Stella McCartney, Thomas Heatherwick, David Adjaye and Antony Gormley are among the designers, artists and architects whose time or work has been auctioned to fund the creation of a new home for one of the world's biggest design museums.
The sale, hosted by auction house Phillips, raised over £1.1m (US$1.6m, €1.4m) towards the renovation costs of the Design Museum’s forthcoming building in Kensington, London.
A total of 55 pieces were sold, with Gormley's
Small Spall III sculpture selling for £158,500 (US$229,000, €201,000) – the highest bid received.
Three marble tables designed by Dame Zaha Hadid before her death in March sold for £106,900 (US$153,000, €135,500) and an outdoor installation called
Solar Clock by Adjaye raised £110,500 (US$160,000, €140,000).
Jonathan Ive, chief design officer at Apple, created a one-off gold-coloured iPad for the event which sold for £50,000 (US$72,000, €63,000) and Olympic Cauldron designer Thomas Heatherwick donated a bronze version of his
Spun chair, which sold for £60,000 (US$87,000, €76,000).
The opportunity to meet McCartney at her at her flagship store in Mayfair for a one-to-one styling session over tea or cocktails sold for over £5,000 (US$7,00, €6,000).
Norman Foster, Herzog and de Meuron, Ron Arad, Antonio Citterio and Nendo were among the other big-name architects and designers who donated their work for the auction.
“The Design Museum is fortunate to have had the support of so many of the world’s leading designers, architects, artists, collectors and gallerists in making a huge contribution towards the success of the fundraising campaign to open its new on 24 November 2016,” said Deyan Sudjic, director of the museum.
The new-look museum will be housed within the Grade II listed former Commonwealth Institute building, which has been re-constructed by the developer Chelsfield and is being remodeled internally by John Pawson and Willmott Dixon Interiors.
The move will give the museum three times more space than in its current location at Shad Thames, with facilities including three galleries, one of which will be free to enter, alongside learning and event spaces and a restaurant.
The Design Museum – whose directors describe it as “the world's leading museum devoted entirely to contemporary design and architecture” – is an international showcase for designers and varied design typologies from around the world.
Sudjic’s team must now raise a little under £2m (US$2.9m, €2.5m) more to complete the renovations, with a “playful and inclusive” public fundraising campaign scheduled to launch in June. An additional £7m (US$10.1m, €8.9m) will also be sought to create reserves that “safeguard the future of the Design Museum.”
Arts Council England (ACE), the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and museum co-founder, Sir Terence Conran are also providing funding for the museum’s move, which is expected to cost around £80m (US$115.5m, €108.4m) in total.
