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Furniture Pimp : Jim Walrod

Ettore Sottsass Hsing Vessel from The Pop Series, Model 456

Stools After Jean Prouvé 1985

Kim Moltzer & Jean Paul Barray Coffee Table 1965

Guy de Rougemont Wall Mounted Console

On May 3rd Wright presents The Collection of Jim Walrod at auction. Comprised of 250 lots of art, design and objects from Jim’s personal collection, the sale is a celebration of a man who collected everything and knew just as much. 

“Jim Walrod’s eye was legendary. Mike D of the Beastie Boys called him his ‘Furniture Pimp’ in sincere gratitude of his talents as a designer and in appreciation for the breadth of his knowledge. Clients worldwide—from David Bowie to André Balasz—sought his unparalleled expertise. Although Jim saw his role as a guide, aiding clients in finding their own distinct eye, it was his unique vision that shaped so many others.

His career began after a chance meeting with Andy Warhol led Jim to work for Fiorucci, the legendary style makers. There he was introduced to the radical designs of Ettore Sottsass and the Memphis group, as well as the key members of the New York art world. In 1987, Jim entered the New York art scene with his first gallery on Lafayette. He opened Form & Function in 1998, which became a mainstay for those looking for expertly curated vintage design. He remained true to his unique vision throughout his career, later lending his expertise as an interior designer, adviser and curator. With exhibitions at R & Company and Patrick Parrish gallery, Jim shared his collecting vision with an even wider audience.

Jim’s beloved Chinatown loft always remained the truest expression of his remarkable collecting vision. Works by friends were placed alongside modern icons creating an interior rich in dialog. Never one to shy away from a challenge, Jim sought works labeled as ugly or incompatible. And it is those experiments that make his collection so wonderfully rare and unique. Jim shared glimpses of this extraordinary space with friends, followers on social media and clients. Sourced from numerous locations, he was proud of his finds, whether it was a rare book or piece of radical lighting. Each cherished object was thoughtfully selected and likewise showcased within his interior.

This collection celebrates a rare collecting vision without boundaries. Each object was assembled with a singular appreciation of its aesthetic, regardless of the value to the outside world. As Jim was known to say: “Time is the only real critic that matters”. ~via Wright 20

*Our friend Jim is deeply missed*

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Wright presents The Four Seasons

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Wright Auctions presents The Four Seasons, a special auction featuring the furniture and designed tableware and objects from the iconic restaurant’s historic interior. The event will take place at The Four Seasons in New York on July 26, 2016.

Designed in 1959 by Philip Johnson for Mies van der Rohe’s landmark Seagram building on Park Avenue in Manhattan, The Four Seasons has become one of the most important and recognizable International Style interior spaces in the world. On July 16th, The Four Seasons is closing its present location in order to open in a newly designed location thus beginning a new chapter for the legendary restaurant.

While the interior space is landmarked – the famous bar, sculpture and curtains will all remain intact – the designed furniture, tableware and objects will be offered at auction in the extraordinary one day event to take place in the original interior. Featuring approximately 500 lots, the sale will include works by Mies van der Rohe and Hans Wegner as well as custom designs by Philip Johnson and special-ordered Knoll furniture. The tableware and cookware designed by L. Garth and Ada Louise Huxtable will also be offered.

Wright will publish a special catalog documenting the history of this seminal interior with additional information available online in the coming weeks.

~images via wright20.com

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The Highboy Picks

 

Highboy-PicksSPONSORED POST

It was recently brought to my attention of a new online market place, The Highboy.  They have a nicely curated selection of antiques, fine art, vintage furnishings and design objects, all from trusted and reputable dealers in the industry.  

Shown above personally selected from The Highboy: Vintage Chinese Black Lacquer Console Table, “Visage Brun-Bleu” by Pablo Picasso, White Earthenware Clay with Englobes Decoration, 1947, Pair of Mid-Century Art Pottery Vases by Eduardo Vega,  Pair of Murano Glass Sconces, Loewe Black Alligator Briefcase.

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Billings Auction

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BILLINGS LA Auction House is a curated live auction and design community-inspired happening at the Great Company, at 1917 Bay Street. The auction house was recently established in the heart of Los Angeles’ evolving arts district to provide affordable access to quality vintage modern furnishings, art, objects and accessories. Offering rare and noteworthy pieces at low to no reserve, with estimates ranging from $100 to $5,000, its curated cross-section covers the pedigreed to the anonymous, and the classic to the unusual. Co-founded by four highly respected Los Angeles dealers and gallerists, BILLINGS has amassed a collection of a hundred years of North American and international design and decorative arts from the 20th to early 21st centuries, placing an emphasis on mid-century modern selections and pieces from the 60’s and 70’s. December 12th auction is open to the public and will offer live entertainment, featuring music, and food trucks. Lot Previews will take place at BILLINGS’ 1919 Bay Street location from Dec 6 to Dec 12, from 10am-4pm. The option to participate remotely online and place absentee bids is available via LiveAuctioneers.com.

