Julien Dossena Curates a Selection of Objects for Sotheby’s

It’s the news of the week: Julien Dossena will be curating a selection of objects for a Sotheby’s “Important Design” sale of exceptional masterpieces of 20th century design in Paris, scheduled for November 14. The creative director of Rabanne made his choice based on his personal taste and his love for beautiful designs.

“I perceived a great sense of poetry and I really appreciated that, because it is also the way I envision design,” the designer explains in the short film accompanying the sale. “I have a very naive rapport with design. Objects always affect me in some way. They are like companions in a way, or a family, almost.”

So, what’s on sale? First and foremost, there is a whole section dedicated to “Sculptural poetry”, which features a selection of rare objects from Alberto Giacometti and Lalanne couple. For example, there is a very hard-to-find Alberto Giacometti’s floor lamp “Tête de femme” (estimated at €200.000-300.000) - there are only three of them in the world, and his sculpture in the form of a cat “Chat Maître d'hôtel” (estimated at €150.000-200.000), designed to sit in a cage used to feed the birds at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul de Vence, that the visionary gifted to his longtime friend Madame Patricia de Beauvais in the ‘60s. Meanwhile, the selection of Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne’s works includes the cutest pair of bronze monkeys “Singes Attentifs I and II” (estimated at €1 500 000-2 000 000), a mythical sea goat “Capricorne 1” (estimated at €800 000-1 000 000), an identical model took pride of place in the artists' home, enthroned in front of the fireplace in their living room in Ury, and a poetic bronze lamp “La Structure Végétale” (estimated at €500 000-700 000).

“Lalanne, in his personal expression, is filled with a kind of imagination and poetry that I find rare and unique in the expression of design such as the deer, sheep and monkeys, and I must say that the couple of monkeys appeals to me in particular. And I find it beautiful that he leaves room for interpretation, too,” comments Dossena. “I try to take the same approach in my work. Meaning if I can propose an idea and if the client - the woman who will wear the dress, can claim it for herself and make it his own - then I consider my work well-balanced.”  

Then, there is a whole section dedicated to Exceptional Objects from Art Deco period - think palm wood cupboards by Eugène Printz and Jean Dunand (estimated at €300,000 - 500,000), armchairs by Jacques Emile Ruhlmann (estimated at €100,000 - 150,000) or a frame by Armand-Albert Rateau that he created for Monsieur Dulpan’s apartment at 14 Avenue Foch (estimated at €60,000 - 80,000). The highlights of the Contemporary design section include the Tree Trunk coffee table (estimated at €70,000 - 100,000) by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, and the iconic How High the Moon sofa by Shiro Kuramata, designed in 1986 (estimated at €45,000 - 65,000). Finally, the sale includes several examples of furniture created by artists, blending the boundaries between sculpture and an utilitarian design object, such as Franz West, Richard Auschwager, Antoni Micalda, Frank Gehry and Guy de Rougemont.

“Design is a companion for life’s occasions. If we create a link with the clothes, that is also how I conceive things. They represent both timelessness and a very precise date, like a point of reference for the moments that you experience with these objects”, concludes Dossena.

Courtesy: SOTHEBY'S

Text: Lidia Ageeva