From significant business changes to noteworthy product launches, there’s always something new happening in the world of design. In this biweekly roundup, AD PRO has everything you need to know.
In the news
Christie’s Les Lalanne sales breaks auction records
December 7 was a big day for Christie’s New York. Bidders from around the globe, an impressive one-fifth of them newcomers, gathered inside the fabled Rockefeller Center sale room for Sculpting Paradise: The Collection of Marie Lalanne, the first stateside auction dedicated to the works of Les Lalanne, the late powerhouse duo Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne. All the pieces—from the personal stash of the artists’ daughter—were sold, garnering $77,043,008, the highest-ever design sale in Christie’s history. Eighty-eight percent of the lots transcended the high estimates, with 18 works, like the animal sculptures La Grande Ourse and Les Trois Grands Moutons de Peter going for more than $1 million each. Âne Planté, François-Xavier’s patinated bronze donkey crafted in 2000, yielded a whopping $8,405,000.
Overlooked Bauhaus painter Mary Dill Henry gets her due
Mary Dill Henry’s legacy is a rich one, spanning paintings influenced by the Geometric Abstraction movement and joyful murals that continue to grace Hewlett-Packard’s Silicon Valley headquarters. And yet, the late Pacific Northwest artist’s name is widely unknown. Henry’s multifaceted oeuvre, represented by the Berry Campbell Gallery in New York, is finding the much-deserved spotlight now that the Hauser & Wirth Institute has processed and digitized the archive pieced together by her family. Located in the Paul V. Galvin Library at the Illinois Institute of Technology, the New Bauhaus school where Henry studied under László Moholy-Nagy in the 1940s, the archive’s sketchbooks, photographs, letters, and magazine clippings provide intriguing insight into an under-the-radar talent.
Product launches
Workstead introduces Monumental lighting collection
Workstead’s new lighting collection, Monumental, draws from the large-scale galvanized forms that abounded in the US during the 20th century. The sconce-flush mount and two sizes of pendants—all produced in Workstead’s Virginia manufacturing facility—have a powerful but meditative presence. Aluminum’s lightweight yet durable nature made it ideal for the project, Workstead cofounder Robert Highsmith tells AD PRO, as it’s “easy to spin and manipulate. It’s also a material that speaks for itself with less intervention.” The waxed aluminum’s silky quality, Highsmith adds, provides a “smooth, lustrous finish that sits perfectly in between the spectrum of matte to glossy.”
Ligne Roset partners with MycoWorks on Reishi pillows
Spawned from mycelium, the renewable root structure of mushrooms, eco-friendly Reishi beautifully mimics the luxe feel, patina, and durability of leather through its proprietary Fine Mycelium technology. Thanks to collaborations with the likes of hatmaker Nick Fouquet, the flagship product of San Francisco biomaterials company MycoWorks is already invigorating the fashion world. Soon, Reishi will make its debut in the home decor realm with Ligne Roset’s limited-edition pair of Teneo pillows—the first of numerous products the French furniture brand plans to unveil with the all-natural material—available in the new year. But is Reishi strong enough to withstand everyday wear and tear? Ligne Roset and MycoWorks spent more than two years refining the product to ensure it meets the industry’s high-performance standards.
Sanayi313 introduces new dining suite at Love House
Last week in Greenwich Village, collectible design gallery Love House revealed Oblong, a new collection from Istabul-based studio Sanayi313. Comprising consoles and a suite of tables, Oblong straddles the line between hunky 70s maximalism and contemporary minimalism, thanks in part to its groovy materials of burl and mazel wood. The collection is available through Love House and 1st Dibs.
Openings
The Invisible Collection presents Laura Gonzalez’s first solo show in New York
On the heels of Portuguese studio Garcé & Dimofski’s exhibition at The Townhouse, The Invisible Collection’s Upper East Side showroom, Paris architect and designer Laura Gonzalez has reimagined the main floor of the brownstone as a glamorous neighborhood lair that melds the spirit of the exuberant 1980s with contemporary furnishings. “New York Splendor,” on view through the end of February, is an assemblage of Gonzalez’s dramatic pieces, such as the golden oak Mawu chair, the commodious Casa sofa, the gleaming sculpted petal Lilypad chandelier, and the lacquered Nenuphar table made with Atelier Midavaine, all complemented by a maximalist swirl of Pierre Frey fabrics, Indian prints, and rippled embroideries by Lesage Intérieurs.
Yinka Ilori pop-up reels in London shoppers
Customers gawking at Yinka Ilori’s tableware and textiles in his West African–inspired Shoreditch retail pop-up (until January 3) are delightfully plunged into the British Nigerian designer’s vivid and cheerful universe. Along with a profusion of bubbly hues, products—including the collectible Ayo game traditionally played by the Yoruba people, T-shirts, umbrellas, and notebooks—are displayed on shelving units that incorporate whimsical triangles and pyramids, taking the forms of houses and mosques found in Burkina Faso.
For Ilori, the shop (which is donating 5% of profits to the housing charity Shelter) is yet another opportunity to redefine the notion of community. “I wanted to create a shopping experience that makes people feel good, but also allows them to gift that joy to their loved ones,” he says. “The space has been designed to project the idea of love and unity. We want people to come in to have a conversation, meet others, and discover something new and unique.”
The Chairish Art Gallery is popping up at Bergdorf Goodman
The seventh floor of iconic New York department store Bergdorf Goodman is transforming into The Chairish Art Gallery (January 19 through April 10), the inaugural brick-and-mortar destination from online home decor and art hub Chairish. Nearly 30 artists made the more than 300 original works exclusive to Bergdorf Goodman that will be “showcased in a dazzlingly layered series of galleries,” as Chairish president and cofounder Anna Brockway puts it. These enchanting vignettes will unfold in five themed rooms—Pop Art, The Fashion Editor’s Apartment, Americana, The Winter Conservatory, and Ode to New York—each one of them, Brockway adds, will mesmerize “New York’s sophisticated design lovers.”
