Hasta La Ideas

France’s Cornette de Saint Cyr auction house is making an interesting move: As of today they’ve expanded their art auctions into a separate category of design, “for emerging colletors who feel priced out of the contemporary art market and see design as a more affordable field,” as the Financial Times puts it.

Marc Newson is one of the better-known modern-day designers with an object on the roster, but we flipped through the 140-page illustrated catalog and found lighting by Massimo Vignelli, objects by Ettore Sottsass, Danish Modern classics from Hans J. Wegner, and more from Patrick Jouin, Arne Jacobsen, the Eameses and more. Most excitingly, “the market for Matali Crasset will be tested” with 21 pieces; you may remember we looked at the quirky designer’s work here. [Ed. Note: We also recently announced that Crasset will be the jury captain for the Furniture & Lighting category of the 2013 Core77 Design Awards.]

The catalog can be viewed online here.

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The crafty types at Etsy are taking their love for collage to the digital realm by scooping up photo collage app Mixel and its team of mobile-savvy stars for an undisclosed sum. Created by designer Khoi Vinh and developer Scott Ostler, Mixel allows users to make, share, and remix collages with results that been described as both “gorgeous” and “highly addictive.” Vinh and his team sensed that they hit on their hands soon after launch. “We see a lot of activity at night, and a lot of activity on Saturday, too,” he said of early usage patterns. “So it’s very different from the Web, which many people will surf during work.”

Etsy is tasking team Team Mixel, which also includes Akiva Leffert and Roy Stanfield, with taking the online marketplace’s mobile platform to the next level. “Mobile visits on Etsy grew 244% in the past year, and right now they represent a steady 25% of visits year round,” noted Etsy creative director Randy Hunt in a blog post announcing the acquisition. “That’s not too shabby, but something quite astounding happened this past holiday season: almost one in three visits came from shoppers on their mobile devices. We expect that trend to accelerate, so doing more with mobile is one of our top priorities in 2013.”

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The fashion world was rather slow to board the digital bandwagon, but we’ve come a long way from conversations about fashion and technology that began and ended with Hussein Chalayan‘s famous table skirt. Now anyone can purchase (and sometimes rent!) last season’s Naeem Khan at a hefty Gilt discount and pre-order next season’s Eddie Borgo baubles (from Moda Operandi), while emerging designers are flourishing everywhere from Etsy and ModCloth to Fab and AHAlife. With New York Fashion Week approaching, Hearst is seizing the app-frenzied moment for a Fashion Hackathon.

Beginning on the morning of Saturday, February 9, participating developers and designers (register here) will get to spend 24 hours coding away in the company’s breathtaking Norman Foster-designed midtown HQ to create “innovative fashion-focused apps and programs on API platforms from sponsors,” which include Hearst brands (your ELLE, your Harper’s Bazaar…), Amazon, Facebook, and Google. The grand prize winner, as determined by a judging panel of Hearst execs, tech industry gurus, and VCs will receive $10,000 and an internship opportunity. Surprise guest appearances–fingers crossed for that table skirt or better yet, a fresh-from-the-shows Glenda Bailey brandishing a tablet–are promised.

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Among Zhukova’s picks are Sebastian Wrong’s “Logger Head” table light and a miniature “Therapeutic Toy” elephant by Renate Müller.

“Design really thrives when it pushes boundaries,” says Dasha Zhukova, founder of the Moscow-based Garage Center for Contemporary Culture. And while she adores edgy furniture, such as Jonathan Muecke‘s primordial carbon fiber and epoxy chair, as a self-described couch potato, she’s also a sucker for a comfortable sofa. Clever and cozy coexist in the 20 unique and limited edition design objects Zhukova has selected for Artsy, the online art hub that recently underwent a hasty rebranding after its Art.sy URL encountered snafus related to tensions in Syria (the country hosts the .sy domain).

“This collection comprises pieces by cutting-edge designers who are experimenting with new materials and manufacturing processes,” says Zhukova, who is an investor in Artsy. “I chose objects that are accessible and functional on one hand, yet conceptually challenging on the other.” All of the works, drawn from leading galleries such as Victor Hunt and R 20th Century, are available for purchase directly from the site. Prices top out at $10,000–a sum that will get you Front Design’s mesmerizing “Surface Tension Lamp” (below), which generates its own ever-changing bulb made of a soap bubble.

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This just in: Print parent F+W Media is shuttering the magazine’s New York City office and laying off the New York-based team: executive editor Mason Currey, editor-in-chief Michael Silverberg, and art director Ben King. Current plans call for F+W to continue publishing Print out of the company’s corporate headquarters in Blue Ash, Ohio, a suburb of Cincinnati. “We’re finishing up the April issue,” Silverberg told us today. “That will take us through early February, and then Print is moving to Cincinnati.”

According to a spokesperson for F+W Media, the Print editorial operation will be merged with that of HOW magazine. “Integrating our Design Community into a single dedicated team is designed to create more synergy between our brands and stronger collaboration between the e-media, e-commerce, events, magazines, and books teams that work on its many and varied products,” said Gary Lynch, group publisher. Former Print editor-in-chief Emily Gordon offered a more succinct assessment of the situation. “It’s the end of an era,” she told us.

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