To coincide with the Christmas season, leading auction house Phillips de Pury & Company is presenting a pop-up shop of unique works, limited-editions and prints by a dynamic group of artists and designers.

PHILLIPS DE PURY POP-UP SHOP, 2nd December 2011-31st January 2012

PHILLIPS DE PURY & COMPANY at Claridges

45-47 Brook Street, London W1K 4HN (020 7318 4010)

The exclusively curated selection includes original works such as Watch Sculptures by Dominic Wilcox, Push + Pivot Rings by Bethan Laura Woods, and hand-painted graphic t-shirts, prints and accessories by DavidDavid.

London based designer Martino Gamper has curated a special Martino and Friends section especially for the shop. Gamper has made a bespoke shelving unit to display his selection. Highlights from the Martino and Friends section include Francis Upritchard’s hand painted Christmas cards and wrapping paper, jewellery from Gemma Holt and Rob Upritchard, and a set of drinking glasses with carafe from Martino Gamper.

Other talents included in the pop-up include Max Lamb, Michael Anastassiades, Tauba Auerbach, Faye Toogood, Snarkitecture, Brunno Jahara, Humans Since 1982, Pia Wustenberg, Victoria Wilmotte, Jonathan Muecke, Oeuffice, and Ben Adams.

Note: the pop-up shop will be closed from 24 December – 3 January.

All images courtesy of Phillips de Pury & Company.

It’s Christmas time and here LDG editor Max Fraser brings you his selection of gifts for the holiday season. As always, we would encourage you to buy well made items with lasting appeal to try to reduce the waste that comes with the merriment and excess. Enjoy!

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Every year in my family, someone buys a new Christmas tree decoration to add to a mish-mash of existing baubles and figurines, each one bringing back memories of a specific year. I find most baubles to be tacky and over-decorated, so I was delighted to discover this mouth-blown and hand engraved glass creation, which somehow encapsulates 2010: fragile and transparent.

Glass baubles by Judith Seng and Alex Valder. £41 from placesandspaces, Clapham (page 154 in LONDON DESIGN GUIDE)

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Candles help add to the atmosphere of Christmas day. These slender glass candlesticks will add an elegant glint to your dining table as you tuck into a feast. A stemware collection by the same designer is also available if you want the entire look.

Tilo range by Anna Torfs. Starting from £130 from Vessel, Notting Hill (page 33 in LDG)

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If, like some members of my family, you are prone to breaking glass then perhaps this etched brass candle holder might be a good option. The detailed pattern unleashes a mass of intricate shadows when lit. There is a similar pendant lampshade version also available.

Etch candle holder by Tom Dixon. £30 from Tom Dixon, Ladbroke Grove (page 32 in LDG)

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OK, back to glass. Well, chunky Quartz crystal actually. These glasses are part of a series designed by Max Lamb for historic crystal company J. & L. Lobmeyr. Lamb wanted to explore the optical effect of faceted crystal, creating a series of 23 cylindrical glasses cut with an increasing number of facets, from 3 to 34. The versions shown above were cut with 6 facets to create thick-walled crystal glassware.

Quartz Series by Max Lamb. £130 (small); £155 (medium); £188 (tall) from Projectory at Phillips de Pury & Company (Saatchi Gallery location)

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If you enjoy a dash of lemon juice with your smoked salmon, try out this futuristic-looking new citrus squeezer. This creation is produced by Alessi, the same company that makes the iconic Juicy Salif lemon squeezer by Philippe Starck (which doesn’t function very well!). Thankfully, and by Starck’s own admission, this one works extremely well!

mysqueeze citrus juicer by Roland Kreiter. £33, available exclusively online from mydeco.com or from Alessi, Mayfair (page 52 in LDG)

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Add some colour to the table with this selection of cheerful steel bowls (gloss on the inside, matt on the outside), originally designed in 1953 by Danish civil engineer, Herbert Krenchel. Excitingly, the iconic design has been reissued in 2010 by Danish brand Normann Copenhagen.

