Zona Maco to launch collectible design category
Mexico City art fair Zona Maco has announced the launch of Forma, a distinct collectible design category within the fair during Mexico City art week 2026.
For the inaugural presentation of Forma, Zona Maco will host six international collectible design galleries, on top of the explicit fine art and design programming present within the fair.
The galleries involved will include Netherlands-based Rademakers, Brazil-based Dobra, Chile-based Collectio and Mexican gallery Adn Galería.
Citco, with locations in Miami and Verona, will be present, as will Carpenters Workshop Gallery, which has locations in New York, London, and Los Angeles.
Forma section to be spread among fine art booths
Forma will be separate from the fair's long-running design section, which usually features a mix of university, corporate and emerging designers.
According to Zona Maco founder, Zélika García, the section will be spread throughout the fine art booths that fill the Centro Citibanamex convention centre each February, marked with distinct placards indicating Forma.
García told Dezeen that the high price points of the collectible design galleries prompted them to create Forma to set them off from the existing design programming.
"[These galleries] have a very different price range than what we have in our design fair, and they didn't really fit in that section," said García, adding that the design fair was created in the first place because art galleries "didn't want" them in the section.
Some collectible design galleries, such as Carpenters Workshop Gallery and Adn Galería, have been featured in the design-only section in the past.
García mentioned New York art fair Tefaf's mix of art and design as an influence on the decision.
New section to represent "blurry line between art and design"
Despite the growing internationalism of Zona Maco, it was important for the curators to maintain the presence of Latin American galleries.
"We wanted to have the Latin American presence and not just European galleries," Zona Maco design curator Cecilia León de la Barra told Dezeen.
De la Barra said that the design section has its own audience, but that there was a need to blur the line between the sections and create space for what they consider a different group of collectors.
"The Design Fair has its own public, its own visitors, and people coming to see what's happening and what's showing," she said.
"This is for another collector and with another price range, for the blurry line between art and design that is collectable design."
She told Dezeen that with this dispensation for collectible design, the formal design section will be expanded.
Previous installations of note in the design section include an installation that incorporated generative AI to make custom visualisations of "Mexican design" based on prompts.
Founded in 2003 by García, Zona Maco anchors what has become a full-fledged art week in the city, with art and design studios creating installations, and with smaller fairs such as Feria Materíal and Unique Design X hosting visitors.
Zona Maco takes place from 4 to 8 February in Mexico City. For more fairs, talks and installations in architecture and design, visit Dezeen Events Guide.
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