Auction firm Pierre Bergé & Associés (PBA), founded in Paris in 2002, is hiving off part of its Brussels salesroom to create a gallery. The 2,150-square-foot groundfloor space, called simply La Galerie, will stage eight selling shows a year, alternating between contemporary European and postwar American design.

This is the first time an auction house has launched its own permanent design gallery, although some firms, such as the Vienna Dorotheum, do have on-site retail stores for lots that didn’t find buyers at auction. PBA vice president Frédéric Chambre insists that La Galerie “won’t be used to sell off unsold goods or supply stock to the salesroom.”

The contemporary shows will even feature specially commissioned pieces that Chambre vows will never be produced in multiple editions. All items are also available online at pba-auctions.com.

The debut show, which recently closed, comprised 20 quirky designs from the 36-year-old Belgian Arne Quinze, ranging from china vases (€2,500; $3,800) to a bright red wooden model of a futuristic stilt house (€50,000; $76,000). On view this month is furniture by the late Illinois-born designer Edward Wormley, including a a circa 1967 brass and mahogany desk (€15,000; $22,800) and a pair of circa 1958 Janus armchairs (€17,000; $25,800). Next up are the cerebral creations of the Dutch artist Jurgen Bey.

With design sales of €5 million ($6.8 million) in 2007, PBA claims to be one of Europe’s premier auction houses in that category. “No other auctioneers sell design in Belgium,” says Chambre. “The new gallery is a great opportunity for us to boost our dynamic image in Brussels.”

"Grand Design" originally appeared in the May 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's May 2008 Table of Contents.