The worlds of art, luxury and design have long fixated on the elusive “young collector” — Gen-Z and millennial buyers whose shopping habits and status signifiers will drive spending for decades to come.

The matter of where to reach them — online — is self-evident. Beyond that, however, lie existential questions for ailing auction houses, mega-galleries and the other traditional gatekeepers of collecting. What do under-40s want on their walls and mantelpieces? What are their status symbols? In other words, what now constitutes good taste?

For Korean American entrepreneur Jesse Lee, self-described “geriatric millennial” and founder of the online design marketplace Basic.Space, the answer is simple enough: uniqueness.

“Good taste is about finding something nobody else has, whether it’s a

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