Borek Sipek Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Bořek Šípek (1949 - 2016) Born in Prague in 1949, he is the most important contemporary Czech architect and designer. At the age of fifteen he was orphaned and at nineteen, having nothing, he emigrated to Germany. Read the full biography

Bořek Šípek (1949 - 2016) Born in Prague in 1949, he is the most important contemporary Czech architect and designer. At the age of fifteen he was orphaned and at nineteen, having nothing, he emigrated to Germany. Before emigrating he had graduated from a secondary school of applied arts in Prague in the field of furniture making. And he really put his studies to good use. Before entering university in Germany, he worked as a cabinetmaker. Thanks to the scholarship he graduated in architecture in Hamburg and in philosophy in Stuttgart. Fascinated by artisanal workmanship, each of his projects represents an exploration into the depths of the most hidden and ancient techniques of working with matter. Borek Sipek's architectural works are world famous and he is recognized as the father of neo-baroque. Šípek's first significant success was a glass house he built for his sister, for which he was awarded the German Architecture Prize in 1984. The world opened up to him and he moved to Amsterdam because he was attracted by the liberal atmosphere of this cosmopolitan city. In the mid-eighties he was contacted by the most prestigious Italian design company Driade. The collaboration with Driade marks the beginning of his dizzying career. He taught design at the universities of Hanover, Essen and then Prague for many years. Since 2005 he has been Dean of the Faculty of Architecture of the Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic. Sipek has been awarded numerous prestigious awards and was declared a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by the French government in 1991.