Axel Einar Hjorth, Carl-Axel Acking and Märta Måås-Fjetterström were some design stars whose work appeared at Bukowskis in Stockholm on Tuesday. The first day of Bukowski's live Modern Art + Design auction offered sensational sales, including a couple of new world records.
Among many sought-after design objects was Bengt Ruda's unusual armchair Cavelli. The armchair, which according to Ikea's archive was manufactured in only five copies, sold for the impressive sum of SEK 190,000 ($18,899). The final price broke the previous world record set when a copy sold for SEK 151,000 ($17,427) in the autumn of 2021.
"Since Ikea’s Åke armchair from the 1950s was confused with the former Danish predecessor Clam Chair and cost £50,000 at international design dealers a few years ago, interest has only increased for IKEA’s furniture produced during the twentieth century," says Pontus Silfverstolpe, co-founder of Barnebys.
See also: Future Antiques Hiding in Our Homes
After designing furniture for Nordiska Kompaniet's Triva series in the 1940s and '50s, Bengt Ruda started working at Ikea in 1957. Early on, Ikea managed to attract some very talented designers who, together with Ingvar Kamprad, furnished Sweden and then the world. Ruda was the first trained designer to be hired, which meant that he got an important role at the Swedish furniture company. In 1958-59, Ruda designed the Cavelli model, which is one of the most progressive that Ikea presented in terms of groundbreaking aesthetics.
In Ikea's catalogue from 1958, the description reads: “Here, a confident designer has put his hand to the bold construction. Cavelli is a very extreme armchair: why not dare to have the 1963 lines already in 1959?... No effort has been spared, no cost has been spared to make Cavelli an aristocrat in the world of the 60s..."
See also: Ikea's Sources of Inspiration
"The Cavelli chair is today considered a collector's item and has become a hard currency at auction," said Pontus Silfverstolpe, co-founder of Barnebys. "It would not surprise me if in time it ends up in one of the world's major design museums."
"This spring's design auction was Bukowski's largest and most comprehensive ever, which attracted the largest [number of] collectors worldwide...", says Eva Seeman, responsible specialist for design & modern crafts at Bukowskis.
It was not only Bengt Ruda's Cavelli that drew great interest, but also Josef Frank's unique cabinet Plan de Paris à vol d'oiseau, which set a new world record for both the designer and Bukowskis when it sold for SEK 3,613,759 ($359,455).
