JF Chen’s LA Showroom
You can take home items from Tom Ford’s, Tommy Hilfiger’s and Alexander Wang’s favorite antiques dealer next week — if you have the winning bid, that is.
On Feb. 13, Christie’s Rockefeller Center is hosting a live auction presenting the JF Chen Collection. An online component is live now.
In business for 40 years, Joel Chen — whose small Melrose Avenue shop in Los Angeles launched his antiques empire — has become go-to resource for celebrities and fashion houses looking for eclectic, eye-catching antique furnishings and art pieces.
The show in New York City highlights iconic pieces by midcentury and contemporary designers including Dan Johnson, Georges Jouve, Finn Juhl and Hans Wegner.
Interspersed among these noteworthy items will be traditional Asian art, 18th- and 19th-century Chinese furniture, porcelain and ceramic pieces, and Japanese screens. There are 300 lots with estimates on individual items ranging from fewer than $1,000 up to $70,000.
For Christie’s, this is a first in terms of scope: Never before has the company offered a dedicated sale that incorporates such a vast array of objects from different time periods.
JF Chen has even hand-selected renowned interior designer Steven Gambrel to style various vignettes throughout the galleries in an effort to highlight the way the auction items can be integrated into a variety of interiors.
Raised in colonial Hong Kong, Chen was educated in the United Kingdom and L.A., where he fell in love with design and the history behind antiques. His daughter Bianca Chen — former chair of the Decorative Arts and Design Council at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art — has reinvigorated the JF Chen brand by introducing contemporary up-and-comers to the collection. Her focus on emerging names in design brings a fresh new wave of artists and designers like Material Lust, Chuck Moffit and Tanya Aguiniga to JF Chen’s arsenal.
The father-daughter duo is thrilled to be auctioning with a major powerhouse such as Christie’s, whose team could comb through JF Chen’s massive inventory inhabiting their 65,000-square-foot warehouse.
Peruse the JF Chen collection online, and place your live bids from now through the Feb. 13. The live auction will take place on Feb. 13, at Christie’s Rockefeller Center in New York City.
