Francois Xavier Lalanne’s Hippopotame Bar fetched $31.4 million, setting a new record for the artist and the highest price ever achieved for a work of design at auction. Courtesy Sotheby's

Several New York auctions earlier this month affirmed that the enduring strength of the design market is fueled not only by the irresistible momentum of Les Lalanne—who continue to set new records each season—but also by a broader, increasingly global appetite for collectible design. According to ArtTactic, the category rose 20.4 percent to $172 million in the first half of 2025, up from $143 million during the same period last year. Despite concerns over new tariffs, early sales at recent dedicated fairs such as Design Miami Paris, Salon Art Design and Design Miami, along with the latest auction results, confirm that collectible design is arguably the most successful category in 2025, driven by a growing and geographically diverse collector base, as well as a steady increase in institutional interest.

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What stands out is that, unlike the highly choreographed fine art auctions, the results here were not engineered through guarantees, irrevocable bids or elaborate staging. Most lots sold within or above estimates without these mechanisms—and in some cases without a reserve—revealing genuinely active international demand across price tiers and periods rather than a strategically manufactured outcome.

Sotheby's inaugural design week at the Met Breuer achieved a total of $58.4 million, with 94 percent of lots sold in the Important Design, Featuring Works from The Schlumberger Collection sale held on December 10, and Dreaming in Glass: Masterworks by Tiffany Studios, featuring works from The Schur Family Collection, the following day, with participants from 40 countries.

The week was headlined by François-Xavier Lalanne’s Hippopotame Bar, which achieved $31.4 million and set a new benchmark for his increasingly high-flying market. The auction totaled $50.2 million—more than double its $23 million high estimate—marking Sotheby’s highest design sale total ever. The Hippopotame Bar, commissioned as a unique piece by the Schlumberger family, inspired a 26-minute bidding battle and ultimately sold for more than three times its $7-10 million estimate, pursued by at least eight international contenders. All Lalanne works sold in a white-glove run, with animated bidding pushing their combined total to $38 million, further cementing the couple’s status as blue-chip pillars of the design-art crossover. These results follow the $18.5 million generated by the September sale of prime Lalanne material from the £73 million Pauline Karpidas collection sold by Sotheby’s in London, where several works reached 15 times their estimates.

Other top lots from the Schlumberger family included two unique pairs of Les Portes du Jardin gates by Claude Lalanne, whose floral and ornamental elegance propelled them far beyond their $350,000 high estimates, selling for $787,400 and $482,600. Claude’s Nénuphars table also exceeded expectations at $571,500, while the unique set of nine Anémone balustrade elements tripled its estimate at $431,800. These results echo the strong market response to Les Lalannes works from the Pauline Karpidas collection, which realized nearly $18.5 million in London in September, with several pieces selling for as much as fifteen times their estimates.

Concurrently, both Alberto and Diego Giacometti continued to attract strong interest from collectors who move fluidly between design and fine art. Alberto Giacometti’s two Osselet floor lamps—offered with copies of correspondence between Diego Giacometti and Anne Schlumberger—more than doubled their $200,000 high estimates, selling for $444,500 and........

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