NEW YORK, NY.- artnet Auctions announces the launch of a new 20th and 21st century design department headed by Brent Lewis, former Christie’s specialist and auctioneer and gallery director at Moss. New design lots go live each week, providing a consistent and curated online auction marketplace accessible 24/7.

The new design department focuses on all movements of 20th and 21st century design, including American mid-century design, Viennese Secessionist, Art Deco, Scandinavian Modernism, Italian Modernism, American Studio furniture, Contemporary, as well as glass and ceramics from all periods. The department also promotes specific themes and categories where greater market attention is needed.

Lewis joins a tradition of design services at artnet, but the collecting category on artnet Auctions is a new and welcome addition: “The opportunities presented to buy and sell a curated selection of design at auction, with the ease of the artnet Auctions online platform, are very exciting. The flexibility and efficiency this model provides will open up design to a new audience, as well as providing established collectors and dealers a viable source to buy and sell under the banner of artnet. artnet is one of the world’s largest art and design communities and the major resource for art and design, information, and news—and now, access to both the primary and secondary markets.”

The inaugural sale, which begun on May 19, features collectible 20th century decorative arts and design, as well as contemporary design from an international roster of artists and designers. Included are historical highlights by Marcel Breuer, Ed Wormley, Hans Wegner, Pierre Jeanneret, Gio Ponti, and Ettore Sottsass and contemporary works by Ron Arad, Gaetano Pesce, Maria Pergay, and Tokujin Yoshioka.

As Bill Fine, President of Artnet Worldwide Corp., points out: “The last decade has witnessed a multifaceted convergence of the worlds of art and design; both in terms of the collecting interests of our clients, but also as business practices have developed a greater synergy amongst categories. Expanding artnet Auctions to include design will not only provide a much needed online marketplace for our clients, but also integrate with and further promote artnet’s other core segments such as the Price Database and artnet Galleries where design is already in place.”

Highlights of the inaugural design sale:

• Ron Arad, Before Summer, Est. USD 130,000–160,000

• Gio Ponti and Paolo di Poli, Enameled Swan, Est. USD 1,800–2,200

• Gaetano Pesce, Monumental Resin Bowl, Est. USD 8,000–10,000

• Tokujin Yoshioka, Honey Pop Chair, Est. USD 7,000–9,000

• Ettore Sottsass, Totem Rangoon, Est. USD 16,000–18,000

• Gio Ponti, Pair of Armchairs, Est. USD 3,000–4,000