The year Sotheby's relaunched its Decorative Arts Department as Classic Design, making 2022 a year of exciting evolution, beautiful artefacts, thrilling sales and discoveries old and new.
The year Sotheby's relaunched its Decorative Arts Department as Classic Design, making 2022 a year of exciting evolution, beautiful artefacts, thrilling sales and discoveries old and new.
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t has proved an especially exciting year for design at Sotheby's with the re-branding of the Decorative Arts Department as Classic Design, a concept that underlines the relevance and timelessness of these areas for contemporary living and collecting.
Classic Design Week, a newly launched series of sales, took place across Paris, London and New York, showcasing a spectacular selection of furniture, silver, clocks and ceramics. The undoubted standout moment of the year was the enormous success of the Hôtel Lambert: Une Collection Princière auction in Paris in October. The most important sale in this field in the last 40 years, it established a world record for a French decorative arts auction, and a number of lots from this sale feature in the department's annual highlights. Furthermore, the past year was the department’s best year ever for Private Sales, drawing in record sums across the board.
2022 Highlight from Classic Design
Launch Slideshow
'Classic Design focuses on celebrating the inventiveness and universality of designers across the centuries, with no barriers of style, date or country of origin.'
- João Magalhães, UK Director & Head of Furniture
'2022 will definitely be a year to remember, with the astonishing results of Hotel Lambert set to reverberate across the market for years to come,' says João Magalhães, Director and Head of Furniture in London. 'The incredible international effort demonstrated by Sotheby’s Classic Design team delivered a spectacle that not only resonated with a large number of new buyers across the globe, but also inspired many of our traditional clients. These new buyers are particularly open to the concept of Classic Design, which focuses on celebrating the inventiveness and universality of designers across the centuries, with no barriers of style, date or country of origin.'
'Quality, great design and iconic provenances have been in constant demand on the market over the past years, and we believe this combination is here to stay,' continues Magalhães. 'With more people embracing greater diversity in collecting, the Classic Design ethos underlines this trend and we look forward to new buyers coming to us looking for excellence and history.'
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