Philippe Starck
Philippe Starck, born in 1949 in Paris, attended the Ecole Nissim de Camondo in the same city where he was born. He attended the said institution from 1965 to 1967. Starck served Pierre Cardin as art director. In the 1970s, he designed La Main Bleue and Les Bains Douches. The former was in Montreuil, while the latter was in Paris, where he pursued his goal as an interior decorator (Gray 238). Below is a photo of Starck when he was young, posing for Pierre Cardin: Figure 1 In the next decade, he came up with Starck Products and XO, the latter being a firm for producing different pieces of furniture which he founded with Gerard Mialet.
Francois Mitterand later on talked to Starck to be the designer for the Elysee Palace private apartments in Paris (Gray 238). What made Philippe Starck get into a big break was his design for Cafe Costes. It was in 1984 when he designed this place in Paris, and a lot of people have been more than pleased with the interior design of the cafe. He designed a furniture called the Costes shair in the cafe which made him even more popular, since it was for Driade. It all started in Cafe Costes where he was able to just select any number of popular interior design commissions all over the globe.
These interior design commissions are the most prestigious in the whole world (Gray 238). Apart from all these achievements, he was also the interior decorator of Paramount and Royalton among many other boutique hotels in New York. In 1988, “Ara” was born. Ara is an art work by Starck, which is a metal table lamp that takes the shape of a horn. Today, Ara is known as one Starck’s most prestigious, impressive and successful lamp designs (Burdek 356). In 1990 to 1991, Philippe Starck designed a lemon squeezer and named it Juicy Salif.
It looked like an octopus with extra long legs which he designed for Alessi. He also designed a kettle and named it Hot Bertaa. He is also popular for the seating furniture that he designs, examples of which include Prince Aha, W. W. Stool, Lord Yo, Richard III, Lola Mundo, Von Vogelsang and Dr. Sonderbar (Burdek 356). Below is the kettle Hot Bertaa which Starck designed: Figure 2 Kartell also enjoyed the designs of Starck. With this, the company got Starck to design their line of armchairs and chairs. The name Philippe Starck, today, is indeed a giant name in the world of contemporary design.
The Lucky Strike Designer Award was also given to him in 2004 by Raymond Loewy Foundation. The jury, in fact, talked about Starck and said, “Philippe Starck is probably the most unusual, quirkiest, and most exciting designer of the past twenty years and is likely to be for decades to come (Burdek 356). ” Philippe Starck as Product Designer When it comes to contemporary designs, Philippe Starck does it best. His interior designs have earned him much public recognition. As a product designer and an architect, it is indeed a fact that Philippe Starck has accomplished a lot.
It can also be seen that his works were novelty and fashion-inspired, especially the designs he came up with in the 1980s and the 1990s. While it is true that several individuals considered Starck’s design as “overdesigned”, this is not to say that he never changed. In the 21st century, his designs were different from those that he made durong the 80s and the 90s. His approached dramatically changed, and it was for the better (Design Technology 2). As a designer, Starck believes that integrity and honesty are two values that make designs worthy to look at and make use of.
These two values should be the core of art. He encouraged every designer, and every individual who was planning to design products, to practice integrity and honesty in the workplace. Aside from that, Starck also promotes objectivity in designing, to make certain that the style and form of a designed product is durable, with its fashion that will last long enough (Design Technology 2). Among his many creations are as follows: Figure 3 Philippe Starck, being the son of an aircraft designer, showed love for designing since he was young. It is not surprising, though, since his father was designing aircrafts.
Starck must have gotten his skills from his father. Today, a visit to American and European museums will definitely be a visit to the artworks and designs of Starck. His works are all over New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Tokyo, Kyoto, Dusseldorf, Munich, Rome, Marseille and Paris. his best designs can be found at the Museum of Design in London, Musee des Arts Decoratifs in Paris and the Brooklyn Museum in New York. His words of wisdom say a lot about his art work and the way he does his job, “You create your own decoration. You choose your color, you choose your mood. …
(If) you are depressed, you put some bright yellow and suddenly you are happy (Design Technology 7). ” As a highly accomplished designer, Starck has enjoyed years of receiving the benefits of his hardwork. He has designed hundreds of collections in the world. He was also able to come up with designs for individual furniture which were copied and produced by different firms around the globe. Below is an image of Starck, with his interior decoration as background: Figure 4 Industrial design was also Starck’s forte. In the O. W. O. Series, a lot of objects there were designed by no other than Starck.
He created spectacle frames, doorknobs, computer and vehicles. He made Vitra an office furniture, Decaux an “Urban Fitting”, Vuitton a luggage, Fluocaril a toothbrush, Alessi some kitchen appliances, Glacier some mineral-water bottles, Benetaeu for boats and Panzani for noodles. With all these, it is no wonder Starck has gotten numerous awards and prizes. When asked what his secret was when it comes to the colors he puts on his designs, he said “You spend your evening in your color. The idea is to take things which open (your) mind, that speak to you — the colors speak to you (Metroartwork 8). ”
Philippe Starck as an Architect It cannot be denied that architecture is a special kind of job, where people design buildings and towers that look almost the same. A lot of architects these days design structures for the sake of coming up with a building that’s accurately calculated. They make sure that the building will stay long, so they come up with drawings and lines in blue print as they plan on how to make the buildings last long. Philippe Starck thinks otherwise. Architecture is an ordinary job that produces extra-ordinary products. Starck not only calculates the necessary values needed to build a structure.
