The Office of Collecting and Design isn’t some bureaucratic agency. It’s a traveling pop-up mini-museum that got its start in Las Vegas and returns for a limited run this week 👀
🤔 What’s It All About?
“T he Office of Collecting and Design is a traveling museum of tiny lost and forgotten objects,” according to founder and curator Jessica Oreck. “It's very much a hands-on experience. You're supposed to open the drawers and look at the boxes and take stuff out of jars and just explore to your heart's content.”
You might see dice, dominoes, classroom items, matchboxes, broken toys, obsolete tools — “ a lot of things from our collective memories,” Oreck says. “ We call it a nostalgia machine because it’s a way of bringing people back to the wonder of their childhood.”
🙂 How Did It Start?
The Office of Collecting and Design was originally a brick-and-mortar business right here in Vegas at the Historic Commercial Center — a studio of sorts for Oreck, who was a lifelong collector and stop-motion animator. “My friends and family said, ‘You should open it to the public. You’ve got weird shit,’” she remembers. The business closed but was reimagined in the form of a traveling 42-foot trailer that includes a main gallery, reading room, and photo studio.
🥹 Deluxe Versions
Visitors can upgrade their tickets and take part in a scavenger hunt (“ you get a little map of items and hunt for them, it’s really challenging and good for people who want a goal”). You can also opt for a flatlay session, to curate items for a photograph. “It’s somewhere between play therapy and art practice,” Oreck explains. “It’s an intimate experience. Some people just enjoy it. Some people cry.”
😃 How to Check It Out
The Office of Collecting and Design will be parked behind the Las Vegas Museum of Science & Natural History in Downtown’s Cultural Corridor Oct. 22-26 (11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 2 to 7 p.m.). Tickets begin at $22. Visitors are limited to six people at a time due to the cozy nature of the space. The exhibit is not recommended for children.
