It may well be that more and more people are buying works of art but it is probably also true to say that fewer “collect”. However, old-fashioned collecting is far from dead, even for the under 50s. Any doubting Thomases need only visit one of the growing number of specialist art fairs and “Open Days” in the galleries.

At the opening of the 10th Salon du Dessin in Paris this March, for instance, there were so many people crammed into the lofty Palais de la Bourse that the temperature soared to Caribbean heights. Had anyone fainted, they would still have remained upright. And this was no ordinary private view where visitors cluster in little groups chatting and sipping cocktails. The clipboards were out, as a generous proportion of the world’s pre-eminent collectors and curators of master drawings scrutinised the stands. By the end of the evening red dots spotted the walls like measles.

The key to the specialist fair business, though, is to know your market, and none have done more to expand the specialist fair business than the British organisers Brian and Anna Haughton. The pair cut their teeth by founding the International Ceramics Fair & Seminar in London back in 1982 (Brian Haughton had been dealing in English and continental porcelain since 1965) and it is now in its 23rd year.

They have seen fairs come and go. Their London Silver & Jewellery Fair, for example, was a casualty of the 1991 recession; their latest venture, The International Art & Design Fair in New York, is an example, as Anna Haughton puts it, of “looking to emerging markets and to where supply is plentiful”. Bringing together not only dealers but also leading scholars for an accompanying lecture programme has proved a much imitated formula. It is the curators who bring acquisition funds and, no less importantly, museum groups of supporters.

This year’s ceramics fair (June 16-19), which once again also embraces antique and contemporary glass and contemporary ceramics, brings together just 15 dealers, but they constitute most of the world’s leading lights, including Paris-based Dragesco Cramosian and Munich-based Angela Grafin von Wallwitz.

While the ceramics world gathers on Piccadilly, a rather more exotic retinue descends on Olympia for the HALI Fair (June 9-19). This boisterous great bazaar embraces everything from carpets and textiles to tribal art, presenting some 100 dealers from 12 countries. It is at once a serious showcase and a decorator’s dream. At its heart lies antique rugs, carpets, costume and textiles – collector’s pieces such as the exceptional, finely woven and brilliantly hued late-17th-/early-18th-century Toms Dragon Carpet from the Shirvan region of the Caucasus (The Textile Gallery, London), and more humble rarities such as the Sakiori (twisted dyed and undyed cotton) Japanese farmers sandals of around 1930 (Marcusson & Hall, London, £800). To more contemporary tastes, it shows Art Deco carpets plus hand-woven contemporary pieces produced by the likes of Jan Kath Design.

Running concurrently at Olympia (June 9-12) is the Antiquarian Book Fair, once again the most important fair of its kind in Europe, if not the world, and again hosting over 100 dealers from across the globe. Tempting enthusiasts here is anything from newcomers Jonkers Rare Books’ first edition of James Joyce’s Ulysses of 1922, the presentation copy the author gave to his brother Stanislaus (£250,000), to an unusual record of Swinging Sixties London – the guest book of the Soho restaurant Chez Victor, complete with drawings (Hockney), banter (Pete and Dud) and signatures (just about everyone) from Adrian Harrington Rare Books, £3,750. Art London, meanwhile, returns for its 7th year (June 8-12), offering a window to over 80 contemporary art dealers. Prices £300-£100,000 plus.

The last decade has witnessed the rise of Open Days, where specialist dealers collaborate to stage week-long shows in their own – or borrowed – galleries. For cities where the the art and antiques business is concentrated in one area, the initiative offers a fair in all but name – with the advantages of no additional overheads and quantities of fresh air. In the Sablon quarter of Brussels this month, what began as a modest piece of marketing has turned into a massive international event (June 8-12), embracing not only the Brussels Non European Art Fair but the Brussels Ancient Art Fair and the new oriental art fair.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS

■ International Ceramics Fair Seminar, Park Lane Hotel, London W1. Tel: +44 (0)20-7734 5491; www.haughton.com

■ HALI Fair, Olympia Exhibition Halls, Hammersmith Road, London W14. Tel: +44 (0)20-7578 7215; www.halifair.com

■ Antiquarian Book Fair, Olympia Exhibition Halls, Hammersmith Road, London W14. Tel: +44 (0)1227-275436; www.olympiabookfair.com

■ Art London, Burton’s Court, St. Leonard’s Terrace, London SW3. Tel: +44 (0)20-7259 0700; www.artlondon.net

■ Brussels Non European Art Fair, tel: +32 (0)2-514 02 09; www.bruneaf.com

■ Brussels Ancient Art Fair, www.baaf.be

■ Brussels Oriental Art Fair, tel: +32 (0)2-344 41 71; www.boafair.be