Beautiful, special and rare: The story of a collector
Peter Grünbaum has been collecting since his early youth. Although his collection has changed over the years and still encompasses a wide variety of design objects, his passion for some unusual rarities has remained unbroken.
For psychology, collecting is one of the most interesting human phenomena. Over the centuries, science has repeatedly found different answers to why so many people collect things. From considering it an evolutionary remnant of our origins as hunter-gatherers to observing pathological excesses of hoarding syndrome: Why we collect has not been conclusively explained, but it is undeniable that collecting is a ubiquitous element of our humanity. Even if the objects of collecting passion are secondary to psychology, they are nevertheless central to the collector and the perception of those around them. Whether collecting is ridiculed as a whim or admired as a life's work ultimately depends mostly on what is collected. The
Swiss Peter Grünbaum, like many of his generation, began his biography as a collector in his early youth with stamps and coins – a pastime that captivated young and old alike, especially in the 1960s to 1980s. When collecting, the proverbial wheat is separated from the chaff when collectors discover their individual object of desire. In Peter Grünbaum's case, however, it became apparent early on that he was unable to commit to a single object category, but rather developed a penchant for the beautiful, the unique, and the rare, which knows almost no boundaries. For a long time, Grünbaum's passion for collecting focused on toy robots, space toys, Mickey Mouse comics, and other contemporary objects. Here, he impressively demonstrated his talent and, not least, his perseverance for the first time: within a few years, he managed to build one of the largest toy robot collections of the world, with around 1,200 individual pieces. As with many successful collectors, Grünbaum's success was accompanied by a waning of his active interest: in the 1980s, he sold the collection to the Vitara Design Museum in Weil am Rhein.
However, the resulting peace and the gain in space quickly lost their appeal. Following the motto: "Once a collector, always a collector," Grünbaum began building a collection again after a short break. This time, his aesthetic interest focused on objects from Italian-style furniture and lighting design, as well as Murano glass, which remains inextricably linked to his personality to this day.
"I've always been interested in everything beautiful, special, and rare," Grünbaum explains about his selection of objects. "So I also collected Pirelli calendars, Visionaires, Swatch watches, photographs, art, Japanese tea ceremony objects, watches, and much more."
After ending his thirty-year career in marketing in 2005, Grünbaum turned his passion into his profession. Under the objectively modest name "1000 Objects," Grünbaum still operates a website and, until 2015, a gallery in Zurich's city center. His collection has continued to grow throughout his career, not least through the purchase of pieces from several important collections, including those of Maurizio Albarelli and Pauly & C. from Venice. Even though he has sold more than 4,000 rare pieces of glass, designer furniture, and lighting to collectors, enthusiasts, and museums over the past two decades, his collection still comprises almost 6,000 objects.
Today, Peter Grünbaum lives among a selection of these objects in a 300-square-meter loft in the more than 100-year-old commercial building next to the tram depot at Zurich's Escher-Wyss-Platz. From here, he continues to sell pieces from his collection. Despite his passion for the aesthetics of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the 73-year-old focuses on contemporary communication, offering comprehensive information on his website 1000-objecte.ch , running a YouTube channel , and also actively promoting his work on Facebook and Instagram
. Grünbaum is happy to share his many years of expertise with anyone interested: "I want to get to know my clients and am happy to answer all inquiries to the best of my knowledge and ability," explains Grünbaum. "Everyone is welcome to visit my collection in Zurich."
Swiss Peter Grünbaum, like many of his generation, began his biography as a collector in his early youth with stamps and coins – a pastime that captivated young and old alike, especially in the 1960s to 1980s. When collecting, the proverbial wheat is separated from the chaff when collectors discover their individual object of desire. In Peter Grünbaum's case, however, it became apparent early on that he was unable to commit to a single object category, but rather developed a penchant for the beautiful, the unique, and the rare, which knows almost no boundaries. For a long time, Grünbaum's passion for collecting focused on toy robots, space toys, Mickey Mouse comics, and other contemporary objects. Here, he impressively demonstrated his talent and, not least, his perseverance for the first time: within a few years, he managed to build one of the largest toy robot collections of the world, with around 1,200 individual pieces. As with many successful collectors, Grünbaum's success was accompanied by a waning of his active interest: in the 1980s, he sold the collection to the Vitara Design Museum in Weil am Rhein.
However, the resulting peace and the gain in space quickly lost their appeal. Following the motto: "Once a collector, always a collector," Grünbaum began building a collection again after a short break. This time, his aesthetic interest focused on objects from Italian-style furniture and lighting design, as well as Murano glass, which remains inextricably linked to his personality to this day.
"I've always been interested in everything beautiful, special, and rare," Grünbaum explains about his selection of objects. "So I also collected Pirelli calendars, Visionaires, Swatch watches, photographs, art, Japanese tea ceremony objects, watches, and much more."
After ending his thirty-year career in marketing in 2005, Grünbaum turned his passion into his profession. Under the objectively modest name "1000 Objects," Grünbaum still operates a website and, until 2015, a gallery in Zurich's city center. His collection has continued to grow throughout his career, not least through the purchase of pieces from several important collections, including those of Maurizio Albarelli and Pauly & C. from Venice. Even though he has sold more than 4,000 rare pieces of glass, designer furniture, and lighting to collectors, enthusiasts, and museums over the past two decades, his collection still comprises almost 6,000 objects.
Today, Peter Grünbaum lives among a selection of these objects in a 300-square-meter loft in the more than 100-year-old commercial building next to the tram depot at Zurich's Escher-Wyss-Platz. From here, he continues to sell pieces from his collection. Despite his passion for the aesthetics of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the 73-year-old focuses on contemporary communication, offering comprehensive information on his website 1000-objecte.ch , running a YouTube channel , and also actively promoting his work on Facebook and Instagram
. Grünbaum is happy to share his many years of expertise with anyone interested: "I want to get to know my clients and am happy to answer all inquiries to the best of my knowledge and ability," explains Grünbaum. "Everyone is welcome to visit my collection in Zurich."