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Carpenter’s Workshop

4369glass birds “Flylight” by Studio Drift

carp“You fade to light” by Random International on right 

carp2“Technocrat Bronze Coffee Table” by Atelier Van Lieshout

Just this month, Julian Lombrail opened his 3rd outpost of Carpenters Workshop in a penthouse on the 5th Avenue in New York City.  Located between the new flagship store of Microsoft and Peter Marinos glass palace for Louis Vuitton at the 57th Street hovers the duplex apartment, where the Carpenters Workshop has established as a meditation room for art and design high above the hustle and bustle of shopping. ~ ad-magazin.de  “I wanted to be accessible for clients such as Peter Marino, Juan Pablo Molyneux and Robert Couturier easily,” says Lombrail .

Artists on exhibit at the gallery space which also has been hosting exclusive dinners for art collectors include Rick Owens, Wendell Castle, Ateliers van Lieshout, and Studio Drift from Amsterdam.

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Dwell on Design

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Dwell on Design Los Angeles, curated by the editors of Dwell magazine, returns to the Los Angeles Convention Center May 29-31, 2015. With three full days of dynamic exhibitions, unparalleled educational opportunities, cutting-edge technologies, 90 onstage programs, 250+ speakers, and more than 2,000 innovative modern furnishings and products, Dwell on Design Los Angeles is America’s largest design event.

More information here.

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Wright20 + Blackman Cruz

blacjman Cruz

 

In April, Wright opens Blackman Cruz, a special exhibition and auction featuring alluring and exquisite works selected by the renowned dealers. This unprecedented and creative auction collaboration is composed of a wide-ranging selection of furniture, design and objects including everything from antiques to Blackman Cruz’s own contemporary productions. Highlights from the collection include a granite Sphinx by the sculptor David Edstrom that exhibited at the Panama Pacific Exposition of San Francisco in 1915 and a pair of gnarled wood and root lounge chairs from Al Capone’s hideout in Wisconsin. This compelling sale also features a 1951 Bianchi Motorcycle and an iron studded two-door safe displayed alongside a pair of custom club chairs by Arturo Pani and candlesticks by Frank Lloyd Wright. In dramatic exhibitions designed by Adam Blackman and David Cruz, these items and many other fascinating works will be on view in New York and Los Angeles.

The exhibition at Wright’s New York gallery opens April 3rd with the concurrent Los Angeles exhibition at Blackman Cruz opening April 10th.~wright20

My favorite picks are below.  View lots here.

Blackman

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Gabriella Crespi

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“Since the 1950s, Gabriella Crespi has dedicated herself to the creation and worldwide circulation of furniture and other objects that balance design and sculptural abstraction.

Crespi began her career as a designer in the 1950s with her first production of objects, the “Small Lune Collection”, steel moon-shaped sculptures, in which the stylistic influences of time converge and are transformed.

In the beginning of the 1960s, she established an enthusiastic creative relationship with Maison Dior, especially in the context of home and table accessories and, from the 1970s, with furniture.

Between 1970 and 1974, she created her most significant lost-wax works, including the sculpture “My Soul” (1974), the “Animali” collections, (bronze sculptures with a fairy-like feel that reveal Gabriella’s relentless attention to the natural world), “Jewels,” and “Gocce Oro:” free flowing sculptures conceived through the ancient and precious process of lost-wax casting.

Between 1972 and 1975, she designed the “Quick Change Sofa”, the “Z” line ( “Z Bar,” “Z Desk” ) and the “Rising Sun” bamboo collection, material much loved by Crespi that, as she says, “unites strength and flexibility.” The famous “Fungo” lamps (1973) are part of this collection.

 In 1985 she released the last interviews on her work as a designer before setting out on a new life completely devoted to the spiritual quest, a path she follows to this today.

In 1987, she traveled to India where she met Sri Muniraji, who became her spiritual advisor. Gabriella lived in India almost without break for two decades.

In 2008, she created for Stella McCartney a limited reissue of some of her jewelry collection from the 1970s. The proceeds were donated to the Shree Baba Haidakhan Charitable and Research Hospital at Chilianaula, in the Himalayas, an institution specializing in eye care that was founded by Sri Muniraji, Gabriella’s spiritual advisor.

Gabriella Crespi now lives in Milan, practices meditation daily, and is considering new creative projects.” ~gabriellacrespi.it