Design

Boosted by the significant success of the design auctions – often involving an international public – Pandolfini has set itself the objective of becoming a focal point for lovers of Italian design: interior designers, collectors, beauty enthusiasts, as well as private individuals looking for rare or unique, special and inimitable pieces of furniture and decorative objects.  
The 20^th century Design and Decorative Arts sector has witnessed an enormous increase in the interest of collectors over the last decade, with a particular focus on decorative furniture and objects designed by the great maestros of the 20^th century.  This has turned the Italian design market into a vast and mature international point of reference with increasingly greater and specific autonomy. The Department that handles Design auctions inside Pandolfini auction house has recently resumed its course and aims to periodically propose objects from throughout the XXth century with a high artistic value in its design and decorative arts sales. For this reason, the Pandolfini Casa d’Aste design and decorative objects sales are unmissable occasions for discovering and valorizing what can be considered historic, in other terms vintage, evergreen and contemporary antiques consisting of limited-edition design objects, unique pieces and prototypes created by big international designers. 
Through these auctions dedicated to 20^th century design and furniture, Pandolfini aims to distinguish itself for the taste, reliability and quality of the collection of design works, eclectic selections filled with works of particular historic and artistic value following the preferences of the collectors that concentrate on objects created by the most important Italian designers of the 20^th century that manage to express the idea, inventiveness and inspiration, but also the intimate relationship between design and art.  It is not a coincidence that design is often sought in auctions by refined Italian and international collectors, enthusiasts that understand the innovative language of design and new current tastes that blend in well with the vintage of the whole of the last century, a style that has culturally and esthetically taken possession of our lifestyle today.
The design objects proposed in the catalogues of the Pandolfini auctions are, therefore, subjected to a rigorous selection.  This selection often includes unique collectable objects, collectibles, as well as limited-edition objets d’art united by their high quality and resolute character.  From this perspective, the Pandolfini selection features lighting fixtures, design furniture and furnishing accessories, as well as glassware and ceramics of Italian and other manufacture, produced in the XX century.
Our top lots in the 20^th century design and decorative arts auctions include works by great 20^th century designers such as the pair of Giò Ponti “pozzetto” armchairs from 1930, sold for € 37,500, the coffee table for the Contini Buonacossi residence sold for € 52,500 and the pair of corner cabinets sold for € 112,500.  Other important sales are the drawing holder designed by Carlo Bugatti sold for € 50,000, the Émile Gallé monumental terracotta vase sold for € 30,000, the mobile bar with mahogany structure embellished with large bronze handles realized on a model especially made for this piece of furniture by the sculptor Lucio Fontana sold for € 32,500 as well as the lot made up of a counter and two panels realized by Joaquim Tenreiro, sold for € 37,500. The most important sale at a design auction in recent years was the top in black slate with sculptural support element in sculpted, lacquered and gilded wood designed by Osvaldo Borsani and Lucio Fontana which sold at the Great Italian Collection Masterpieces Auction held in October 2018 for € 250,000 starting from an initial estimate price of € 18,000 – 20,000.
The Pandolfini design auctions also propose many well-established Italian artists like Ettore Sottsass, Federico Munari, Maurizio Cattelan, Bruno Munari, Superstudio, Mario Ceroli, Franco Albini, Tommaso Buzzi, Emilio Sala, Piero Fornasetti, Carlo Zauli, Gianfranco Frattini, and Piero Fornasetti, to mention just a few.  The design auction catalogues also include works realized by design studios and schools, famous glassworks and works produced by acclaimed Italian manufacturers including Manifattura Cantagalli, Manifattura Lenci, Venini, Fontana Arte and many more.  Our experts are always available for free evaluations of your works with no commitment, for the purpose of inclusion in the Pandolfini auction design and sale catalogues.  The first evaluation is made on a photographic base. The design department experts at Pandolfini Casa d’Aste are available all year round, by appointment c/o our Offices in Florence, Rome and Milan or at your home, in order to offer evaluations and estimates for the design objects and decorative objects in your possession.