He also spends time trying to find ways on how to make a structure captivating and inviting. It is because of this principle why Starck is now a world-renowned architect. The architecture of Philippe Starck can be seen anywhere in the world. He has designed Le Bains Douches nightclub in Paris, France, Starck Club in Dallas, Palais de l’Elysee in Paris, Cafe Costes, as mentioned earlier, in Paris, too, and Restaurant Theatron in Mexico. In 1986, he designed Creeks and Jouet et Cie in Paris (Philippe Starck 3). The following year, he did Lagouiole factory in Lagouiole, Restaurant Manin in Tokyo and Maison Lemoult in Paris.
Other architectural works he did were La Cigale concert space, Cafe Mystiquw, Hotel Royalton, Nani Nani, Agence design agency, Asahi restaurant “La Flamme”, Hotel Paramont, Restaurant Teatriz, Boutique Hugo Boss, Salone Coppola, Le Baron Vert, Groningen Museum (which he designed together with Alessandro Mendini in Holland), Peninsula Hotel, Restaurant Felix, Oyster Bar Hong Kong, Starck House 3, Hotel Delano, Formentera House, Placido Arango Jr. House, Asia de Cuba Restaurant, Hotel Mondrian, Control tower in Bordeaux, France, Ecole Nationale des Arts Decoratifs (ENSAD) and Hotel St. Martins Lane (Philippe Starck 3).
Below is an image of the control tower he designed in the airport in Bordeaux: Figure 5 In 2000, he designed Hotel Hudson in New York, Hotel Sanderson in London, and Chez Bon in Paris. In the following year, he did an architectural design for Hotel Clift in San Francisco. In 2002, it worked on TASCHEN Bookshop which was based in Paris. He designs homes, too (Philippe Starck 3). The image below showcases one of his designs for a condominium at the Yoo Panama Reconstruction Condominiums: Figure 6 Philippe Starck’s Current Project After all that Philippe Starck has achieved, he has not yet found the reason to stop.
Designing is what he does best. In fact, today, he is working on a mega-yacht which he said will be an environmentally-friendly one. Designing this said current project, according to Starck, is “inspired by fish”. The creative individual in Starck knows what a mega-yacht should be all about. Aside from being friendly to nature, he is also designing its revolutionary hull (Winterbottom 8). The revolutionary hull in his new project will prevent having waves even when the mega-yacht is already running at 25 knots. The figure is almost equal to a sports car, which is at its full pelt, at that (Winterbottom 8).
Nazarian, the owner of SBE, explains why he has liked Starck’s work the first moment he set eyes on his designs. “In many ways, Philippe defined what we’ve come to know as the boutique hotel world. He’s had a hand in the creation of so many brands around the globe. He understands our kind of clientele perfectly. Who better than him to define the next generation of boutique hotels, which are more luxury and amenity driven, he said (Wilson 5)? ” On the other hand, Starck knows his craft. It shows as he said, “Today, everybody is full of trends, but I follow only my trends (Wilson 5). ” Figure 7
In conclusion, Philippe Starck has this unmistakable talent in designing that only he, out of all the billions of people in the world, can perfectly do. It is not everyday that people like Philippe Starck is born. In fact, no one who designs like Starck will ever be born in this lifetime. It is not easy to achieve what Starck has achieved. Not all people know what they want to do for a living as they grow old. Starck, on the other hand, knew what he wanted to be when he grows up. He became a designer, and reached his dreams. Because of his awards, he definitely went beyond what he was aiming for.
What makes Philippe Starck’s design unique and memorable is the way he outs his heart into his work. He makes it a point to treat objects like real people. He is a considerate artist and designer, for trying to make himself believe that he is not just designing a kettle, a building, an ahstray or a chair, but an object that deserves color, style, beauty, and of course, life. It is no wonder Philippe Starck easily breathes life to his products and designs. If not for Philippe Starck, the world will definitely look a little more bland and uninteresting. Because of his designs, everything is now more pleasant to look at.
Works Cited Burdek, Bernhard. Design: History, Theory and Practice of Product Design. Birkhauser, 2005. Gray, Susan Kim. Designers on Designers. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2003. Hauffe, Thomas. “Design”. Laurence King Publishing, 1998. “Philippe Starck. ” Design Technology. 2009. 14 April 2009 <http://www. design-technology. org/starck1. htm>. “Philippe Starck. ” Floor Nature. 2009. 14 April 2009. <http://www. floornature. com/articoli/articolo. php? id=30&sez=6>. “Philippe Starck. ” Metroartwork. 2009. 14 April 2009. <http://metroartwork. com/popup_all-artists_info. php? manufacturers_id=186>. Saunders, William.
The New Architectural Pragmatism. Minnesota Press, 2007. Winterbottom, Jo. Designer Starck Wants to Fight the ‘Barbarians. ’ Reuters. 11 July 2007. 14 April 2009 <http://www. reuters. com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSL1183961520070611>. Images: Figure 1: http://www. designboom. com/eng/interview/starck. html Figure 2: https://www. speranzaonline. com/store/prodView. asp? idproduct=3227 Figure 3: http://www. design-technology. org/starck2. htm Figure 4: http://www. hauteliving. com/? s=magic Figure 5: http://www. bordeaux. world-guides. com/bordeaux_travel. html Figure 6: http://www. panamayoo. com/philippe-starck-is-at-it-again
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