ON THE MARKET

The figure repeatedly quoted in informal discussions with dealers about past, current, and future trends in the design market is that sales of design objects at art fairs made up between 25% and 50% of annual revenue for many galleries in the years before the pandemic.

Regional dealers have been the hardest hit by the cancellation of physical fairs, as they relied on their convening power to meet with and replenish clients. Fairs were the place to see and be seen. But nobody has been immune to the fallout from the pandemic, which many continue to experience in myriad ways, including restricted visitation at galleries and canceled exhibitions, fundraisers, and travel.

By now, most of us who love design have begun to embark on online shopping excursions. I have bought things – a chair by Elisabeth Garouste and Mattia Bonetti, and a vessel by Claude Conover, the mostly self-taught ceramicist from Pittsburgh who walked away from a career in graphic design and dedicated himself to ceramics at age 55. In the event that I have trouble sleeping, the internet can be an especially dangerous place for those of us with an insatiable passion for beautiful things.

In truth, the design market was already online and the pandemic has accelerated that process, along with other trends in the wider market. Sotheby’s Home, Chairish, 1stDibs, Incollect, Etsy, LiveAuctioneers, and Invaluable remain popular resources, while auction houses, at a lightning pace, have adapted to online sales, outdoor appraisals, digital vetting and appointment-only previews and visits with specialists. Their clients, after an initial nervousness, have also migrated online.

Today’s internet of things is a wonderful tool if you know what you are looking for, but it does not allow the kind of serendipity of a visit to an actual gallery or fair, where a variety of physical objects housed under one roof enables visitors to connect with things they didn’t necessarily know that they wanted. Not surprisingly, branded designers and vintage masters do well online, as buyers tend to know what they are getting and have some assurance of quality and authenticity.

For gallerists who deal in the vintage market, recent times even before Covid have not seen a straightforward trajectory. “As someone who has been dealing design for almost 30 years now, it’s been a very interesting market to watch evolve,” says Paul Donzella. “With regards to what I personally represent, I can say without a doubt that Italian design has been experiencing a significant period of interest that continues to grow stronger.”

Needless to say, the growth of interest is not solely in European designers. As Donzella says, “We are also seeing a surge of interest in pieces by Philip & Kelvin LaVerne. We primarily only handle the very rarest of this American studio’s output. And the unique and small-edition works have been gaining popularity, and prices have been on the rise.” This is testament to the importance of trusted gallerists who are able to secure the finest objects.

The contemporary design market, too, is also very much in the hands of the galleries, where dealers have the time, commitment, and expertise to promote and discover today’s diverse and exciting new global talent, sometimes even fresh out of design college.

Contemporary design dealers tend to be interested in doing shows and presenting a body of objects by a single creator rather than selling off a piece at a time to the highest bidder. They treat design as sculpture, as art, enter into and out of the art market and art fairs and, much like art dealers, they want to tell a story about objects, develop a narrative that informs a process of making, and build a relationship with the creator who they can support and work with over a long period of time. They support publications on the designers, garner press coverage, and work with institutions on acquisitions, loans, and museum shows.

Primary material research is popular with designers today, as is a desire to build their own machines to make handmade things. Marc Bendaof Friedman Benda in New York points to the young English designer FayeToogood, who staged her second solo show at the gallery this fall. Shemakes functional cast furniture, each based on a rough-hewn sculpturalmaquette made of corrugated paper or crumpled masking tape, thatsimultaneously disguises and reveals its sculptural origins andmaterials. “The show has done well,” Benda said. “We’ve had someinstitutional purchases and sold to clients in Europe, America, Asia,and Australia.”

We live in a time of great creativity and opportunity for those prepared to look and learn, says Benda. The geographical location of the design market has shifted, he points out, widening choices based on needs and tastes. “Twenty-five years ago, Europe owned the design market,” he says. “This shifted to the US, where individuals and institutions built great collections. American museums remain one of the strongest and most dedicated markets for design, but, more recently, Asia has emerged as important. This has expanded the range of options, but also the set of needs, and tastes for designers, as clients now come from all over.”

To get an impression of how the market is performing now, we can turn to the data. Artnet has perhaps the world’s largest, most accurate dataset for secondary market auction sales of art, design, and the decorative arts. Like other databases, Artnet only tracks transactions at auction and therefore it reflects a certain market interest and perspective and must be taken as one of many relevant indicators. Design is also an amorphous hybrid category, constantly evolving, that is not always reflected in an auction house or database taxonomy: Artnet divides data between a fine art and design database, and a decorative art database, though curiously Les Lalanne, Jean Royère, Gio Ponti, George Nakashima, and others appear in both sets.

The data shows that the auction market for collectible design is growing rapidly, both in terms of the top prices paid and in sales volume measured by dollar value. Looking at the past 18-month period of 2019–20, 13 designers have already achieved over $5 million in total auction sales. This is a dramatic increase on the available figures from 2018.

The challenges facing the international art and design world over the past year seem not to have dampened demand at the high end of the market. At Christie’s in Paris on June 30, 2020, during the height of the global pandemic, an unusual, six-light fixture by Jean Royère sold for $1,763,846 with premium, in an auction record for the artist. During the same sale, three more works by Jean Royère sold for over $1 million, including, separately, a couch and a pair of matching lounge chairs.

The success of the Christie’s sale follows similarly strong recent results at design auctions in Paris, London, and New York, especially for Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, who have achieved success as designers but also as sculptural artists in the international art and museum world. At Sotheby’s Paris on October 24 2019, Choupatte (Tres Grand) from the collection of Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne sold for $2,410,674.

