Design & Decorative Art of the 20th Century at Auctionata

6 March 2015

The Berlin-based online art and auction house Auctionata will present the livestream auction ‘Design & Decorative Art of the 20th Century’ on Friday, March 6, 2015 at 6 PM CET. The auction will be broadcast live on auctionata.com, offering collectors worldwide the opportunity to bid live online. Among the highlights of this auction are Austrian, Danish, and Czech design classics, characteristic pieces of Italian design from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and other exceptional pieces of furniture, such as the ‘Frankfurt Kitchen’ from Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky from 1926.

One outstanding object in this auction is a ‘Tube Chair’, designed by the Italian architect and designer Joe Colombo (1930-1971) and manufactured by Flexform in 1969. It is one of the first ‘flexible’ pieces of furniture whose individual elements can be combined in different manners. The tube chair is not only a distinctive symbol of Colombo’s radical style but also one of the most important pieces of industrial and Italian design of the 1960s. Consequently, ‘Tube Chairs’ are on display in important museum collections, including the MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum in New York. The chair with a starting price of €4,000 is in restored condition and comes with the original bag.

Joe Colombo, Museum ‘Tube Chair’, Flexform, Italy, 1969
Starting price €4,000 | Estimated value €8,000

Moreover, two ‘Cubo Magico’ coffee tables from Gabriella Crespi (born 1922) will be offered with a starting price of €7,500. The polished brass tables with four pull-out shelves are excellent examples of the opulent “Hollywood Chic” of the 1970s.

Gabriella Crespi, Coffee Table ‘Cubo Magico‘, Italy, circa 1970
Starting price €7,500 | Estimated value €15,000

Another highlight is a ‘Frankfurt Kitchen’ from Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky (1897-2000). This kitchen was designed in 1926 in context of the housing project 'Neues Frankfurt' (New Frankfurt), which created new space-efficient housing. The ‘Frankfurt Kitchen’ is thus the prototype of the first fitted kitchen, created to enable efficient work processes through its compact, space-saving design. The kitchen is in original condition and will be called for a starting price of €9,500.

Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, ‘Frankfurt Kitchen‘, 1926
Starting price €9,500 | Estimated value €19,000

In addition, the gilt side table ‘Traccia’ by Meret Oppenheimer (1919-1985) from 1939, whose bird feet are characteristic of the artist’s surrealistic style, will be offered.

Meret Oppenheim, Gilt Side Table 'Traccia', 1939
Starting price €3,000 | Estimated value €6,000