[EXTRACT] How do you create a market for design? | Marc Benda (Friedman Benda)

Marc Benda (0:00)

The most important thing is quality. You need to show the public that there is a quality of execution, of thought, of you know, that there is something happening that wouldn't otherwise be happening. You know, that is unique, that is outstanding.

Adrien Garcia (0:13)

Can you explain to us what is the role of a gallerist ?

Marc Benda (0:15)

A gallerist is essentially a meeting point, in that you have an expertise in the art or the design that you represent, and you are the translator or an amplifier of that to an audience.

Adrien Garcia (0:27)

What brought you to New York ?

Marc Benda (0:30)

To me, from a very young age, New York felt like the center of the universe. There are many centers, but it felt like the center of the universe I belonged to. Nobody even had time for me. I was 21 years old, nobody took me seriously. And the only dealer who took time was Barry Friedman. He sat me down, he looked through the photos, he bought a piece, and said that I should come back with more.

Adrien Garcia (0:49)

Starting again was an objective at some point ?

Marc Benda (0:51)

My vision was a hunger for objects.

Adrien Garcia (0:54)

How do you put a price on something ?

Marc Benda (0:55)

The first time someone asked me that was the person who basically invented the algorithm for Google to price the ads. In design and in art you have a lot of young artists who take certain references. It's a copy and paste of ideas. And a young audience who doesn't even know that they are copy and pasting, and that it's a rehash of something instead of pushing forward. Don't worry about PR and marketing and don't worry about that. At the end of the day what matters is the art that you show. Because if what you show is real and important and has a real relevance, then the public will find you.

There was a market. Look, there's always a market. There's always, when you have a few people, there's a market, right ? It's just not as big. It was more developed in Paris than in New York. There was very little of a contemporary design seen in New York. There were almost no creators in New York. They were all in Europe and some in Japan.

Adrien Garcia (1:56)

Do you have a few names so we can add a vision of OVR ?

Marc Benda (2:02)

Yes. Well, many of them we ended up working with. And Thore Sartzes was still alive. André Voamse was in the prime of his career.

You had Ron Arad in London. You had Marc Newson who was in the prime of his career.

You had very, very big names and many exciting people. This could be an endless list really. But it was centered on Europe. The market was less concentrated. You had very few galleries that were really important marketplaces for contemporary design. And it was also the model I had in mind was more centered on what I saw in New York, happening with contemporary art galleries, than what I saw in the design field.

Adrien Garcia (2:50)

Okay. So it was a mix of gallery and design. So you kind of invented something new.

Marc Benda (2:58)

I can't claim that because there's always someone who's done it before. And you had amazing galleries in Paris that did that. But maybe not in the same form.

Okay. So it wasn't an invention. It was an evolution.

Adrien Garcia (3:10)

What does reform can explain us ?

Marc Benda (3:12)

The other forms ?

Adrien Garcia (3:13)

Yeah. I mean, what was new actually ?

Marc Benda (3:18)

What was new was that we really approached designers like artists. We didn't go in saying make a collection.

It wasn't programmatic like that. We didn't produce their work. Because a lot of the people who were working already at the time were also the producers for the work. But I didn't want to be the producer of the work. I wanted to be the gallerist for these designers.

Adrien Garcia (3:44)

So that's the beginning of collectible.

Marc Benda (3:47)

Yeah. I don't like this form. I don't.

Adrien Garcia (3:51)

Sorry.

Marc Benda (3:52)

No, it's okay.

Adrien Garcia (3:52)

Don't be.

Marc Benda (3:53)

Because I think it's a word that has come very far. But if you call collectible almost sounds like an excuse or sort of added label. But you don't say that this is a collectible wine versus a not collectible wine. No, this is a collectible car versus a not collectible car. This is a rare or a vintage car.