NEW YORK.- Christie’s announced the offering of the first ever design non-fungible token (NFT) auction at a major auction house, presented in partnership with acclaimed designer Misha Kahn. The online auction takes place from August 18-24.
Misha Kahn is a material polymath whose irreverent approach encompasses a wide range of techniques and tools, from lo-fi collage and improvisational molds to virtual reality and robotics. Furniture Unhinged presents 10 NFTs, each comprising a unique 3D model rendered as an FBX file together with a corresponding MP4 single-channel “trophy” video of the object spinning on a pedestal.
Each lot represents an individual frame captured from a 13-second source animation by Kahn, whose biomorphic protagonist morphs through various furniture types and functions within a virtual, off-world architectural space. Kahn is represented by leading design gallery, Friedman Benda.
In a departure from previous NFT-based artworks, the owner of each of the present lots may 3D-print as many physical examples of their FBX as they would like, and/or they may commission one unique, signed example which Kahn will render in a mutually agreed-upon material. The ninth lot, It Must Have Been The Clams, is accompanied in the current sale by such a real-life example, which Kahn rendered in PETG thermoplastic polyester, epoxy, and paint.
Alex Heminway, International Head of Design at Christie’s, said: “Misha Kahn is an electric talent and one of the most finely tuned sensibilities working in design today. That said, ‘design’ and ‘today’ are limiting concepts when thinking of his current work, his capabilities, and his forward march; he is world building for tomorrow.”
Read an interview with Kahn and his partner, journalist Nick Haramis, who discuss the designer’s seamless transition from sculpting in Virtual Reality to developing NFTs, the power of digital versus physical works and the value in living with both.
Misha Kahn has emerged as one of the leading creative voices of his generation of designers. Through a wildly imaginative approach that embraces spontaneity and non-conformity, Kahn allows the illogical and the irreverent to take over his entire process. He employs everything from lo-fi and ad hoc techniques—such as improvisational molds and collage—to high-tech tools such as virtual reality and robotics.
Born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1989, Kahn graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 2011 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Furniture Design. Soon after, he gained recognition when he was featured in the Museum of Arts and Design’s Biennial (2014).
Unafraid to push boundaries, Kahn is determined to question the accepted way of doing things, driving him to self-invent, adapt, and further processes in a myriad of mediums including metalwork, glass, wood, textiles, ceramic, bronze casting, fiberglass, and cement. Voracious to upend traditional techniques, he embraces the opportunity to learn from masters in their respective crafts. Kahn’s acclaimed woven Scrappy series (since 2015), is the result of a collaboration with Gone Rural, a female group of traditional weavers based in Swaziland.
His work has been exhibited internationally and is in the permanent collection of museums such as the Corning Museum of Glass, NY; Dallas Museum of Art, TX; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX and Speed Museum of Art, Louisville, KY. Kahn lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.
