Snake Auction Observer 059: Sottsass, Hoffmann, Dior, De Sede/Ferrari, Soriana
cheap Vignelli chairs, Pierre Paulin's best piece, a Baughman bench for $50, Soriana, fairly priced Pesce and more
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But first, housekeeping:
I had the thrill of being interviewed for Why Is This Interesting’s Monday Media Diet. Super fun. I list my favorite newsletters, podcasts, news sources, the Richie Krutch podcast (I can’t overstate how good it is), and so on:
In Canada for the week, there are a lot of limited Coca Cola products (Coke with Coffee, Coke with British Columbia raspberry?), which don’t seem to be made with high-fructose corn syrup, but sugar. Strange. Also you can buy raw parm if you look. Crazy.
Poll:
Ferrari—what can be said?—disappointing.
Auctions:
Heal’s wenge table, Chi, Tues.: Not entirely sure about this one, i.e., new to me. From digging around, Heal’s is British, been around since 1810 and made slightly streamlined arts and crafts furniture, i.e., for market. This one, from 1960, is a prototype, and looks in league with the simpler Utility furniture (rationed, less wood, circa WW2) they made later on. Not far off from a Saarinen, in some ways, and to darker Danish furniture. Though, of course, quite different. Because it’s a prototype there are fewer like this in production than in the world. I like prototypes, they are more interesting. No real price history; part of a strong auction that contains a Navajo eye dazzler rug, a sharp Wormley table, this Ukrainian carpet; $2,000
Hoffmann Fledermaus chair, Chi,: Same auction as above; house also has a nearly identical Josef Hoffmann Fledermaus chair for way more—it’s all wood and is therefore a little bit more minimal, and pared down. Monochrome; rare… you don’t often see that with Hoffmann. Both are from 1905; both are fascinating. Made years before even Rietveld made anything. And yet, here we are. Looks like it’s brothers with the Venturi for Knoll chair. Here is a look at the wood one:
Because both need to be seen. Makes sense. Two beautiful chairs. I like pieces like this that look like they are from no era. Because ultimately, we approach and learn about design through books and pieces of media that simplify individual artists’ creations into schools and movements. But that is not how it always is. These run $8, 900 at least. $50
De Sede 85 couch, Ct, IHS, tues: I write a bit about De Sede and how their designers don’t have bylines, often, and the implicit assumption is it shows up in the designs, i.e. their couches are quieter and subtler and restrained than many made by other firms during that era… and so the anon. designers are just executing this stuff. But I think this couch proves that’s not true. I’ve written about it before, when a chair came up, just a few weeks ago, and called it the best De Sede there is… I stand by that. The chair is fine; this one is better, it’s more streamlined, and recalls the Kubus sofa, a bit, but also Jaguar/Ferrari racing seats—the height of trash, a very different aesthetic from what the company usually does. Runs as high as $4,000… house also has Corbu, Borge Mogensen, a nice Visser daybed, and this great pitcher. A Snake Lock of the Week at just $950, and with shipping organized by the auction house. Crib notes on how to bid on design:
Sottsass Fremont sideboard, LA: There are higher level pieces of furniture that exist mostly in magazine photoshoots or on IG and not in people’s homes… it’s a downstream effect of the fact that we don’t see what’s in people’s homes as much as we see what they wear because you have to be pretty close to someone to be inside their house… it’s one reason why good furniture is so behind good clothing… since furniture only needs to impress someone if that person is a reader or subscriber… This item, designed in 1985, at the height of Ettore Sottsass’ late style phase…. he was pushing 60 when he designed this. It opens up, you can put whey powder in there. He did the Carlton bookshelf (you’ve seen it) four years earlier. This is as good... but is quite invisible. Does anyone have one? Maybe Queen Raina of Jordan. Only one has sold domestically, and that was in 2010. Bonham’s auction, selling also a Carlton, some of his vases, other vases by other people, this Achille lamp, this Rodrigues chair, many sculptures. $4,000
