Something unsurprising happens when you task two star designers to curate a catalog of their favorite objects: You end up with a collection of ridiculously well-designed products. This is exactly what happened when Sotheby’s tapped Jony Ive and Marc Newson to pull together a list of goods to be auctioned off at the (RED) Auction, which is raising money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
We’ve already told you about the gorgeous Leica rangefinder camera and the sleek aluminum desk that the all-star duo designed from the ground up, but there’s actually an entire catalog’s worth of amazing design products up for grabs on Nov. 23.
Ive and Newson were essentially given free reign to choose more than 40 of their favorite designs throughout history. As Newson told us earlier, the resulting catalog is an eclectic collection of objects that shrugs off the personality-focused world of contemporary design. “There are a lot of unsung design heroes out there,” Newson says. “A lot of the objects we chose for us in some way represent the antithesis of personality-driven design.”
Newson is referring to pieces like the 1990s-era cosmonaut suit that was worn into space (it’s expected to fetch between $50,000 and $75,000) and a U.S. Space Shuttle thermal window made from Corning glass and 7980 high-purity-fused silica, which is held aloft by an Ive and Newson-designed stand (this is going for $100,000 to $150,000). It’s objects like these, he says, that take an untold number of people working together to make an effective, brilliant design. Of course, there are still your requisite design big-wigs like a ruby-leathered Dieter Rams sofa ($20,000 to $30,000) and one of Tom Dixon’s Prototype Punch XL chandeliers (also going for $20,000 to $30,000). And if you have an extra $40,000 lying around, you can bid on a customized red Mac Pro.
All of the auction's offerings are luxurious in their own right, but Ive and Newson actually added value by customizing a large number items, mostly lending them a dash of color like the Steinway piano with a bright red lacquer under its lid ($150,000 to $200,000) and a pair of bright red bespoke Louboutin boots, which could go for up to $30,000. For some perspective, you can buy a pair of Louboutins for around $2,000; but hey, the pricier the better in this case. Back in 2008, the original (RED) auction raised more than $40 million. It's yet to be seen how much Ive's golden touch will bring in, but it's safe to assume (RED) is going to see some serious cash.
