Auction house names its top-selling designers in 2008

Marc Newson, Zaha Hadid and Ron Arad are auction house Phillips de Pury & Company’s best-selling designers of 2008.

The auction house has revealed total design sales figures of £5m for June to December for its New York office, while its London arm has yielded £4.6m for the period April to September.

According to a Phillips de Pury spokeswoman, performance has been particularly strong in contemporary design, with sales being driven by Newson, Arad, Hadid, Johanna Grawunder and Jeroen Verhoeven, as well as modern and contemporary ceramics and pavilions by contemporary architects.

Phillips de Pury director Alexander Payne attributes the continued sales to the ‘widening circle of design buyers’. He adds, ‘We are witnessing staying power.’

The auction house concluded its 2008 sales calendar in New York yesterday with a final design sale featuring works by Hadid, Newson, Gio Ponti and Jean Prouvé.

Newson’s Micarta desk, 2006, sold for £131 000, while a rare piece from Ponti – the Important chest of drawers, 1955 – sold for £59 700.