Philippe Starck is one of the pioneers of democratic design and a multidisciplinary creator: architecture, interior design, household appliances, office equipment, urban furniture, transportation... Since the 1980s, the French designer, to whom we owe more than 10,000 creations, has multiplied his projects throughout the world.
The first Frenchman to be invited to participate in the famous TED conferences, Philippe Starck is an inventor, artistic director, architect, designer... and has had the same credo since the beginning: creation must make life better for as many people as possible.
A humanist approach that, more globally, is part of a democratic ecology approach: solar boats, intelligent thermostat, innovative prefabricated wooden house.... His creations are always respectful of the double human and natural heritage.
Seeking more in less, creating "good" places and objects before they are beautiful, or engaging in positive degrowth are all motivations guiding the creativity of this citizen of the world who, for more than 40 years now, has given birth to many iconic objects.
Political, ethical, subversive, ecological, humorous:
this is the idea I have of my duty as a designer.
The Brut Nature wine embodies the alliance between Man and Nature that Phillipe Starck is sensitive to. In 2006, Louis Roederer asked him to design and dress the bottle and label of its first vintage based on 4 key words: honest, minimal, diagonal and modern. An adventure continued in 2009 and in 2012 with 2 vintages of Pinots Noirs, a white and a rosé, each time proposing a refined and minimalist design.
In the same category of goods that awaken the senses, the designer has also created the perfume Peau d'Amour (skin on love). The bottle is engraved with a poem (specially written by him), feminine sensuality is represented by a vibrant red on the packaging and an elegant calligraphy draws attention to this bottle inviting to fall in love.
A 14-story hotel with a typical 18th century Alsatian house at the top. This is the crazy project that the city of Metz has entrusted to Philippe Starck who, from a bare plot of land, has imagined a habitable work of art. In the heart of the new Amphitheater District, the future Maison Heler Metz (199 rooms, a terrace and a garden, a gym...) will offer an unobstructed view of the entire city in a surreal and poetic spirit.
In 2010, it was to revitalize a mythical place that the designer intervened in the Arcachon basin. The corniche, a former hunting lodge from the 1930s located near the famous Dune of Pilat, has been redesigned in the manner of an oyster farm. Carpets with lines from Victor Hugo's "The Man Who Laughs", sculptures "placed there by chance", a large Murano chandelier or collages (of photos, postcards, drawings... as if taken from a travel diary) elegantly dress this neo-Basque house, which exudes a great sweetness of life.
From everyday products (like his famous citrus press) to intensely lively places, Philippe Starck's talent embellishes everything in his path and pushes back, again and again, the limits and criteria of contemporary creation. To learn more about him or his work, visit this site.
Valerie from Comme des Français
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Let's stay in the contemporary creation with these other articles :
- The greatest architect of today
- A world famous glass sculptor
- The Villa Cavrois
Photo credits: 1. Portrait Philippe Starck ©James Bort / 2. Portrait Philippe Starck ©JB Mondino / 3. Starck Biotech Paris - Titanium Collection / 4. Brut Nature 2012 - Starck x Roederer / 5. Maison Heler / 6. Restaurant de La Co(o)rniche ©Nicolas Anetson
