Last week, our colleagues from Sotheby’s were delighted to welcome clients for an evening in our gallery space to unveil the creation of Belgian design studio to celebrate fifty years of Sotheby's Auction presence in Belgium.
Last January, Sotheby’s and MAD Brussels launched a call for projects on the Brussels design scene, giving a young Belgian designer carte blanche to create a scenography to be displayed throughout the summer in its Avenue Louise window. The jury, made up of Anaïs Carion, Managing Director of MAD Brussels, Dieter Van Den Storm, Artistic Director of MAD Brussels and Gwendolyn Grolig, Director of Contemporary Art at Sotheby’s, was won over by HIER’s proposal, made up of Thea Hallak, Thomas Billas and their team.
HIER has therefore designed a two-metre-high birthday cake with five tiers, each representing a sales department at Sotheby’s and a decade spent in Belgium. With sustainability in mind in a circular approach, all the materials came from donations and loans from Belgian donors such as Thy Marcinelle for the metal, Rotor DC for the glass, Niyona for the leather, Chez Rosi for the Riso printing offcuts and Oxfam for the books and manuscripts. As a result, HIER was able to represent departments such as jewellery and sculptures, wines and spirits, handbags and contemporary art, art on paper and books and manuscripts, as well as design.
To celebrate this unique birthday cake, we poured some RISH petnat and served the best melocakes in town signed by Pépite all produced in Brussels to make it a high end late afternoon tea gathering before leaving for the Summer break entertained by the music of Diplomatic Hosts.
Birthday Cake by HIER can be seen until 31 August at Sotheby’s, 251 avenue Louise, Brussels.