James Showroom is coming to New York
James showroom owners Meredith and Hunter Ellis have chosen the Upper East Side’s Interior Arts Building as the next home for the designer-beloved multiline showroom of furniture, lighting, and textiles, which currently has addresses in Dallas and Houston. Set to open in June 2023—and aptly timed with the debut of James’s first in-house textile line—the 4,000-square-foot showroom will mark the first textile showroom within the IAB, where neighboring showrooms include Bunny Williams Home, Liz O’Brien Gallery, Newel, and more. The vendor lineup for James New York has yet to be announced, though if it’s anything like the discerning cast of creatives represented in the Texas locations (think: Casa Branca, Lisa Fine Textiles, Carolina Irving, Kathryn Ireland, Sister Parish, Penny Morrison, among others), designers are in for a treat.
Business
Athena Calderone ventures into e-commerce
Fans gravitate to Brooklyn tastemaker Athena Calderone’s lifestyle site EyeSwoon for breezy recipes, entertaining advice, and as of this week, the beloved decorative objects, tableware, and kitchen tools that make appearances at Calderone’s own dinner parties and in her dreamy interiors. An organic offshoot of Calderone’s thoughtful gift guides, the shop is stocked with undulating crema marble bowls, sugar maple butcher blocks, and voluptuous Tuscan glass decanters, among other artisan finds.
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ICFF + WantedDesign Manhattan announce new leadership
In 2011, Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat founded WantedDesign to cultivate a vast international creative community. The platform, acquired by ICFF in 2019, has since become a fixture of NYCxDesign every May. Now, Hainaut and Pijoulat have been named brand directors of ICFF + WantedDesign Manhattan, where they will work closely with Kevin Gaffney (parent company Emerald’s newly promoted group vice president of design) to spruce up the show with a tightly curated mix of exhibitors, programming, and immersive spaces. The 2023 edition will be held at the Javits Center May 21 through 23, with WantedDesign Manhattan serving as a 20,000-square-foot capsule within ICFF.
TEFAF appoints global managing director
Bart Drenth, who spent most of 2022 serving as interim director of TEFAF following Charlotte van Leerdam’s medical leave, is now the global managing director of the art, antiques, and design fair. In this newly created role, Drenth, who has a long career as an arts and culture consultant and strategist, will oversee TEFAF’s two annual events in Maastricht, the Netherlands (March 11 through 19) and New York (May 12 through 16) alongside TEFAF chairman Hidde van Seggelen.
Design happenings
AD and Indagare are heading to Maastricht in March
Art and decor die-hards are in for a treat this spring, as AD and Indagare team up for a very special trip to TEFAF Maastricht. Running March 8–12, attendees will travel with Indagare founder Melissa Bradley and renowned design editor Mitchell Owens to the fair, which covers 7,000 years of art history, and will have access to TEFAF's two preview, invitation-only days. “I’ve attended art and antiques shows for decades, yet none has affected me—creatively, intellectually, culturally—like TEFAF Maastrict,” says Owens. “It is the most important fair of its kind in the world, a paradise of rare and wondrous treasures, from ancient to contemporary, where museum curators and top-flight collectors seek out the best of the best in every possible category.”
Visitors will be treated to a four-night stay at the uber-stylish La Butte aux Bois in Lanaken, Belgium, as well as a visit to Axel Vervoordt’s mini design “city” Kanaak, with its meticulously restored 15th- and 16th-century dwellings and galleries. Indagare recommends booking before December 31 in order to secure a spot on the voyage—learn more at their website here. Space is limited.
Cece Barfield Thompson decks that halls of the Mayflower Inn & Spa
Litchfield County’s the Mayflower Inn served as the perfect canvas for designer Cece Barfield Thompson to spread holiday cheer in her signature whimsically classic style. Barfield Thompson worked with Mcqueens Flower to trim the trees, dress the mantels, and infuse the property with draped greenery and dried orange garland. Our favorite touch? A plant stand overflowing with terra-cotta–potted paperwhites.
A well-attended dinner of tastemakers toasted the design collaboration (the first ever for the hotel), which was aptly timed to the launch of Barfield Thompson’s latest tabletop collection, Hill Country Holiday. Inspired by Barfield Thompson’s childhood in San Antonio, Texas, the collection features mission-style embroidered napkins, bluebonnet-adorned porcelain plates, and ornate floral candles. Available through Barfield Thompson’s own site, the collection is a welcome reminder of the festivity in formality.
JSN Studio curates 1stDibs Sale
Designers Adair Curtis and Jason Bolden, founders of the Los Angeles practice JSN Studio and stars of the Netflix shows Instant Dream Home and Styling Hollywood, share an affinity for eclectic design that resonates with celebrities from Trevor Noah to Serena Williams. Between December 7 and December 14, those wide-ranging tastes were illuminated in an auction on 1stDibs that brought together 174 of the duo’s favorite home goods. Accessories and furniture, including an early-20th-century signed Art Nouveau lamp from Tiffany Studios and Mies Van der Rohe’s MR10 cantilever chairs, were quickly snatched up, but a few gems—a hand-signed Man Ray lithograph, a midcentury cabinet reminiscent of the Broyhill Brasilia style, and a pair of 1960s Italian brass sconces among them—remain for the second round of bidding that ends on December 21.
