Auction Results: Design at Phillips de Pury & Company

25 May '11

New York

On May 25th Phillips de Pury & Company held their second design auction of the season. Of the 168 lots attributed to specific designers, 65.48% sold bringing in a total of £1,501,059 (10% below the estimated total of £1,662,220).

Looking at sales this year, it becomes apparent that buyers are buying less than they did last year, however spending more per lot. This may indicate that collectors tastes are becoming more refined; they know what they want and as we have seen often this year - they know what they do not want.

Compared to previous sales this year, this auction marks an increase interest in contemporary works. Matali Crasset finds herself third in the DeTnk top 10 for this sale, just below the two safe bets 'The Jeans'. Just down the list we find Maarten Baas and nendo in the top 25.

An increase in collectors interest in contemporary works is crucial to the continued development of the collectible design market. It is essential that the market promotes the creation of new design and supports young designers to keep it from becoming a glorified antique trade.

While many of the contemporary design lots did well in this auction; the two earlier Ron Arad pieces failed to find a buyer.

This sale provided Arad collectors with earlier works of the designer; an attempt to entice collectors with works leading up to the late 90's. In fine art collecting it is often very important for a collector to have 'earlier' works of an artist, in order to establish the trajectory that lead the artist forward. In this instance, it seems that design collectors are not as concerned about trajectory and more interested in aesthetics.

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Phillips de Pury New York: May 25 '11

Phillips de Pury New York: May 25 '11