PARIS.- A chest of drawers by the star Australian designer Marc Newson has sold at auction in Paris for more than one million euros, more than twice its estimate.

The piece called "Pod of drawers" by the creator who has worked for Apple for the past decade, was bought for 1.019 million euros ($1.1 million) by an Asian buyer, the auction house Artcurial said Tuesday.

Newson, 53, made the shiny aluminium drawers by hand in 1987 while he was at art school having earlier trained as a jeweller.

The creator of the Lockheed Lounge chair has said he was inspired to take up furniture design by the European decorative art magazines his Greek-born grandfather left lying around the house in Sydney.

The piece was inspired by French Art Deco designer Andre Groult's famous body-shaped "Chiffonnier Anthropomorphe", Artcurial said.

"Entirely made by hand, the chest of drawers shows the fusion between European decorative arts and his know-how as an apprentice jeweller," it added in a statement.

Two of Newson's "Pod of drawers", with their trademark curved lines made from aeroplane aluminium, are already on display in major museums, one at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the other at the Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris.

All the lots in its "Heavy Metal, 20 Design Masterpieces" sale were sold, Artcurial said, making a total of 2.7 million euros.


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