Photography courtesy Christie’s
Christie’s has tapped event producers and designers Jane Schulak and David Stark to inaugurate its new bi-annual auction series, The Collectors – a triple-city auction encompassing 600 lots.
The bumper sale celebrates all things decorative arts – including 19th-century European furniture, art, ceramics, glass, and a cache of elaborately decorated gold boxes from the 16-20th century. The entire catalogue of items for auction will be available online from 30 March, while the real-life objects have been staged at Christie’s London, Paris and New York showrooms in a series of connected sets designed by Stark and Schulak.
Schulak and Stark are the creative director of the non-profit Culture Lab Detroit and founder of the eponymous studio David Stark Design and Production, respectively and recently published At the Artisan’s Table. The book is essentially a love letter to decorative objects that delves into museum collections around the world, plus contemporary artisans who reinterpret crafts and styles for a modern audience.
They’ve used treillage as the ‘visual thread’ to connect the auction sets, putting a contemporary spin on the design motif which gained popularity in 18th-century France.
Photography courtesy Christie’s
Photography courtesy Christie’s
Photography courtesy Christie’s
Photography courtesy Christie’s
Photography courtesy Christie’s
Photography courtesy Christie’s
Photography courtesy Christie’s
‘Treillage, reinterpreted in graphic fluorescence, is the great connector between the three cities – grounded in history but reinterpreted with a pop sensibility. It works beautifully as a backdrop for all the objects in the sale irrespective of period and origin’, the pair says.
The motif is expressed in geo-specific colour schemes: yellow and brown in New York to nod to the city’s architectural stock, red and burgundy for Paris, and an ultra-modern neon pink for London.
‘It’s been great fun shining the spotlight on historical objects that are a direct path from the 18th century to the 21st century, recontextualizing them as surprisingly contemporary in an electric mix of juxtapositions,’ they add.
Among the many offerings is a lacquered chinoiserie secretaire, fungi-inspired Flora Danica dinnerware and Louis XVI chairs. Some lots have no reserve, while others have estimates up to €200,000.
The inaugural edition of The Collectors opens for bidding on 4 April and closes on 18,19 and 20 April in London, New York and Paris, respectively.
