Observer 111: An obscure Loewy La Creuset piece, Pesce at the Johnson house & more
If you unsubscribed from my last email
Shabbat Shalom y’all and forgive the late email (during Shebat yikes) I went deep on some real journalism earlier today:
Read it. Thanks. But now, back to design.
Couple stories that came up that jumped out at me before I get to auctions and retail.
Loewy in NYT:
This Times story about the sick in the head La Creuset collectors (it’s too matchy, why do you want your kitchen to look like a showroom) has a small detail down below about an obscure Raymond Loewy-designed grill (called the Tostador, made in 1955) for La Creuset:
Here’s a photo of the grill:
Deeply yonic, honestly. Perfect for making a Euro grilled cheese. Thank you to Adam friend of Snake for noticing. I love how there’s just a Loewy La Creuset thing hanging around in plain sight unremarked upon… for decades. Sweet. Anyways, a number on eBay right now. I would link to specific auctions but for some reason I am banned by eBay’s partner network and therefore cannot link in an affiliate way. If a subscriber/buddy knows anyone at eBay who can unban me, let me know. I love eBay. Not sure what’s going on. I’ve emailed them a few times but nada.
Pesce at the Glass House (Ct)
There’s a thing on Gaetano Pesce, at the Philip Johnson Glass House in New Canaan, Ct. a week from Sunday, on the 18th. Here’s the IG post:
You can do it via Zoom. In the pic here it’s a couple of Pesce’s Feltri chairs (1986) in the Glass House. Glenn Adamson, the writer and curator, is doing the talk.
It’s wild. Feels like the design discourse is maturing with this talk. I say this because Pesce’s design work looks very different from Philip Johnson’s architectural ideas, and, what’s more, has a different set of ideas behind it… and so they’re rarely presented together (institutionally) except for maybe design workers. Going further, the former’s work is fun and uses post-industrial materials and is something that’s closer to art (or at least individuality)… while Johnson is functional, austere, adult… even harsh. Pesce was educated in the 50s, a bit after the Glass House was built (‘49), and his work with resin and plastic came later, and departed, so to speak, from traditional modernist construction, the materials—concrete, metal and wood—that Johnson used. The two ways of expression were just really not often displayed together—one rarely saw Pesce or other 70s designs in modernist houses like these, unless they were someone’s private collection or home.
And so this is different. And it works. And it’s great. We don’t really have to ask why it works—the overly simplistic explanation is that both are good. Both are good. Both are good. It’s truly simple. That’s the first thing. In an age of boring or less than nothing design, two differing aesthetics match up with each other perfectly. I’m also underselling it. Johnson’s house is a masterpiece… Pesce’s work, at best, is the same. (These chairs are second tier to me.) Anyways both are something. It’s that simple.
More than this, though, they have much in common. Pesce’s furniture, as fun as it is, is substantial, and important, and despite the bright colors and organic shapes, is, still like, functional, for-hire work. These are chairs, you can sit on them. I think of his Chiat/Day office rebrand (hated at the time; here’s the incredible Wired story about it from 1999) that presaged the… open office plan and “funification” (or whatever) of the work space. Isn’t that functional? Isn’t that just normal office furniture now? Is any of it that different than Johnson’s right angles? The ones that built American business up after the war? No, prob. not, no. Not to me. Pesce did it later, it’s different, it’s excellent… it’s a chair.
Which shouldn’t come out as a criticism. Mostly we need more of this. For design to grow and be more consumer-facing and accessible—for there to be a readership and consumer base who knows who designers are (and then some), and is capable and flexible in integrating different styles with each other, who can set ideas against one another, who can do these things in real homes—we need a broader, less academic design language. More than showrooms… more than just fairs, stuff like this. Different ideas and looks interacting. More events like this. Real good job to whoever was involved here. These are items that grip you, and they can’t get explained in just words. You have to see them, and you need reps. To everyone’s great credit, the chairs have been at the house for a while—here’s a Sight Unseen mention of this from last year. Salute Johnson and Pesce estates, and salute the great state of Connecticut.
Last thing, Hayley Clark (does Nesting Doll, Snake Q&A here), recently started a Substack that’s covering design from a historical perspective.
Here’s her first post:
If you’re interested in design, I suggest subscribing, she has a great eye and can write.
Good shit on sale retail rn:
For those who don’t want to bid, Ssense has the following this week:
Green leather Eames recliner & ottoman—as in low emissions leather. I spoke to Eames a while ago for a different story and they mentioned this was a priority for them. It looks good though I keep waiting for an APC Butler type experience for their loungers so you can get one with Patina (actually it is just buying a used one). $7K
Louise Roe silver pitcher—as well as this cup & saucer set—Roe’s known for her textiles (though this vase isn’t bad)… the above-linked are clean, Alessi 1971-style minimal stainless steel pieces. Perfect bridge between mid-mod and fr33k styles, impervious to trend (like a Levi’s 501 or propeller beanie).
They also had Anne Demeulemeester plates (sick) but they sold. There are some on Selfridge’s (this one; the collection)—they’re fairly priced but are in blighty. Would that designer dinnerware were covered like the State Department, or even stocked in accessible places. I bookmarked this stuff for this letter on Monday and everything sold out during the week. People love this stuff.
Alessi aluminum espresso maker, four left, $95—too good a deal to pass up.
These auctions went for nothing last week:
These pieces went for this much last week:
Saporiti loungers, two for $700; seven Archizoom chairs for $225 (nutty); Aulenti Pileo floor lamp under 3 large, Magistretti lamp half that, five Magistretti tables for $325; Mazza Artemide bar carts (you’ve seen ‘em) for $200; two Chippendale chairs (Venturi) for under 3, the best daybed of all time (paid info) for only $2,400, Rohde side tables two for less than $500, a Josef Hoffmann Kubus sofa for $1,300 (crayzee); ten van der Rohe chairs for $1,000 (crayzee-er; pictured), six Knoll cantilever chairs for $850, an Alessi Sapper kettle for $80, too much to list honestly.
Auction Observer the 111th
It’s a slow week of auctions on a narrative level—fewer “exciting” items, mostly re-lists of pieces that have been selling a bit for years (or which houses are relisting)—but it’s super loaded on the back end. There are a few 10-year couches in the low hundreds ending in a couple days, some dinnerware, a Sottsass light and a custom made glass lamp for a massive fashion designer/lifter. The correct deployment of a fair bid may make you actually love your apartment. Bidding instructions, auctions and so on below the jump.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to SNAKE to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.