Cultured Magazine

Winter 2012

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GeorgeLi GeorgeLindehmannCulturedMiamiDec_Layout 1 11/20/12 2:38 PM Page 100 Collectors of high-end design seem to find themselves faced with the unavoidable choice: practicality or preservation? There are buyers for whom a gilded fiberglass chair by Wendell Castle is meant for sitting, and there are those who would keep a piece by the American designer a safe distance from damaging forces (unknowing guests, children) or, better yet, tucked away in storage forever. The Miami-based collector George Lindemann would put himself firmly in the former category. He can't imagine living with a chair he wouldn't use or having a desk he'd be reluctant to work at. "If you speak to the designers, they wouldn't be thrilled with that," he says of the tendency to look but not touch. "Designers want their furniture to be used." And so one imagines that Castle, along with Ron Arad, Maria Pergay, Marc Newson and Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec, would be delighted by the Lindemann household—whose interiors were designed by Austin Harrelson—where their creations are very much part of everyday life. Although the chairs and credenzas may be functional objects whose users include four young children, that doesn't mean they're ordinary. Lindemann's collection skews toward sculptural, art-driven designs that make the functional aspects of furniture seem secondary. There are many of Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne's bronzes, including a pair of elephant side tables, an alligator chair and a delicate tree branch chandelier with tiny butterflies and birds. Take, for example, Jean-Michel Othoniel's fanciful aluminum bed frame adorned with blue and red Murano glass orbs and flanked by a pair of matching marble-fronted nightstands. Lindemann owns a number of Mattia Bonetti's unapologetically baroque pieces, most notably a massive, cast-bronze dining table in shimmering candy colors and 12 pinkand-green gilded Louis XVI chairs. That playful use of materials is visible elsewhere in the collection, from the felt and fabric rolls of Fernando and Humberto Campana's Sushi chair to Pergay's witty Drape cabinets, where thin sheets of stainless steel are peeled back from the doors and "affixed" with giant safety pins. "George doesn't follow trends," says Evan Snyderman of R Gallery in New York, who has been working with Lindemann as a client since around 2003. "He buys things that are definitely more on the challenging side, and he's not afraid to take risks, which is really refreshing." Lindemann starting looking seriously at design about 12 years ago. At the time, he was already a seasoned buyer of blue-chip artworks by the likes of Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, Ugo Rondinone and Anish Kapoor. "I realized there was another avenue of collectible work that could multitask," he says. "I could collect contemporary culture and sit on it as well." And besides, he had a house to decorate. He counts as his first major acquisition a sleek Marc Newson Black Hole desk, its orange glass surface echoing the shape of a steam iron. Lindemann bought that about 10 years ago, and since then he has built an impressive portfolio. Along with Pergay, Newson, Arad et al, there are seminal works by the classic American woodworkers George Nakashima, Wharton Esherick and Castle; iconic postmodern pieces like Shiro Kuramata's clear acrylic Miss Blanche chair; and examples by design stars of the 2000s, including Dutch favorite Marcel Wanders and British minimalist Jasper Morrison. Not to be overshadowed by the furniture are numerous smaller objects, such as studio glass by Richard Marquis, nature-inspired decorative pieces by Michele Oka Doner, and abstract ceramic vessels and plates by Peter Voulkos. That commingling of fine art and craft is part of what makes Lindemann's collection unique, says Snyderman: "Very few people make that crossover." Soon Lindemann and his family will be moving into a new house that's under construction in Miami. Does that mean his collection will expand? "I buy and sell all the time," he says, noting that early that day he had purchased two Vouklas ceramic works from an online sale at Rago. "My taste is always changing." And so has the growing design market. The steady rise in prices has forced him to carefully consider before he buys. "It's much harder to justify a purchase in support of an artistic endeavor than it was when I first started collecting." Now that some of what he owns has gotten more valuable and desirable, however, "It just makes me appreciate the sitting experience more." 100 CULTURED George Lindemann with a Wendell Castle coffee table and chairs; an untitled work by Anselm Reyle is on the wall.

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