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James Zemaitis began his auction career in 1996 at Christie's, where he worked for three years in the 20th Century Design department. Prior to his arrival at Sotheby's in 2003,[…]
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Zemaitis is attracted to objects that seamlessly incorporate nature.

James Zemaitis:  What captures my eye is I truly feel that I am most touched by work that has some sort of connection to nature. It is about the biomorphic – even zoomorphic if you wanna be fanciful – tendencies of a certain piece. And I’ve always found that I am less of a hardcore modernist and more of an organic surrealist modernist in terms of my own taste, and my own passion, and what I go for. And when I’m trying to develop new areas of a market with my team . . . When we’re kind of saying, “You know something this Danish cabinet maker – there’s only been two of his works that have appeared in America. Wouldn’t it be great to like talk to some folks and see if we can find more of his work and bring it out?” It always seems to fall into that organic kind of aura for me. You know you definitely mind certain fields more and more.

Recorded on: 1/30/08

 

 

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