Örnsbergsauktionen at Stockholm Design Week

If you live in Chicago, and you’re interested in buying the self-produced, often prototypical work of today’s younger design generation, you might head to Sam Vinz and Claire Warner’s pop-up Volume Gallery, or maybe to Wright auction house. If you’re in New York or London, it’s Phillips de Pury. But Stockholm? “We really didn’t have a place like this,” says Fredrik Paulsen, a young Swedish designer, RCA grad, and co-creator of the Örnsbergsauktionen, a self-produced auction of 48 unique contemporary items launching this Friday in conjunction with Stockholm Design Week. In Sweden, says Paulsen, people are willing to pay through the nose for vintage Scandinavian design — “which is charming and will age well, but is still mass-produced secondhand stuff!” he says — or for contemporary manufactured goods, but the market for independently produced work remains quite slim. “We realized we had to stop moaning and do something about it ourselves.” Paulsen, along with Konstfack design grads Simon Klenell and Kristoffer Sundin, began work on the project last November; since then, the three have gathered a lust-worthy array of prototypes, editions, and one-offs, ranging in starting prices from nearly $3,000 for a bronze cabinet by Folkform all the way down to 1 Swedish krona for the glass and wood gavel the trio produced especially for the event.

But why an auction rather than a pop-up shop, or some other ephemeral retail experience? “Auctions are fun!” says Paulsen. “But it also raises questions about the economic reality for both makers and buyers. Friday night when the auction starts, a microcosm of the market economy valuation of design objects will take place between Örnsbergsauktionens four walls.” Though the event is open to collectors around the world, bids must be placed before 6PM Swedish time on Friday, February 10 to info@ornsbergsauktionen.se. Scroll through to preview the goods, and click here to download the entire catalog.

Folkform
BRONZE CANDLE COLLAGE (2012)
Designer: Folkform
Status: Unique
Starting price: 2,900 SEK
Clemence_Seilles
AUTHENTIC SOURCES ARMCHAIR (2011)
Designer: Clemence Seilles
Starting price: 3,000 SEK
glass_hill
ÖRNSBERG (2012)
Designer: Glass Hill
Status: First prototype
Starting price: 4,000 SEK
Julian_2
PIXEL MOULD VASE (2011)
Designer: Julian Bond
Status: Unique
Starting price: 1,500 SEK
Fredrik_Paulsen
EASY CHAIR (2012)
Designer: Fredrik Paulsen (Cushion by Karin Gille)
Status: Signed prototype
Starting price: 3,500 SEK
Gustaf_Nordenskiold
MILKY, INK (2010)
Designer: Gustaf Nordenskiöld
Status: Unique
Starting price: 4,000 SEK
Kakan_Hermansson
VASE (2012)
Designer: Kakan Hermansson
Status: Unique
Starting price: 1,000 SEK
TAF
TROTTERS (2012)
Designer: TAF
Status: Prototype
Starting price: 14,000 SEK
Uglycute
HÄRMAPAN (2012)
Designer: Uglycute
Status: Unique
Starting price: 2,500 SEK
Simon
BLOW (2011)
Designer: Simon Klenell
Status: Unique
Starting price: 5,000 SEK
Peter_Andersson
SURFACE (2008)
Designer: Peter Andersson
Status: Unique
Starting price: 9,000 SEK