Local premium comic collectible showcase wows crowd
Damian de Canha saw a massive gap in South Africa's geek-culture market, and Symbiote Premium Collectibles was born, bringing select collectible sculpture to a new kind of collector in Krugersdorp.
Having grown up in the 80s, 90s and early 2000s, chances are you have an unparalleled fascination with all things comic-book related. You’ve watched the movies, got your hand on the books whenever you could and you might even have an action figure or two in your collection.This, though, is not just another story of a few action figures. Oh no … two or three of these collectibles can net you the same price as a small car nowadays. This is where the ‘premium’ in Symbiote Premium Collectibles comes in.
The story is that of Damian de Canha receiving a small Hulk statue from a friend. A spark was lit in his soul and he hasn’t been able to stop collecting since. Today, Damian has one of the most impressive collections in South Africa, and he started Symbiote with a goal: to bring more premium collectibles into South Africa than ever before while keeping the costs low enough so that most people could have the opportunity of owning one of these pieces of art themselves.
Damian and the Symbiote gang hosted their first premium collectible demonstration, showcasing some of their most prominent pieces from their somewhat 100, and growing, comic book collectible sculptures. Invitations were sent out, quite a few prominent faces made an appearance and comic book lovers gawked at the breathtaking artwork.
Recently, Damian and Symbiote secured a contract to be the sole importer of XM Studios’ high-end fine arts collectibles in the whole of Africa. XM Studios, based in Singapore, hand-crafts and paints every edge of these to-scale statues with excruciating care and attention to detail, making each piece completely unique. Only a limited number of each statue is crafted and released, giving the pieces immense market value, not to mention the emotional value their owners attach to them.
Damian’s personal collection just keeps growing, and it’s already tough for him to make enough space in his home for each. With that, Symbiote now holds over a hundred statues, and they’ve been distributing figures all around the continent, quickly growing into a force to be reckoned with.
