This week, Raf Simons is returning to the French auction house PIASA for another sale to make space for future purchases in his extensive design archives. The Belgian fashion designer—who has shaped style throughout his time leading Jil Sander, Christian Dior, Calvin Klein, and Prada over the past decade—has been at the center of several sales with PIASA during that same timeframe. The 131 wares hitting the block starting at 5 p.m. on September 18 in Paris span furnishings, art, and silverware by Pablo Picasso and Le Corbusier, among many more niche names.
In the catalog for the sale, titled “Design + Picasso Ceramics from the collection of Raf Simons,” Simons reminds fans that before launching his eponymous fashion house in 1995, he spent the 1980s studying furniture and industrial design first in Genk, then in Antwerp.
Le Corbusier, L’Étrange oiseau et le taureau (1957). Courtesy of PIASA.
“My education introduced me to the design voices of the day, but my curiosity and taste lead me instead to singular design voices from eras past,” Simons wrote. Among them, he seeks “singular creative makers.”
Such singular talents in this week’s sale include woodworker and architect George Nakashima, considered the father of the American craft movement, and French ceramicist Pol Chambost, whose sweeping abstract gestures inspired Simons’s famed Fall/Winter 2010 collection for Jil Sander, which rendered peplums the decisive silhouette of the 2010s.
Nineteen ceramic works by Picasso—which have inspired their own fair share of fashion—will lead this week’s sale. The auction’s most likely top seller is a white vase from 1951 titled Tripode, which stands on three legs, decorated with blue stripes and polka dots. Its main body depicts a fresh, wide-eyed, androgynous face, in that same rich blue. Seventy-five editions of this vessel exist, but given its provenance, this copy’s slated to fetch €150,000 to €200,000 ($166,000–$222,000).
Pablo Picasso, Gros oiseau Picasso (1953). Courtesy of PIASA.
Elsewhere, another gorgeous green vase featuring arms, hands, and painted fingers titled Vase gros oiseau vert (1960), one of 25 editions, is expected to fetch €120,000 to €180,000 ($133,000–$200,000), as is Gros oiseau Picasso (1953), another vase decorated in browns, with two swooping handles, one of another release of 75.
The remaining Picassos—including a pitcher titled Visage au nez noir (1969), with a mesmerizing all-seeing eye (estimated €30,000–€40,000, $33,000–$44,000)—are expected to be outperformed by a cache of coveted furniture, including the teak Library table (ca. 1964) by Pierre Jeanneret (estimated €80,000–€120,000, $88,000–$133,000), a collaborative tree trunk slice table from about 1954 by Jeanneret and Le Corbusier (estimated €70,000–€90,000, $77,000–$100,000), and Jean Royére’s gilded and gorgeously multi-pronged Persan floor lamp (ca. 1953), which expected to hammer within the same range.
Pierre Jeanneret, Library table (ca. 1964). Courtesy of PIASA.
Six lamps by Julliette Derel (all estimated under €5,000 or $5,500) and two reflective armchairs in space age silhouettes by Ron Arad (both estimated €40,000–€60,000, $44,000–$66,000) promise to brighten up their new homes. Prospective buyers can even light up their lives like Brad Pitt for less than €10,000 ($11,000), courtesy of four silicon and sand lamps by Nacho Carbonell on offer.
Nacho Carbonell, Luciferase lamp (2012). Courtesy of PIASA.
All these selections from Simons’s own Antwerp abode are on public exhibition at PIASA’s Paris headquarters right now. Online bidding is open, too, ahead of the house’s live auction on Wednesday.