Rosselli for Saporiti Confidential sofa, Philly, Wed.: I just have to call attention to this sofa because it is the most overstuffed I have seen; it is fatter even than the other Confidential sofas Alberto Rosselli designed (p. sure it is a Confidential; 1972, for Saporiti who make many other couches like this) or, for that matter, any LA-Z Boy. Rosselli is best known for this sofa, but also made some plastic furniture, like these kids’ chairs. This one runs around $1,600, sometimes less, sometimes more. But this one is different. House has lots of wild no-designer furniture from the same era, and other eras, like this Deco desk. $1,200
Dior game table and chairs, Chi, Thurs: Part of another strong auction from Wright, in Chicago; these stand out for their novelty—rare fashion designer furniture item not by Pierre Cardin—but also since good card tables are hard to find, in general. (The best card table is Colombo’s Poker, which is almost never for sale in America.) Looking through past auctions it appears Christian Dior had a profitable sideline in folding tray tables. They do that in Europe? No price history with these things, whatsoever… if you wanted to you could outfit your place with furniture only made by clothing designers, it would mostly be French, unless, that is, you go new, and get some of Rick Owens’ great dining room tables. He lives in France, though, so that doesn’t count. There’s a lesson here. House has lots of Sottsass, these very cheap Rietveld chairs, a rockabilly Prouvé couch for only $50,000, Noguchi, Eames, Norell. $3,200
van der Rohe Four Seasons barstools, Chi, Thurs.: Mies van der Rohe is the best corporate communicator all time; either that or I am missing something, which I probably am, but don’t think I am. What I mean is vdR’s writing and manifestos were pretty destructive, about rejecting things (doctrines, formalism) and making massive changes. He wanted nothing less than a different world. But in reality he he ended up maming money; these barstools (which are perfect) he made for a very expensive restaurant, along with everything else in the place… this was 35 years after he published the manifesto I linked above.
It is evident, though maybe not at first, that these things—destruction/change and money—are not mutually exclusive. If you have a good destructive idea you can probably get paid off it down the line. It’s counterintuitive, though. We tend to grow up thinking there is friction between the two. This explains is why marketing agencies and tech companies say that they are creating new paradigms. Really, vdR was the first postmodern bourgeois. I would have a problem with this if I hated money or his furniture; instead, he’s just a perfect picture of a talented artist as mercenary. Which is how we all live… originals (you can still find them on auction, they were around after they liquidated the place) run around $6-7 large each; retros, like these, are probably a couple grand each. $3,200
Quick Hits:
Kipp Stewart for Calvin Klein dining table, In. IHS, $800 Tuesday
A dozen Vignelli chairs In., IHS, $800 (such a good deal I won’t even tell you which)
McCobb origami chair with spider base, In., IHS, $200 (fire)
Paulin Art Deco desk for Baker, In., IHS, $800 (his best work)
Baughman bench, Ct., $80 (better than Nelson)
Panton for Poulsen Topan pendants, Ct., $50 (great, simple lamps)
Sottsass Carlton bookcase, LA, $6,500 (this is the one)
Baughman floating desk (50s), LA, $800 (best I’ve seen in a while)
Hoffman Purkersdorf chairs, LA, $1,500 Wednesday… (pictured; these are ape-crap)
Stoppino for Acerbis sideboard, Philly, $1,500 (really wild and difficult)
Deskey floor lamp, Chi, $2,000 Thursday… (minimal and spare)
Scarpa Soriana setteee for Cassina, Chi., $2,000 (classique; seller has the chairs and the three-wide, too)
Four Pesce Broadway chairs (Ukraine colors?), Chi., $2,600 (tax dollars be like)
Classifieds:
From a friend of the newsletter:
In NYC:
Saarinen marble tulip table, 79”x47.5”, fits six to eight
Five Paul McCobb Shovel chairs.
Table asking ~$2,500, runs 10 large new on DWR and auctions around 4 large. Chairs asking $4,000 for the set, run 1 large each; some scuffing on one, fracture rung on another. More pix on request, let me know I’ll put y’all in touch.
Thanks for reading.
Snake