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One of the art world's leading figures, Simon de Pury is renowned for his deep and long-standing knowledge of the global marketplace and his legendary auctioneering style. He generates excitement[…]
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When does a piece of furniture become a work of art?

Question: What is design?

Simon de Pury:You see what is wonderful about the period we live in now is all these artificial borders between visual arts, photography, design; between fashion; between architecture; all those artificial borders are completely disappearing. And for me there’s only one thing – either somebody is a great artist or he’s not. So you have some incredible artists who express themselves by creating furniture, or objects that you can use on a daily basis. And some artists like the Australian mega star of the design world Mark ...; or the equally great mega start Ron ...are producing unbelievably beautiful objects that are stunning sculptures, stunning works of art. And on top of that you can sit on them or you can live with them. So it’s . . . And nowadays somebody who collects great art doesn’t want to have ugly furniture in his home or mediocre daily objects. He wants to surround himself with the best. But it has to be challenging, stimulating, and exciting, whatever you surround yourself with.

 


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