Pharmacy fittings set for £3m auction sales
Artist Damien Hirst is expected to make more than £3m when the fixtures and fittings he designed for former London restaurant Pharmacy are auctioned in the autumn.
Pharmacy became a trendy hot spot when it opened in 1998. It closed last year after falling out of fashion. Hirst designed everything in the Notting Hill restaurant - from its butterfly paintings to aspirin-shaped bar stools.
His range of objects, totalling more than 140, will go under the hammer at Sotheby's in London on Tuesday 19 October. Oliver Barker, senior director of Sotheby's contemporary art department, said: "The sale will provide an opportunity not just for collectors but people at every level to buy an original piece of artwork by Damien Hirst."
The sale will include 10 butterfly paintings in a range of colours, 11 wall-mounted medicine cabinets and a unique molecular model sculpture worth about £100,000-£150,000.
There will also be crockery, glassware, furniture and ashtrays, all expected to go for between £100 and £150.
In addition to the works from the restaurant, Hirst is donating a 7ft pill painting, which will be sold to benefit Scope, the charity for disabled people.
Hirst said: "I was very disappointed when Pharmacy closed. I think auctioning all the stuff is a great idea, as that way everybody gets a chance to own a piece."