ABOUT PLACED

Located in Livingston Montana, Placed (f. 2022) is an exhibition platform and advisory firm established to advance contemporary craft within the canon of Decorative Arts.Placed believes that our human engagement with craft is of utmost importance. Rather than seeing it as ‘trend,’ Placed views the exploration of craft as a critical piece to understanding present cultures, places, and histories within our worlds.

As an exhibition platform, Placed produces and curates group and solo showcases [around the world]to champion its roster of emerging craft artists and designers. Placed’s roster exudes excellence and eagerness in practice: They reinterpret industrial technologies and aesthetics; they make via their hands and tools; they understand historical and environmental context; are developing masters of their chosen materialities.

As an advisory firm, Placed identifies the unseen by representing emerging craft makers, artists, and designers, while guiding new audiences to critically engage with them. Via hosted dialogues, shared learning, and short-to-long term advising for acquisition, Placed seeks to connect the individual andcross-intersect audiences for the sake of intellectual exploration and earnest relationship.Starting in May 2026, Placed hosted its first collective contemporary craft art and design fair,“PutTogether” during New York City Design Week.“Put Together” activates within architecturally significant locations and looks forward to its second iteration in 2027.

ETHOS 

Placed (f. 2022) is an exhibition platform and advisory firm that exists to advance contemporary craft within the canon of Decorative Arts.

As we experience life in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution brought on by the acceleration of artificial intelligence––when both original human thought and handmade, honest labor appear now less stable than ever––Placed believes that collective engagement within and advocacy for contemporary craft is of utmost importance. To understand contemporary craft––its present day relevance, its history, and anticipated future––is to foster and appreciate human value; its cultural identity.

As an exhibition platform, Placed focuses on emerging craftspeople, artists and designers, whose work embodies earnest intellectual exploration; a deep sense of process and physicality, resembling something spiritual in nature. As an advisory firm, we scout residency programs, venerable craft institutions, international fairs, and Masters of Fine Art studios for emerging voices proclaiming new ideas and developing the unseen.Seeking to reinvigorate the patron model, Placed provides guidance to collectors, architects,design-build studios, brands, and interior designers to align them with vetted, leading craft designers and artists whose careers and practices can continue to flourish from their stewardship.

At Placed, we initiate and host artist-led dialogues about craft and its historic and present-day prominence, as means of exchange with new audiences, whether it be local communities or long-time collectors. These dialogues are opportunities for the public to learn about craft excellence (process,materiality, and quality), hone in on their personal aesthetics, and find that their participation is critical for its sustenance as well as larger meaning.

Placed is currently based in Livingston Montana, a city deeply rooted in the ceramic arts and hosts an annual collective contemporary craft art and design fair, “Put Together,” which debuted in May 2026.

ABOUT CORYANDER FRIEND

Founder, Director and Principal Advisor at PLACED, Coryander Friend organizes exhibitions between Montana and New York; stewards her new contemporary craft design fair, Put Together; and advises for both private collections and commercial projects. Friend places special focus on emerging talent in craft-led design and art, working with collectors and patrons to emphasize the importance of supporting and preserving ‘the handmade,’ as well as the future of decorative arts. In 2020, Friend moved toMontana where she found herself in a leadership role in the arts and design community, responding with humanity and novelty amidst the time’s uncertainty and instability.

Friend holds a B.A. in Poetry from Naropa University (1996-2000) where she studied with notable poets and artists, began her Buddhist practice, and initiated her framework for Placed’s ethos today, which is centered on hosting events and performances, as well as gathering people to think critically,experiment, and activate new frameworks for dialogue on contemporary craft and design.

Previously, Friend founded and led an independent design fair in Los Angeles, Parachute Market(2012-2016), which held a significant presence during DTLA Arts District’s commercial real estate rush,bringing blue chip art galleries, restaurants and businesses to vacant warehouses. All the while, Friend has worked in the film business, creating sets and environments as a lead IATSE craftsperson(2000-2026). She has been a visiting curator at Tinworks Art, West Hollywood Design District, profiled in Apartamento, T Magazine, Freunde von Freunden, and the LA Times Design Section. Placed has recently been featured by AD, Dezeen, and Sight Unseen. Currently, Friend is rooted in a rural small town environment where she and her husband, a graphic designer and entrepreneur, raise their young daughter within their engaged and close-knit community.

If you have questions or inquiries, please feel free to contact us.

info@placedmt.com
406-931-0942