The design department is without doubt the most varied sub-collection of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen. In the museum's public depot, anyone can marvel at the pluralistic nature of this 50,000-piece collection. The objects range from traditionally turned cooking pots to unique engraved commemorative glasses and mass-produced tubular steel chairs. But why were all these objects collected in the first place? And what do they have to tell us? What is the common denominator between a dress by Viktor&Rolf, a glass by Copier, a silver salt shaker by Van Vianen and a typewriter by Sottsass? In this richly illustrated Boijmans Study, Mienke Simon Thomas, curator at the museum from 1993 to 2021, describes who or what determined what the museum acquired over the past 175 years, and how advancing insight also constantly changed that collecting policy. Central to the story are the passions of private collectors, the emancipation of the study area, social changes and, last but not least, the personal preferences of the directors and staff.