VIENNA.- From rare or unique objects, prototypes or fine furniture and objects of the 20th century – the Dorotheum design auction on 2nd November 2017 has something to offer every kind of design fan.

The auction looks right back to the beginnings of modern design in the early 1900s with tables and chairs from the Café Museum designed by Adolf Loos, along with his Dodecahedra lamps (€ 15,000 – 20,000, € 20,000 – 25,000), which have lost nothing of their contemporary quality. This is also true of designs such as Ettore Sottsas' “Vienna“ series (€ 5,000 – 7,000). Two armchairs by Otto Prutscher, designed for a residence in Brno and first presented at the 1914 Werkbundausstellung, might easily be mistaken for architectural elements rather than furniture, while two other armchairs and a rare table lamp by Adolf Loos were once part of one of his carefully balance interiors (€ 22,000 – 34,000, € 40,000 – 50,000).

Austrian and German furniture of the 1920s and 30s has a prominent presence with quality pre-diaspora pieces by artists and intellectuals such as Oskar Wlach, Oskar Strnad, Marcel Kammerer, Josef Frank, Margarethe Schütte-Lihotzky or Bruno Paul.

Looking to the 1950s, we have items by Oswald Haertl, who contributes not only a large chandelier, but also an imposing cocktail cabinet which is a unique and very detailed piece (€ 20,000 – 30,000)

Combining space age fantasies with the once exotic appeal of the television during the fifties, the “Kuba Komet“ sound furniture was designed exactly 60 years ago by the German designer Gerhard Kubetschek, who equipped it with the latest technology of his day. A charming fossil in the age of the internet. (€ 10,000 – 15,000).

Reflecting a contemporary digital spirit is a 1963 kinetic lamp by Gaetano Pesce (7,000 - 10,000 Euro), or the timelessly 'organic' brass lamps with stylised leaves by Tommaso Barbi (e.g. floor lamp € 8,500 – 14,000). Scandinavian design is represented by, among others, two bowlegged pieces of furniture by Danish design enfant terrible Hans J. Wegner (each € 3,000 – 5,000). Top French design is featured with several table lamps by Serge Mouille, a small table by Jean Prouvé, and a state of the art “Cansado-Sideboard“ by Charlotte Perriand (€ 5,500 - 8,000, € 3,000 - 5,000, € 7,500 – 12,000).

No design auction would be complete without some designs by Zaha Hadid: the auction features her racy Woosh-Sofa, as well as one of the famous architect's most unusual works, a 2.5 m long shape glass element from the 2007 “Hungerburg“ rail in Innsbruck. According to Zaha Hadid, she was inspired by the ice-, glacier-, and snow landscapes of the region (€ 20,000 – 30,000).

Two unique Austrian items occupy a position at the cross-roads of art and design. Oswald Oberhuber's 1987 cabinet, estimated at 10,000 to 16,000 Euros, and Hans Hollein's 1990 floor lamp for Zentralsparkasse Bank (€ 7,000 – 10,000).