Selection of Krenit bowls by Herbert Krenchel. £12-97 (depending on size) from Skandium, Brompton & Marylebone (pages 20 & 42 in LDG). If you’re searching for a highly-collectible vintage original, visit Rocket Gallery, Shoreditch (page 135 in LDG)

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Of course, Christmas is the time to crack open just about anything that is wet and alcoholic. Here’s a bottle opener that will endure such heavy use, made from cast iron by skilled Japanese craftsmen.

Large bottle opener by Nobuho Miya. £13 from twentytwentyone, Islington (page 119 in LDG)

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A Christmas meal isn’t complete without the crack of some crackers. That said, most of them conceal a useless gift destined for landfill. Not so with these crackers from leading online stationery store, Present & Correct, which are made from graph paper in Devon and contain a few little treasures that you will likely want to keep!

Christmas crackers by Present & Correct. £10 from Present & Correct Pop-In Shop, Clerkenwell or from Present & Correct online shop.

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Over the Christmas period, it is more than likely you’ll get a surprise visit from friends or relatives. So, pull up one of these finely-crafted British-made stools which can double up as a wee side table/drinks perch when not being sat upon.

Stool One (oak) by Another Country. £145 from Another Country or The Temporium, Brompton (9-19th December 2010). Additionally, a limited-edition of 100 solid ash stools has been produced in collaboration with Monocle for £175.

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Of course, if anyone outstays their welcome, show them the door… and these simple coat hooks which they probably failed to notice on arrival!

Ceramic and cork knobs by Jasper Morrison. £9, £14, £21 for ceramic and £8, £10, £12 for cork from Jasper Morrison Shop (page 131 in LDG). Also can be used as handles on furniture. The shop is also open on Saturdays in December.

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During any Christmas down-time, while most people can be found reading a good novel, I’m guilty of using the time to scrub up on my design knowledge. Yeah, cool man. So here is a beast of a book delving into the nuts and bolts of the Eames Office, written and designed over 13 years by ex-employee Marilyn Neuhart and husband John. After this weighty accomplishment, we’ll finally be able to draw a line under the Eames legacy.

The Story of Eames Furniture by Marilyn & John Neuhart. £140 from The Lollipop Shoppe, Spitalfields or directly from the publisher, Gestalten. If you have a spare 16 minutes, be sure to watch this fantastic video about the book.

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Before you sit down to read, it’s important that you have a good light. Here’s a beauty – an architect lamp designed in 1921 by Bernard-Albin Gras and recently reissued. The construction of the lamp, hand made in France, is free from screws or welded joints. There are various versions available but this one is my favourite.

Lampe Gras 207 by Bernard-Albin Gras. £380 from SCP, Shoreditch and Westbourne Grove (pages 136 and 31 in LDG)

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For those of you with children, you probably have to tolerate heaps of ugly plastic toys in your home. Well, American designer David Weeks has designed a series of wooden animals that happily fall into the ‘kidult’ category. Beautifully hand made, each limb is fully flexible and simply held together with elastic. My favourite is Hanno the gorilla.

Hanno the Gorilla by David Weeks. £59 from Aram Store, Covent Garden (page 76 in LDG)

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And on to the New Year. I like to start each year with a fresh new notebook to jot down ideas and future plans. You never know when you will have a lightbulb moment, so it’s best to invest in a good looking book for any public appearances. Crucially, this one has unlined pages (that’s just how I like it), with a Japanese screen printed cover and red linen spine.

Large hand bound notebook. £26 from Darkroom, Bloomsbury. Other colours and sizes are available.

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Finally, a little note to jolt your conscience. A staggering amount of landfill waste is generated each year from excessive packaging as well as unwanted Christmas gifts. We would encourage you to carefully consider the person you are buying for (so that they receive what they actually want), avoid unnecessary packaging, and make a concerted effort to buy into quality items that will last. There, we said it.

Check out GOOD magazine’s ‘10 favourite innovations for reducing plastic consumer waste.’

MERRY CHRISTMAS & A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Leading auction house, Phillips de Pury & Company, has got in on the ‘pop-up’ act with Projectory, its second such installment of contemporary design at its top-floor space at The Saatchi Gallery.

