Los Angeles Modern Auctions (LAMA)

This lot was donated by Christopher Norman with proceeds benefitting Hollyhock House.

Christopher Norman is a Los Angeles-based artist and architect creating formal objects for living. His large-scale wooden artworks begin first as gestural drawings. Spontaneity and hand are critical to his practice. Having worked with his hands his whole life, Norman forgoes computer-aided machinery, instead deploying pre-CNC industrial milling machines. With these devices, he can explore the connections between the body, plant-based materials, and early industrial tools.

Though they deny typical furniture’s legible functional affordances, Norman’s objects are designed to be part of the home, to be touched and used. Referencing fundamental and enduring forms that humans have returned to time and time again, research is at the core of Norman’s practice. He has worked closely with architectural and design partners to integrate his formal objects into thoughtful domestic landscapes, which can be found in residences across Europe and North America.

Norman is a licensed architect and continues to create architectural works. In the past, Norman was the Studio Director at Studio Shamshiri and the director of residential architecture at Commune Design. 

Curated by Dung Ngo, design expert and Editor in Chief of AUGUST, this selection of works will benefit Frank Lloyd Wright’s historic Hollyhock House. Focused on architecture and architectural design, the remarkable range of furnishings, artwork, and objects reflect the vibrant design landscape of Southern California and includes contributions from influential figures and firms including Johnston Marklee, Kulapat Yantrasast, Christopher Norman, Ali Tayar, Edwin Chan, Design, Bitches, West of West, Hiroshi Clark, and more.