A complete breakdown of the David Lynch auction

Reporting from Paris… fashion week, 3DD, and even an Gorilla Biscuits show…

Wanted to break down the David Lynch auction, which ended last week on Julien’s. We get about one of these every five years—insight into a director, sure, but an auction that evolves past bid world into… the culture? I’ll note from the outset the outsized attention here put just about every item at a premium, but this was to be expected… people fiend over Lynch. I mean weeks ahead of the thing his coffee pot (not the espresso machine, but his Keurig) was sitting in the low four figures…

The Lynch lots sold for $4.25 million (including fees)… a director’s chair went for $91,000, including fees, some scripts (including Ronnie Rocket, an unfinished feature about a redhead) went for double that… below a full accounting of all designy and design-adjacent items for sale—anything that can be sat on, written on, walked on, slept on… anything on which he could have stored things. Plus some auctions for regular people at the end.

Obs. Lynch

• Twin bed frame, $1,950—among the best items listed on a pure design level, this is more or less a George Nelson case study bed, albeit not that, not by a designer, and with plainer legs than the original piece. Twin bed, child/Euro size…. good.

• Bang & Olufsen Beosound 2000 CD system, $3,000—B&O, body of work, are unmatched… when they are rolling one cannot touch their aesthetics. Look at this thing:

  

  It’s similar to what went on auction. There is probably an argument these days that the world is more boring because the technical products we play with every day are not as… beautifully designed as these. Billed by B&O as the fastest CD changer of all time… though in construction the items are less than ideal to buy. (The 4000 turntable on that page—if the needle busts, you have to replace the whole thing.) Have to be more moving parts on a CD player than a turntable. Anyways Lynch’s was in the mix, more of a home consumer thing—runs about $700 used.

Random plates and ceramics: these Sgraffito by Habitat bowls (pair for $40 on Etsy), this red Salviati bowl for $2,600 (fair price), these Frankoma ceramics (similar on Etsy), this glassware—frankly quite delicate, quiet items that aren’t as loud as the sets in his films. Still, prices here are provenance…

• One might ask if indeed Lynch was stuck in the 1950s. This contour sofa, $4,550 is a bit plain, and shares energy with these flying saucer lamps—anon designer, tested by Underwriters’ Laboratory, $5K—this McCobb style-chair, $4,000… even plainer. Still, there’s variety among the furniture: these Baughman-style armchairs were a surprise. They’re the most forward-looking piece in the lot—and the most worn… the arms are shredded off… interesting. As fascinating is this Tomado-style table ($5,850, above) which Lynch designed himself. Despite the colors, it’s not even that kitschy—or is much less kitschy than what he bought. Fascinating….

  • Worth highlighting Lynch’s own furniture collection, from 1997, which never gets discussed anywhere. It’s a capsule collection, a few pieces he designed himself. The company’s Casanostra. I did some digging around and found out some details about the work and how it came out—