FEATURES ARCHIVE

Even as a young child, Carina Villinger paid close attention to three dimensional objects. The design specialist laughs when recalling the furniture from her childhood bedroom (“Ikea—from their pine furniture phase!”). She recently let Libby Addington in on some of her favorite makers and moments in 20th century design.

You began your career at the prestigious Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. How did your career path lead you to Christie’s, and to New York?
I completely fell in love with the energy and pace of the auction environment while interning in Christie’s New York department of 20th Century Decorative Art & Design after university. I returned home to Germany to work in the Vitra Design Museum on exhibitions ranging from children’s furniture to Mies van der Rohe. My desire to return to the auction world was never far from my mind, which inspired me to complete Christie’s Education course in the Fine and Decorative Arts in London. After working in the design department of another auction house and a brief stint as the Art Market editor for the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, I accepted a position at Christie’s New York in 2004. Several years later and many life lessons learned, and I love it every bit as much as I did during that first internship.

Which pieces from your upcoming sales would you select for your own home?
Leonardi Cesare’s ‘Dondolo’ chaise would fit perfectly in my living room! This piece in particular embodies Italian design at one of its most elegant and highest points. The chaise was included in the famous “Italy: The New Domestic Landscape” exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, which also makes it a great conversation piece. I also adore the candelabra by Claude Lalanne, two of the many works by the famous French designer in our sale that make me smile. It is as though she has managed to freeze nature with her designs. The candelabra combine beauty with a certain Zen quality found in nature, and incorporate an element of fun, too.

Art Deco or Art Nouveau?
Art Deco, because its clean lines are easier to integrate into contemporary interiors. It’s also a genre that offers incredible diversity, from Jean- Michel Frank’s refined aesthetic and use of beautiful, high-quality materials, to Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann’s elegant, high style and intricate detailing. That said, the Art Nouveau period produced some of the most incredible bronzes, ceramics and glass…it would be a shame not to have those, too!

Where do you go to get your design fix?
In New York, I like to escape to the Noguchi Museum in Queens—one of this city’s greatest treasures, in my opinion. When I have a spare moment I check out www.architonic.com, a great resource for news and information from the architecture and design worlds.

How would you explain to a new collector the advantage of buying modern furniture at auction?
The decorative art and design in our sales comes with a history that is seldom replicated in a retail environment. Most of our clients seek out pieces that were manufactured around the time of their original design. For example, you can walk into a high end design store and purchase a brand new  Noguchi table today, but our collectors would rather find the same piece at auction that is attached to the time of its conception.

What 20th century designer’s philosophy appeals most to you?
One designer who continues to fascinate me is Eileen Gray, who made headlines around the world when one piece sold for a record-breaking 21.9 million euros in Christie’s February auction of the Yves Saint Laurent collection. She constantly evolved as an artist, and I admire her courage to try new things. Whatever she did, whether it was her earlier work in lacquer or her later work in tubular steel and painted metal, she always had an incredible style about her.