International designers feature strongly at the Aspire X Tonic Furniture Design Auction

The live online auction takes place on November 26, 2020, starting @ 7pm.

By Edward Tsumele

Alongside South African top designers, international designers feature strongly at the Aspire X Tonic online live auction that will take place on November 26. The first of its kind of the African continent, this furniture auction is expected to attract furniture lovers locally and internationally as people can bid from wherever they are. This will be possible due to the innovative use of technology, which gives bidders almost the same experience as bidding in the physical.

Since Covid 19 struck, disrupting the way business in general is contacted, businesses in the arts sector, have also moved Fast to adopt new digital technologies to conduct business.

From the smallest gallery in a small town with internet access to huge galleries in a Metropolitan place like New York, art fairs and fine art auction houses globally, the use of techno logy to conduct business seems to be the norm, at least until the Covid-19 situation has changed for the better. Businesses in the arts in South Africa are following international trends to conduct business online.

At this Aspire X Tonic Design Furniture Auction, it is the participation of international designers that is of particular interest, given the fact that this is the first time such an auction of high quality design furniture has taken place on the African continent at this scale.

Highlights of  International Fine Design

The architecture and design department of the São Paulo School of Arts & Crafts is renowned for its furniture created during the second half of the 20th century. The design department was led by Lúcio Marçal Ferreira Ribeiro Lima Costa, the inspiring Brazilian architect and urban planner, best known for his plan for Brasilia. Three lounge chairs (feature image above) in red and black leather over wood epitomise their 1960s visionary design.   Amongst the international designers, the pair of LC2 Poltrona chairs designed for Cassina by world renowned modernist architect, Le Corbusier, his brother Pierre Jeanneret and Charlotte Perriand, are must-haves. Created to enhance conversation, these form-follows-function chairs will be talking points for generations to come. The Hunting chair designed in 1950 by Børge Mogensen for Fredericia Furniture, with its oak frame and saddle leather, is ideal for daydreaming or relaxing with a favourite read. Pair it with the daybed by Danish architect Ib Kofod-Larsen for the ultimate leisure experience.   Finnish designer, Eero Aarnio’s interest in the potential of fiberglass-reinforced plastics led to the creation of his iconic Ball chair or the Globe chair in 1963. A playful combination of funky but ground-breaking design, it was exhibited at the 1966 Cologne Furniture Fair to great acclaim. By contrast, Vico Magistretti’s black leather and tubular steel Veranda lounge chair, also for Cassina, is a marvel of 1980s engineering that adjusts to reconfigure the seat, opening and retracting with ease.