Phillips’ New York Design team.
Dagobert Peche
Dagobert Peche, Five-piece coffee and tea service, circa 1923. Design New York.
Benjamin Green, Associate Specialist, Head of Sale, Design, New York.
I receive notifications on my phone whenever works by Dagobert Peche come up for auction, and every time I get a ping, I find myself surprised and excited by his work. Peche’s mastery spans an astonishing range of media — from silver and jewelry to textiles, furniture, and wallpaper. There’s a signature whimsy to his designs and a sense of delightful unpredictability that belies the technical precision and material sophistication of his work. It’s that balance — opulence married to craftsmanship — that captivates me and makes this tea and coffee service one of my favorite lots in our upcoming Design auction.
Designed for the Wiener Werkstätte, the set beautifully illustrates an evolution away from the strict geometry of Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser’s early work towards a more expressive, decorative sensibility. The hammered silver surfaces shimmer with quiet complexity, while the twisting forms of each vessel evoke the exuberance of Rococo decoration. I’m completely taken with the finials shaped like leaves blowing in the wind and the elegant curvature of the handles.
Though I won’t be bidding this go-round, I’m thrilled to be offering this tea and coffee service in our auction on the 10th of June.
Tiffany Studios
Tiffany Studios, Rare turtle-back tile ceiling light, circa 1905. Design New York.
Beth Vilinsky, Senior International Specialist, Design
It was the tenth anniversary of September 11th. I felt uneasy about flying that day, but I was scheduled to travel to the Midwest to view a lovely Tiffany Pony Wisteria table lamp. I was meeting the collector for the first time and knew virtually nothing about him or his collection. He turned out to be a fascinating man with a captivating collection that included not only Tiffany lamps, antiquities, Southeast Asian and Aboriginal works of art, but also a gripping mugshot of himself from an occasion in police custody (let’s just say things were a little different in the ‘60s, and he was quite proud of it.)
He gave me a tour of the house, and though he stopped to point out various items that he was considering offering at auction, he whisked me by a dark bedroom illuminated solely by the warm glow of a magnificent Tiffany Turtleback Tile chandelier that instantly caught my eye. I paused at the doorway to marvel in the presence of this mesmerizing gilt bronze and iridized glass fixture with its exceedingly rare fiery red color scheme, but was told rather quickly that it was not for sale and we should move on. I was incredibly pleased to leave the visit with the Pony Wisteria lamp literally in hand, but could not get the beauty, power, and artistry of the Turtleback Tile ceiling light out of my mind. Fourteen years later, Phillips now has the great honor of offering this exceptional chandelier in our June Design sale.
Line Vautrin
Line Vautrin, "Folie" or "Le Soleil à Rendez-vous avec la Lune" mirror, circa 1956. Design New York.
Kimberly Sørensen, Specialist, Design, New York
A striking departure from her typical mosaic glass-encrusted creations, Line Vautrin’s “Folie” mirror captivates me. Like a haiku, Vautrin created a moment of drama with an economy of form, the black rays curling with energy. It really packs a graphic punch! So with that in mind, here is a haiku for Line:
La Folie mirror
A North Star for any room
Beautiful madness
Judy Kensley McKie
Judy Kensley McKie, "Fish" bench, 1999. Design New York.
Kaela Aalto, Administrator, Design, New York
I’m particularly drawn to my fellow Bostonian’s Fish bench — a work that looks as if it leapt straight out of Boston Harbor. To me, its whimsical form feels like a nod to the city’s maritime history, and Judy Kensley McKie’s patina expertly captures the likeness of the radiant blue-green hue of Boston’s surrounding waters (we may sing “I love that dirty water” as our city anthem, but McKie’s patina is able to cast the water in a more refreshing light). I’m especially endeared to this piece because of its dynamism, not only in form, but also in medium. The patinated bronze will evolve over time, developing a unique surface that responds to its environment and deepens in character with age. McKie believed that all her pieces were meant to be lived with, merging utility and beauty, and the Fish bench’s rich patina rewards continued use over time. McKie also skillfully transforms a traditionally rigid medium into something fluid and alive; the fish’s arched body suggests that it is caught mid-swim, soon to be back on its way. Perhaps my favorite detail is the fish’s curious face, an expression that reveals McKie’s true gift for imbuing functional objects with personality that can enliven any space.
Shiro Kuramata
Shiro Kuramata, "Acrylic Stool," designed for the Spiral boutique, The Axis Building, Roppongi, Tokyo, designed 1990. Design New York.
Cecilia Moure, Cataloguer, Design, New York
Shiro Kuramata designed the Acrylic Stool for the Tokyo boutique Spiral in 1990, two years after his iconic Miss Blanche chair, in which synthetic roses were sealed into the acrylic resin panels forming the seat and armrests. In the Acrylic Stool, feathers were chosen as the decorative inclusion, appearing to float mid-fall — when you peer into the prismatic acrylic block, movement seems frozen, time suspended.
Before being indoctrinated into the Design (with a capital D) world, these thoroughly Postmodern, plastic-y designs would have made me cringe. From afar, they seem cold and overly self-referential — as if, unless you’re in on the joke, you won’t enjoy it. How could glibness ever rival the sincerity of a beautifully made chair or a hand-thrown bowl?
To those who might share this sentiment, I’d recommend sitting down with a Kuramata stool and looking into those pristine depths — studying the feathers that will fall forever. In the same year he designed this stool, Kuramata said in an interview, “In reality I’m not for others but for my own interests.”
One of the best parts of my job is acquiring new tastes. Sometimes an initial negative reaction is just the sign that someone is doing something so singular, it takes time to fully appreciate.
Ron Arad
Ron Arad, "After Spring", 1992. Design New York.
Demi Zhao, Intern, Design, New York
Is it sculpture or is it design? A chair or a flight of imagination? According to Oscar Wilde, the element of function disqualifies something from being art, but in Ron Arad’s “After Spring,” you will see boundaries blurred with irreverent grace, where contradictions are experienced as delight.
Composed of a single, sinuous ribbon of mirror-polished stainless steel, “After Spring” evokes the silhouette of a seagull mid-takeoff, a frozen moment of weightless ascent. Yet its sculptural lightness belies an intricate engineering core: concealed spring steel “bones” within the wing-like extensions provide both strength and flexibility, while a weighted base ensures balance and gentle motion.
The work’s name, “After Spring,” nods to a central tension: the hidden mechanisms beneath surface elegance. The “spring” is not visible yet felt in the piece’s subtle bounce and resilience. As Arad described it, this is “a chair in one line” — a single, fluid gesture that rejects rigidity. “It’s here,” he proclaimed, “freedom from the tyranny of the straight line and the orthogonal space and the ninety degrees.”
What I love about this work is how it makes the impossible tangible, unleashing Arad's persistent pursuits of something “new” and “different,” continuously awakening our perceptions of art and design.
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