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Barry Friedman, veteran gallery owner and collector of curios, is on the move. After 40 years on New York's Upper East Side, where he proffered a dizzying array of decorative objects, artworks, periods, and styles, he's making the trek down to West Twenty–sixth Street this month to join Chelsea's white–box art community. But, as usual, he won't be following the same program as his neighbors, and he won't be working alone. Along with a new partner—31–year–old Marc Benda—he'll be bringing a strong dose of contemporary design.

Now 64, Friedman has always followed an eclectic path wherever his tastes led him, jumping from Art Deco furniture to vintage photography to contemporary glass from the likes of Laura de Santillana to the work of early modernist Gerrit Rietveld. "I started as a collector, and I've always been a collector," Friedman says, leaning back in a throne–like 1910 Josef Hoffmann Buenos Aires Chair at his legendary uptown gallery, a geometric forties tie exploding like sunshine under his trademark free–form beard. "Having the collector's mentality has always helped me in this business."

The tie is one of 8,000 in Friedman's possession, most of them hand–painted designs on silk dating from the early 20th century to the fifties. But it's not his vintage clothing collection that interests his clients today—it's his knack for selecting the stars of contemporary design, whom he identifies with Benda's help. Originally from Switzerland, Benda joined Friedman as a junior staffer in 2002 and quickly moved up to director after introducing his boss to the London–based designer Ron Arad (a collaboration that led to some gorgeously reflective aluminum chairs), before becoming a full–fledged partner this year. Benda, a soft– spoken thinker with a perpetual five o'clock shadow, shares Friedman's passion for collecting, having been raised by parents who squirreled away all things decorative and antique and taught him to do the same.

With the move to Chelsea (which represents a jump in space from 2,500 to 18,000 square feet), the business will be split between two galleries: the newly minted Friedman Benda and the mainstay Barry Friedman Ltd. "Friedman Benda will be doing more cutting–edge things, both in terms of architectural furniture and Chinese avant–garde art," Friedman explains. "I'll be doing what I normally do—some photography, some paintings, some glass. Mostly contemporary."

Are the partners concerned about mixing art and design? Not really. "I don't differentiate," Benda says. "What's the difference between something on a canvas and something sitting on the floor? Somebody like Ron Arad deserves to be exhibited beside all the major sculptors." Of course, it helps that the market for contemporary design is booming, much like the art market of the eighties. For its opening exhibition, Friedman Benda will show a new collection by the 90–year–old virtuoso Ettore Sottsass. As for bringing new designers into the fold to join the likes of Droog and Forrest Myers, the partners say they rely on a mix of painstaking research and gut feeling. "It's the same as choosing an artist," Benda says. "It's the sincerity and the inner strength of the object, and it's partly based on personality. You have to believe that whatever they do in the future will be better than what they did in the past."