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08.11.23

Sighted

The New Gallery Making It Easier to Acquire South African Design in the States

New York City is close to 8,000 miles from Cape Town, where Fiona Mackay grew up. Now based in Brooklyn as an art adviser and entrepreneur, she wondered why more of the great design she saw in South Africa on her trips home wasn't available in the US; it turns out, for independent designers, shipping an object those 8,000 miles can easily double its price. “I wanted to create a platform that would not only introduce Americans to the nuanced beauty and unique POV of South African design, but also create an opportunity for South African designers to sell their work in the United States,” Mackay says. By launching Kombi, a new design gallery in New York, Mackay is bringing contemporary collectible Southern African design to the States with a co-ordinated solution: to consolidate orders through one platform to be shipped together every few months.
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06.23.26

The Weekly

I Expected to Love My First 3Days of Design in Copenhagen. But I Could Never Have Anticipated What Would Make It So Great.

If you can believe it, this was my first year attending 3DaysofDesign in Copenhagen, and I went to the fair, now in its 10th year, armed with absurdly high expectations. I knew that just existing in Copenhagen in early June — using Lime bikes to cycle around, drinking natural wine, eating smørrebrød — would set a good baseline for fun. But after my experience at Salone, which I wrote about here, I felt increasingly desperate for Copenhagen to mean something. I told people I was going because, as a chronicler of design fair culture, I felt compelled to see one that had become such a word-of-mouth success. But on a personal level, it’s like I needed Copenhagen to prove to me that design fairs were still worth attending. As hesitant as I am to say this — lest everyone frantically start planning their show next year in Denmark, which is simply not the right move for everyone — Copenhagen actually exceeded my expectations.
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