MATERIAL LUST

ML: Take us INSIDE the inner mechanics of the Important Design Auction?

RW: We only hold two Important Design auctions each year, so they’re literally six months in the planning. We set aside special or rare items in anticipation of the sale as we build it over those six months. Of course, there’s always a big crunch at the end, but part of the fun is that you never know what’s going to show up.

We build the auctions by traveling all over the world to look at consignments. We negotiate against our competitors to win the consignment, and then we have the item shipped to our warehouse in Chicago. Once it arrives, we take spectacular photographs, research the item, and attempt to add some new scholarship to the field. We present the consignment in our catalog, and market it internationally. Finally, we have one day to sell all the lots.

ML: What goes on behind the scenes to make the Important Design Auction a reality?

RW: There’s a surprising amount of work. The day of the auction looks very glamorous and exciting – and it is glamorous and exciting. But behind the scenes, there are a myriad of details. There are often nearly as many consignors as there are items in the sale, and through the process, every auction item has to be handled seven or eight times. You can imagine the amount of work for a 250 lot sale. The amount of detail is extraordinary.

One thing to know about auctions is that every mistake you make connects to a person. Every consignor is important, and every bidder is important. We strive to do it all perfectly. It’s a constant process.

ML: What qualifies as ‘Important Design’?

RW: For us, it’s rarity. We seek the more uncommon pieces for the Important Design auction. We also seek items by important designers, and we’ll always present something that may be relatively inexpensive, but is fresh and exciting to the market.

The auction will range from groupings of midcentury children’s chairs for $5,000-7,000 to a rare carved marble and glass sculpture by Isamu Noguchi for $200,000-300,000. We like the fact that Important Design can be a context for both.

lot 130

ISAMU NOGUCHI

Ceremonial Object for Marcel Duchamp, 1963-1964

estimate: $200,000–300,000

ML: How does a design start in obscurity and become valuable or important?

RW: It’s a process that takes place over time. For a design to become valuable and important involves more than one person: it’s a combination of the top dealers, auction houses and curators re-evaluating and re-contextualizing overlooked historical works. For example, in Important Design, we’re auctioning a masterpiece chair by Walter von Nessen from the Art Deco era. It has been in a private collection for the past forty years. This rare, historically important chair documents a significant art historical moment in the American design story. It shows the absorption of French Art Deco with the industrial aesthetic of America.

ML: What are the some of pieces highlighted in this Auction?

RW: We’re offering a rare and important 1949 Rudder dining suite by Isamu Noguchi, comprised of a table and four stools. We’re estimating it at $150,000-200,000. There has never been a complete set offered at auction. It’s amazing that this dining suite has stayed together. It is an incredibly quirky design, and very few were ever sold.

lot 129

ISAMU NOGUCHI

rare and important Rudder dining suite from the Hasting Estate, 1949

estimate: $150,000–200,000

Although we consider it a separate auction, we have a seventeen lot sale on the same day as Important Design – immediately preceding it, actually. The auction is called Harry Bertoia: The Standard Oil Commission. The sale features three Sonambients from Bertoia’s design for the Standard Oil Building plaza (now the Aon Center) in Chicago. These sounding sculptures are monumental in scale, with the largest measuring twelve feet tall. We’ve featured Bertoia in every one of our design auctions since 2000, the year I founded Wright. These works from the Standard Oil Commission are the most important we’ve ever handled. We’re particularly proud to be offering these icons of Chicago here in the city.

ML: How do you differentiate between a market trend and something of greater importance.

RW: A market trend is largely based on fashion as opposed to something whose value is based on the history of design. When something fits into and furthers the history of design and is created by a widely recognized architect or designer, its value comes from a different place than something that is the latest trend. That said, it’s important to understand that the two can and do overlap.

lot 150

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

frieze from the Dana-Thomas house, Springfield, Illinois, 1902-1904

estimate: $5,000–7,000

ML: From the perspective of an Auction House how do you view the relationship of Art and Design?

I think that art and design are intended for two different purposes. Design answers to function, and is better for it. Art answers to no one.

Preview the lots now or to pre-order a catalog for the Important Design Auction click here.