, and craft. With the help of the Inter-Society Committee (the name that pre-dated Collab), the exhibition was organized by Calvin Hathaway, then-curator at the PMA who was an advisor to the Committee. The group continued to fundraise to help build the museum’s design collection, changing their name to Collab, as a nod to the collaborative efforts and disciplines across the scope of design.
Barcelona Chair, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Designed 1929, Made by Knoll, Stainless steel and leather upholstery, Gift of Audrey Helfand, 1994-124-1
Over the next half century, the work of hundreds of designers would be added for the first time to the Museum’s collection through Collab, growing the collection from around two hundred objects in 1970 to what is now over 3000 examples of design. Collab of 1974 on British contemporary design expanded the possibilities, with the first of a series of design exhibitions under the helm of curator Kathy Hiesinger, who has shepherded Collab since Calvin Hathaway’s retirement in 1972 (she is still working with us). As selected and organized by Collab’s curatorial advisors, the exhibition objects were often not simply lent, but donated to the Museum by their designers, makers, and manufacturers, and this practice continues to the present, allowing the collection to flourish and round out certain historical gaps as well as adding compelling examples of design today. Marking occasions and anniversaries with acquisition gifts to the Museum has become a Collab tradition as well.
Through the generosity of Collab board member Lisa Roberts and David Seltzer, Collab has had its own gallery at the museum for modern and contemporary design since 2007. When the museum opened the Perelman Building across the street from the main building, Collab was able to have dedicated space for Collab exhibits and programming. In 2021 we were able to move into a new space in the main Museum building that is more connected and visible with visitor traffic. This new gallery will allow for even more people to be exposed to design in a museum setting and learn about Collab’s initiatives to support design.
Magodi – Amanda, Zizipho Poswa, 2019, Glazed stoneware, Purchased with the The Elizabeth Wandell Smith Fund, 2021-142-1
So, what is in our design collection? Design is a part of our everyday lives, from the objects around us, to what we experience in the built environment, and how we function in society. Everything from architecture, building interiors, graphic design, household objects and appliances are all examples of design. So is fashion, textiles, lighting, automobiles, and furniture. Collab focuses our collection in those areas and more, every place that design informs society.
We also focus on design that shows examples of innovative material use, technology, or fabrication. At Collab, we want to ensure that the design collection at the museum covers everything from the design heroes of the modern era all the way to emerging designers who are changing design in the future. The collection is international, spanning decades of time and place and making sure we have good representation from different movements in design. We of course have design examples from the Bauhaus masters like Marcel Breuer and examples of mid-century design. We also collect examples of major design movements, with works by Ettore Sottsass who founded Memphis Milano. The designers we collect don’t design just one type of product, they are versatile and work in many scales and scopes within the design industry.
Sinmi Stool, Norman Teague, Designed 2015, Made by Norman Teague Design Studios, Laminated and bent birch plywood with ebonized finish, rubber, Purchased with funds contributed by Collab: The Group for Modern and Contemporary Design at the PMA, 2021, 2021-163-1
We also collect contemporary design from around the world. We seek examples that are driving design forward with new manufacturing techniques and new aesthetics that haven’t been seen before. All these designers create a new design language through process, form, and materiality. We are collecting sustainable organic materials like seaweed fabric that will ultimately biodegrade and conceptual projects like a future library that won’t even exist until the trees planted at its inception are grown enough to produce the paper that the books will be printed on.
Collab is also committed to collecting design and putting on programs that celebrate diversity and inclusion. We share design from around the world and honor voices that have not traditionally been included in American or European-centric collections. We collect and exhibit Latinx and Asian work and works from African and African- American designers of color. We also recognize that design embraces a wider spectrum of diversity beyond race, gender, age, with works by and for women and by and works for those who are differently abled: design must recognize and include physical accessibility, as well as emotional and social diversity. Everything from neurodiversity, to respecting social inequalities due to economic differences, all are covered in inclusive design and universal design. Diversity recognizes that design exists in all places and with all people, irrespective of ability, and is reflective of all of society. Collab invites you to join us in our mission and celebrate design in all its forms.
