Christie's Will Have Dedicated Contemporary Design Sale

When artist Marc Newson's "Pod of Drawers" sold for $1.048 million at Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art sale in May 2007, it was enough of a premium — some $300,000 more than the estimate — to get Christie's specialists thinking that it was high time to devote an auction solely to Contemporary design.

"That was a crystallizing moment for us," a vice president at Christie's, Carina Villinger, said. "We realized that Contemporary design had tremendous crossover appeal and that the market was ripe for a sale centered around that field."

As the fall auction season ramps up here and in London, Christie's first major sale will indeed be devoted to Contemporary design. On Monday, a relatively small group of lots — 30 — will hit the auction block. "What's exciting is that the emergence of this new sale is a demonstration of changing tastes in the marketplace. Contemporary design is coming into its own," a Christie's specialist, Zach Miner, said.

Mr. Miner oversees the First Open sale, which is Christie's first Contemporary art sale after Labor Day each year. It's aimed at up-and-coming collectors and art dealers looking for value — and falls the day after the design auction. The early September kickoff sale has traditionally been the 20th Century Decorative Arts & Design auction.

One of the first lots to be unpacked and displayed at Christie's galleries yesterday morning was Shiro Kuramata's acrylic and aluminum stool with feathers. Designed in 1990 for a shopping mall, the chair has a sale estimate of between $80,000 and $100,000. Another such chair sold for $120,300 last October.

"Kuramata has become an iconic figure. He's a crossover between Japanese and Western sensibilities," Ms. Villinger said. "He's always playing with perception. The feathers in the body of the piece seem to float weightlessly, yet in reality the solid block of acrylic is quite heavy."

Another distinctive lot is Zaha Hadid's "Aqua." It's a gloss-laminated polyurethane resin and silicon table that's expected to sell for between $150,000 and $200,000. Another "Aqua" table sold for $217,000 in June. The top of the table is a thin layer of translucent silicone gel, making the surface appear liquid. "It's a really spectacular work," Ms. Villinger said. "It looks like a pool of water."

Ms. Hadid became the first woman to win the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2004, and New Yorkers might be familiar with her work from the Guggenheim Museum's 2006 retrospective. In both cases, her furniture designs reflect her penchant for motion and energy in her architecture.

One of the hallmarks of design sales is that most lots are one of several editions of the same piece of furniture. Still, there's been no clear pricing trend when it comes to how well single pieces of limited editions sell at auction. Art Basel and its Miami show have influenced what prices the top designers can command for their works, according to Ms. Villinger.

In fact, many artists are crossing over into the design world. One of the very first artists to make the jump was Ron Arad. His mirror-polished stainless-steel sofa, no. 6 out of an edition of 20, is another piece to hit the block in next week's sale. Christie's expects it to fetch between $200,000 and $300,000. "Ron Arad is one of the blue chips in the design world," Ms. Villinger said.

Collectors might have the opportunity to buy a full living room set: Mr. Arad's "Big Heavy," a mirror-polished stainless-steel chair designed in the late 1980s, is expected to sell for between $40,000 and $60,000. It's marked 16 in an edition of 20 chairs.

Richard Artschwager is another artist who designs furniture. His "Chair/Chair" is an oak, burlwood, and cowhide piece from the late 1980s that is expected to sell for between $20,000 and $30,000.

Ettore Sottsass, who died late last year, is popularly regarded as the godfather of Italian design. His "Mobile Giallo," a burlwood, lacquered oak, and gilt wood cupboard he designed in 1988, is expected to sell for between $18,000 and $22,000.

jakasie@nysun.com