Rank - Designer - Auction Sales 2018 ($)

1 George Nakashima 5,484,033

2 Ettore Sottsass 4,613,921

3 René Lalique 4,487,182

4 Gio Ponti 4,102,306

5 Jean Prouvé 3,905,753

6 Pierre Jeanneret 3,745,814

7 Charlotte Perriand 3,666,034

8 Hans J Wegner 3,186,333

9 Finn Juhl 3,021,029

10 Lucie Rie 2,501,655

11 Poul Henningsen 2,413,070

12 David Webb Inc 2,307,507

13 Paavo Tynell 2,108,174

Rank -Designer - Auction Sales 2019- 20 ($)

1 Claude Lalanne 39,676,624

2 François-Xavier Lalanne 28,124,875

3 Jean Royère 12,300,891

4 Gio Ponti 8,792,996

5 George Nakashima 7,461,825

6 René Lalique 6,491,801

7 Paavo Tynell 6,124,970

8 Charlotte Perriand 5,887,902

9 Jean Prouvé 5,882,948

10 Émile Jacques Ruhlmann 5,508,391

11 Fabergé (Co.) 5,213,762

12 Jean Dunand 5,167,523

13 Jean-Michel Frank 5,085,912

Claude Lalanne’s works have sold for more than $2 million at auction since 2009 – a testament to the rewards for design and designers crossing over into the more lucrative art market. Nonetheless, François-Xavier holds the record for the highest individual price for a work of design by the two of them sold at auction, with Les Autruches, Bar, 1967–70, sold at Sotheby’s Paris on November 21, 2017, for $7,268,314. More recently, Unique Rhinocrétaire sold at Sotheby’s Paris on October 24, 2019, for just under $6 million.

This is not the first time that designers and architects have made objects that cross over into the art market — think of Marc Newson, Ron Arad, or Zaha Hadid. In the past, the problem was that what they were making was often not good as furniture, or not good sculpture. “The idea of functionality is up for grabs right now,” says Benda. “Yes, we still need to eat, sit, and sleep, but objects can do lots of things now. There is little interest in art for art’s sake.”

The pandemic has, of course, uprooted just about everything in our lives. But it has also created new opportunities. “It’s made us stop and take the time to analyze our business in a deeper way than ever before,” says Cristina Grajales of Cristina Grajales Gallery in New York. Several dealers reported a surge over the past six months in requests for custom design work, site-specific commissions, and private home projects. “A lot of people are at home, and often in second homes that are maybe not as designed as their primary homes, and have decided that they could use new pieces,” says Lewis Wexler from Wexler Gallery in Philadelphia and New York. “People, it seems, are renewing their homes and re-nesting. We’ve been busy as several big commissions have come to fruition.”

“The home has become our sanctuary,” says Grajales. “This idea is not new, but a profoundly important consideration during these troubling times.” She describes the present moment as one of a return to humanism, even the idealism of Modernism, with clients now increasingly concerned with what she says is “the impact our work can have on the way we lead our lives”. She adds: “Clients are rethinking their living spaces and want to surround themselves with pieces that are more than just decorative.”

Grajales and Wexler seem to be right about that. 2020: It’s Good to be Home is the name of the latest exhibition at Gallery FUMI in London’s Mayfair through December 31. Sam Pratt, along with his colleagues at Gallery FUMI, sees a turn towards meaningful, customized, more socially and environmentally conscious design. “We think that collectors will be looking towards the future and towards the new. They might be more socially conscious, looking for works with the least harm on the environment, or at least made with some thought. We think the unusual, the handmade, colorful, and perhaps even playful works might come into their own. The collectible design market will continue to be relevant as collectors and buyers go for one-off, limited works, taking a dimmer view of the mass-produced and the resulting negative effect on the environment.”

Dealers also point to the power and potential of digital communication to expand the audience for what they are doing and to reach new clients everywhere. “I’ve had to imagine another way of working through strong digital communication,” says Aline Chastel from Galerie Chastel Maréchal in Paris. “It is very important to stay in touch with each of my collectors but also to spread the gallery’s taste with our newsletter, Instagram, or Pinterest.” Lewis Wexler completely agrees. “Wexler Gallery has used social media to market our artists and designers. We highlight one particular artist or designer per week and look at their work in depth. We have been using video as a means to get to know the maker – it’s a great narrative tool to tell a story and that’s what people want right now. Of course, we also promote work on Instagram, Facebook, and various selling platforms.”

The need to see or touch a design object before making a final purchase, no matter the price, may well be a quaint thing of the past – certainly, the new digital economy is here to stay, as dealers and auction houses have found ways to make sure that their clients can meaningfully experience items online. And while the event-driven, media-hyped art and design world will likely start up all over again when the world economy reopens for business, it will not be the same: there is a new wariness, it seems, of the huge costs associated with shipping, travel, and lavish dinners. People are realizing that the social side is less important. Instead, it’s about returning to the idea of art and design being about who we are; of building on real narratives and stories; of returning to the old fashioned notion of artists producing works not just for consumption, but to stand the test of time.

Benjamin Genocchio is an art critic

Cover photo: François-Xavier Lalanne, Unique Rhinocrétaire, 1991. Sold at Sotheby’s L’Univers Lalanne auction in 2019 for $6,006,828. Photo: Sotheby’s / ArtDigital Studio