Important 20th Century Design 
3 December 2006
Norman Foster, Great Portland Street desk - Image 1 of 2
Norman Foster, Great Portland Street desk - Image 2 of 2
Important 20th Century Design 
Norman Foster, Great Portland Street desk - Image 1 of 2
Norman Foster, Great Portland Street desk - Image 2 of 2
121

Norman Foster

Great Portland Street desk

Stapleton Engineering Essex
United Kingdom/Italy, 1982
enameled steel and aluminum, glass 53 h × 57 w × 42 d in (135 × 145 × 107 cm)
estimate: $15,000–20,000
result: $16,800
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The Great Portland Street was executed in a very small edition and made exclusively for the Great Portland Street studio of Foster and Partners in London. The same design was used at the Renault distibution center project in 1980-82 and is a predecessor to Foster's Nomos series tables produced by Tecno. This desk combines a high-tech aesthetic with modern functionalism in a reductive structure. This example was in the collection of Christian Wendt, a German architect who worked in Foster's London office in the 1980s.
provenance: Foster & Partners | Christian Wendt, London | Private collection, Holland
literature: Foster Associates: Buildings and Projects 1978-1985, Foster, ppg. 30-35 Norman Foster: Works 2, Foster, ppg. 228-234

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