A Shiro Kuramata Miss Blanche (1989) has set a new auction record for the desirable chairs.
One of 56 created, it led a Sotheby's November 4 design sale in London, achieving £269,000 ($414,986). This equates to an increase of 34.5% on a £200,000 ($308,540) estimate.
 Shiro Kuramata's Miss Blanche chair was inspired by the play A Streetcar Named Desire |
The model is named after Blanche DuBouis, a character in Tennessee Williams' 1947 play A Streetcar Named Desire.
The auction house explains: "The technicalities involved in the production of 'Miss Blanche' were complex: the design required that each artificial rose be held in place for extended periods of time until the resin had hardened sufficiently.
"Experiments with natural roses were conducted, but the flowers would burn up in the acrylic resin, prompting a serendipitous moment when Kuramata decided... it has to be fake [materials] because Blanche Dubois is a fake.'"
Harry Bertoia's Dandelion (1966) sold for £245,000 ($377,962).
It achieved a 63.3% increase on a £150,000 ($226,927) estimate.
Bertoia was an important Italian-American artist best known for his kinetic sound-sculptures. The present lot is unusual as it remains static, but is designed to appear as if in motion.
The record for a Bertoia is $578,500, set for a work titled Screen Tree in 2012.
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