PROJECTORY

PHILLIPS DE PURY & COMPANY at The Saatchi Gallery

Duke of York’s HQ, King’s Road, London SW3 4SQ (020 7318 4066)

The programme launched in May as Connectors, a selling exhibition of contemporary design “with a manifesto predicated on forging bonds with contemporary artists through a greater understanding of process, medium and ethos.”

The programme has transitioned from selling exhibition to ‘proper shop,’ including product and furniture design while incorporating artist’s multiples, prints, photography, artist’s books, and independently published journals.

Many of the works are one-offs, prototypes, or limited editions exclusive to Phillips de Pury.

Projectory includes talents such as Bertjan Pot, Max Lamb, Massimiliano Adami, Nendo, Peter Marigold, Raw Edges, Seongyong Lee, Mark Braun, and Michel Charlot.

No end date has been announced for Projectory, but we have been promised that it will remain open until after Christmas.

Images, from top: the Projectory exhibition; Plytube bench by Seongyung Lee; Lift Tables by Mark Braun; Genevieve Tartrat cabinet by Peter Marigold; ECAL mold lamp by Michel Charlot; Plytube rectangular table by Seongyung Lee.

The UK’s first solo exhibition of Japanese design studio Nendo is presented by Phillips de Pury & Company. The show is held in two parts and split between two galleries.

NENDO: THIN BLACK LINES + WHITE BLURRY SURFACES

20th September-31st October 2010

Part 1: Thin Black Lines @ SAATCHI GALLERY

Duke of York’s HQ, London SW3 4SQ

Part 2: White Blurry Surfaces @ PHILLIPS DE PURY & COMPANY

Howick Place, London SW1P 1BB

Part 1: ‘Thin Black Lines’, a series of bent, solid, tubular steel works can be seen at the Saatchi Gallery (pictured here).

Part 2: ‘Blurry White Surfaces’, gives the audience a perception of Nendo’s design ethos with the inclusion of recent pieces such as Cord Chair and Fade-Out Chair.

Nendo, which means Japanese for clay, was founded in 2002 by Oki Sato, the same year that he received his M.A. in architecture. Since then Nendo has been prolific, completing an astonishing number of projects in architecture, interior, product and graphic design.

At 5pm on 28th April, auction house Phillips de Pury & Company is staging its spring DESIGN sale in its London showroom. The sale focusses on rare and important pieces from celebrated 20th and 21st Century designers.

‘DESIGN’ auction, 28th April 2010, 5pm

PHILLIPS DE PURY & COMPANY

Howick Place, London SW1P 1BB (020 7318 4010)

Top: ‘Unique three-arm ceiling lamp’ by Serge Mouille (c.1955): estimate £70,000-100,000.

Above: ‘Mexique’ bookcase by Charlotte Perriand and Atelier Jean Prouvé (1953): estimate £80,000-140,000.

167 lots are offered in this curated sale, with estimates totaling £1,490,400 (low) and £2,137,900 (high). PAGE UPDATE: SALES TOTALED £1,822,075.

Above: ‘Totem’ floor lamp by Serge Mouille (c.1962): estimate £80,000-120,000.

A large collection of important midcentury French works by Jean Prouvé, Charlotte Perriand, and Serge Mouille features alongside property from the apartment of Laurence and Patrick Seguin, Paris.

Above: ‘Willow’ sculpture by Harry Bertoia (c.1970): estimate £35,000-45,000.

Other significant works include designs by Ettore Sottsass, Harry Bertoia, Shiro Kuramata, and Atelier Van Lieshout.

Above: ‘Fisherman’s House’ by Atelier Van Lieshout (2000): estimate £35,000-55,000.

All lots can be viewed in person at Phillips de Pury from 21st-27th April 2010 or via their online catalogue.

Above: ‘Exceptional large wall light’ by Poul Henningsen for the Concert Hall, Scala Theater, Arhus, Denmark (1955): estimate £15,000-20,000.

All images courtesy of Phillips de Pury & Company.