TF Chan by Luke Fullalove

Tête-à-Tat with TF Chan, Director of Collect, February 2026

With some Tête-à-Tat’s I rely on research. I listen to old podcasts, I read articles, I trawl the far corners of the internet to pick up anything I can about the interviewee. For poor TF, I simply phoned him to have a quick tête-à-tête about this Tête-à-Tat. I say poor, as I am sure we have all been there, when there is something vast that you are working on. It is not tomorrow, but it is in the near future, and you are stuck in that space where the t’s are crossed but there are still a mammoth number of i’s to be dotted. Of course, that is exactly the moment everyone wants to have a chat about some inane interview.

But I stand by my need. With the event of Brexit, do you remember, it happened some time ago and everyone has taken it very well since, and it by no means caused a cataclysm in our society. We, dear reader, England, have not looked quite as spiffy as we once did on the design stage. We have had quite a few fairs cancelled and, in one or two heartbreaking cases, moved to France. Paris has done very well out of our decision to leave and they very much know it. So with a fair that champions craft and design taking place in one of our most iconic locations, Somerset House, we must do everything we can to support it and offer as much fanfare as humanly possible.

Collect, if you have not been, is one of the great places. For me there is so much space between the art world and the design world. Enter Collect. Here you will find pieces that do not intimidate with their absence of context. They are tangible, the human impact is there. Whether in ceramic, glass or rush, one can see the work of hands and hearts, and it is always, perhaps more than ever, a breath of fresh air.

TF’s route to fair director was not a conventional one. He arrived in London fresh out of university and fell into journalism almost by accident, beginning with an internship at Wallpaper and staying for a decade. He learned on the job, rose through the ranks and eventually became editor of the print magazine during the pandemic, before leaving to write a book on the Danish lighting company Louis Poulsen. That long-form project, rooted in an interest in making, materials and longevity, now feels like a natural prelude to his role at Collect.

What comes through most clearly is TF’s belief in craft as both culturally and materially significant. He talks about the importance of championing disciplines that sit outside the traditional hierarchies of the art world, and about creating a space where ceramics, textiles, metalwork and wood can be seen with the same seriousness as painting or photography. Collect, for him, is as much about gathering people as it is about objects, a rare moment of physical encounter in an increasingly online world.

As ever we were hugely grateful that TF made the time to take part in Tete a Tat and Collect have been so kind and offered the readers of Tat 20% off pre booked tickets with code - COL26TATOFF.

This offer code provides a preferential ticket rate for the public days of the fair 27 February - 01 March providing 20% off the general ticket price. This preferential ticket rate cannot be used in person, please ensure you pre-book your tickets online.

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Osip, Bruton

Favourite restaurant?

For a catch-up with friends, I usually go for Rochelle Canteen on a warm summer evening, seated in the covered tent under vines of ripening grapes strewn with festoon lights, or Bistro Freddie on a brisk winter’s night, nestled in one of the banquettes with a view of the candlelit room. For a special occasion, I’d head out to Bruton for dinner at Osip – the platonic ideal of a farm-to-table restaurant, with exquisite food and an impressive rotation of contemporary craft – and spend the night in one of the marvellously minimalist rooms upstairs.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Alas I don’t. It’s frightfully unimaginative of me, I know.

Are you a fan of surprises?

I’m happiest when I’m in control, so I try to avoid surprises wherever possible. I like to pore over reviews (and Reddit threads) before committing to a novel, and I often read a synopsis before watching a film. For me, the joy of narrative media lies not so much in plot twists, but rather how dialogue, atmosphere and pacing come together to create an immersive world.

Ocean Vuong, On Earth We're Briefly Gorgeous

Favourite poem?

Ocean Vuong’s Someday I’ll Love Ocean Vuong. I much prefer prose to poetry, but I was inspired to seek out Vuong’s poems after his novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous left me in melancholic awe. This one in particular is about overcoming regret and moving forward with hope – and the line ‘The most beautiful part of your body is where it’s headed’ remains breathtaking, however many times I read it.

Any good advice? Who gave it to you?

A key step in building your profile in the creative industries is simply showing up. Go to as many exhibition openings as you can, and take every opportunity to attend talks, book signings, open studios and the like. Value every invitation that lands in your hands, especially when you’re starting out. I learned this from my first editor-in-chief, Tony Chambers, whom I credit for inspiring my love of design, and I live by his advice to this day.

Pet Peeve? (e.g. mine is people not saying thank you if you hold the door open etc)

Separate faucets for hot and cold water – the utter insanity of it. Back in my twenties, when I was looking for flat shares, I would immediately rule out any place that didn’t have a mixer tap in the bathroom.

If money was no object, what artwork would you like to own?

If money were no object and space were no obstacle, I’d pick El Anatsui’s 2023 installation for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern, Behind The Red Moon. His transformation of recycled bottle caps into a monumental cloth of gold, and his marshalling of one of the bleakest episodes of history – the transatlantic slave trade – into an uplifting ode to resilience and renewal, moved me to my core. Otherwise, if I were limited to artworks that can fit into my one-bedroom apartment, I’d love one of Helen Pashgian’s cast epoxy spheres, which contain such striking plays of light within their modest radii. I once put one of her spheres on the cover of Wallpaper* when I was the magazine’s editor – it remains one of my favourite issues.

Top destination in the UK?

Radic Pavilion, Photograph Courtesty Of Hauser and Wirth

The Oudolf Field at Hauser & Wirth Somerset, with its delightfully dense patches of herbaceous perennials and grasses. Whether in peak season when flowers are exuberant and the pond is iridescent with dragonflies, or in the fallower months when spent stems reveal another kind of beauty, this garden never fails to lift my spirits. It’s also the permanent home of one of my favourite Serpentine pavilions, an oblong bubble by Smiljan Radic that looks like it could have been made of papier-mâché.

What language would you most like to be able to speak?

Japanese. It’s not so much about linguistic fluency as the access it would unlock. I’m a big admirer of Japanese aesthetics – its elegant subtlety, its eye for beauty in imperfection, its pride in simple things done exceptionally well. I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Japan a few times, most recently in November 2025 when the National Tourism Organization invited me to learn about craft in Niigata and Hokuriku. Even with advances in translation software and the excellent services of local interpreters, I’ve felt that I would have gotten more out of my trips had I spoken the language. 

Stefan Zweig, The World of Yesterday

If you could live in any era of history, which one would you choose and what would you do?

Vienna in the years before the Second World War. The era eulogised in The World of Yesterday by Stefan Zweig and memorably channelled in Grand Budapest Hotel (you can tell I’m a huge Wes Anderson fan!). A world where culture reigned supreme, cosmopolitanism was a virtue, and coffee houses, galleries and concert halls were embraced as engines of progress. It would also mean getting to live among the objects of the Wiener Werkstätte, which I hold to be one of the finest hours of craft and design.

What song will always make you tap your foot?

Obituary by Alexandre Desplat, which opens the soundtrack of The French Dispatch, and kept cropping up in those ‘act like you’re in a Wes Anderson film’ memes that made the internet so joyful a few years ago. It plays in my head more often than I dare admit.

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