Reflections, aspirations, and insights - we delve into the inner thoughts of Head of 20th Century Design John Black...
Reflections, aspirations, and insights - we delve into the inner thoughts of Head of 20th Century Design John Black...

John Black | Head of 20th Century Design
Your favourite object and why?
My iPhone – it keeps me up to date with emails it gets me to my appointments, takes better photos than any other camera. It’s dependable and I can turn it off when I want!
If money was no object what would you collect?
I’d be divorced before I bought my second Rothko.
What was your most surprising find of 2020?
Every week brings surprises, everyday new challenges – I’m surprised and absorbed by everything!
What are your go-to resources for research?
I can only thank many collections worldwide who have digitised theirs – the VAM in particular, helps me on many occasions finding a design or an object.
What's been 2020's strangest request?
Hannah, my wife, asking me to stop bringing things home that I had to buy from one of our auctions… strange isn’t it?
johnblack@sworder.co.uk | 01279 817778
As we commemorate fifty years since Alvar Aalto’s death, we are honoured to present further works by the designer in our forthcoming Design auction, taking place on 27 October.
21 September 2026
We are excited to bring a particularly rare piece of Murano glass to auction. This daring example of Dino Martens’s work will be offered on Tuesday 13 October in The Glass Sale.
18 September 2026
Here, close friend, art historian and former Senior Curator of Modern British Art at Tate, Andrew Wilson, offers an insight into James Birch’s remarkable collection and the extraordinary life behind it. Having known James since the late 1980s, Andrew has witnessed first-hand his restless curiosity, his friendships with artists and his instinct for the unusual.
15 September 2026