Auction 1265 on Friday 16th May 2025

When designer and architect Eileen Gray designed her dream house and interior almost exactly one hundred years ago, she wanted the opposite of celebrity. She planned to realise her own
ideas in order to create a house on the Côte d'Azur entirely for herself. The result was the Villa E.1027, one of the most famous ensembles of modernism. The side table from the villa is still one of the most successful and frequently copied designs today. The prototype of this interior design icon will be auctioned at Lempertz in Cologne on 16 May.

It was meant to be a house of her own. With the villa E.1027, built between 1926 and 1929, Eileen Gray wanted to create a entirely private, personalised space. However, the architecture of the building and the design of the furnishings were too good for her to keep to herself. Gray's partner Jean Badovici was not only an architect, but also the editor of the magazine L'Architecture Vivante. The fact that he recognised the quality of Gray's work and disseminated it speaks for his creative vision, but it also led to the end of their relationship. E.1027 was no longer a private retreat, but a meeting place for prominent artists from Badovici's circle. This included some of the most famous of his contemporaries, such as Fernand Léger and Le Corbusier, whose idea of the living machine Eileen Gray viewed with great skepticism. She eventually went on to build a second house. The interior of the first, however, contained multiple pieces that had a defining influence on the design of the 1920s. These included a leather armchair that was auctioned in 2009 for 21.9 million euros, a record price for a design object, and the side table that bears the name of the villa: E.1027.

Made of tubular chrome and glass and equipped with features such as a height adjustment option, this design set new standards in the 1920s. Aram Designs was granted the licence to produce this piece of furniture by Eileen Gray in 1973. The example from 1976 which is now in the Museum of Modern Art in New York also originates from this company. The prototype for this important piece of design history will be auctioned in Cologne on 16 May.

This first example passed from Eileen Gray herself into the possession of a friend: the painter Prunella Clough. It was later owned by the filmmaker Peter Adam, who also made a documentary about Eileen Gray.

Interest in the designer and architect has increased in recent times. Just last year, the documentary ‘A Woman's Retreat: Eileen Gray's House by the Sea’ by Swiss director Beatrice Minger was released. The prototype for the E.1027 table was exhibited in the major retrospective on Eileen Gray at the Centre Pompidou in 2013 and was part of an exhibition at the Irish Museum of Modern Art from October 2013 to January 2014.

On 16 May, this style-defining piece will be sold in the Decorative Arts auction at Lempertz in Cologne with an estimated price of € 150,000 to € 200,000.

I would be happy to answer any questions and provide print-ready images.

With kind regards,

Jan Bykowski
Press and Public Relations
info@lempertz.com
Tel. 0221 925729 -57