Philippe Starck- a Design Titan

I’m cheating today. I’m in Spain visiting a friend this weekend and am not in the blogosphere, so I’m re-posting my first blog that I did several years ago. It’s gorgeous here by the way, blue skies, blue ocean, good food…..

I first came across Philippe Starck’s work in Liberty of London. It was 1985.  I had just graduated from my degree studying Furniture and interior design.  I landed my first job at Liberty; an exclusive, luxury department store in the West End.

My boss was Richard Stewart Liberty and a lady called Rosemary Herrmann. Richard was determined to continue the tradition of Liberty being the leading light in design, and so it was.  When I joined, the department was full of modern classics, such as Eileen Gray, Andre Puttman, Pierre Chareau, Mallet Stevens, Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe, contemporary designers such as Ettore Sotsass, Ron Arad, B&B Italia, Mario Botta, and, of course, Philippe Starck.

My first ‘Starck’ love was his Cafe Costes and Pratfall chair, designed in 1984.

The year before, in 1983, he had been comissioned by President Mitterand to refurbish the president’s private apartments at the Élysée, a decision that was seen as symbolising public acknowledgement of design.  One of the pieces he designed was the Pres M dining table.

Philippe Starck was born the son of an aeronautics engineer, in 1949, Paris. His rise was meteroic and instant. His design output was prolific and gradually extended to every area in which design can have its say: furniture, decoration, architecture, street furniture, industry (wind turbine, photo booth, etc.), bathroom fittings, kitchens, floor and wall coverings, lighting, domestic appliances, office equipment (stapler, etc.), utensils (including a juice squeezer and a toothbrush), tableware, clothing, accessories (shoes, eyewear, luggage, watches, etc.) toys, glassware (perfume bottles, mirrors, etc.), graphic design and publishing, even food  and vehicles for land, sea, air and space (bike, motorbike, yacht, plane, etc.) You name it, he designed it.

I, of course had to have the juice squeezer, now an iconic classic.

Through his “democratic campaign” Starck’s mission was to bring well-designed quality objects to the masses and not just the elite few.  I really feel that almost every design trend we have seen for the past 20-30 years has been influenced by him. Philippe Starck is a design genius and maverick.

Teatriz, Madrid, 1990.

Teatriz, Madrid. The loo’s. I went here in 1991 and was blown away by the design.

Baccarat, Moscow, 2008

Baccarat, Moscow, Kitchen. Love the mix of textures and styles.

We all know the Louis Ghost chair.

Yoo, Istanbul.

Yoo, Miami.

Mama Shelter, Paris.

Mama Shelter, Paris

“Arak is a dining chair for energetic people, a home office chair for calm people and an office chair for people who regret not being at home. Because Arak looks like a chair but turns like a spinning top” Philippe Starck.

Miss Ko, 2013, Japan.

Information and images taken from http://www.starck.com and Wikipedia.

Paul Rudolph

My first blog post is about Paul Rudolph, the architect and designer. I only know about him through moving to Florida from London, (yes, I know!) 9 years ago. I’ve always loved modern architecture and we travelled to Sarasota a few times, signed up for mid-century modern tours and went to a couple of Paul Rudolph buildings. Hooked.

Rudolph was one of the leading architects in America in the 50s and 60s. He  moved to Sarasota, Florida and partnered with Ralph Twitchell for four years until he started his own practice in 1951. This part of Rudolph’s life was known as Sarasota Modern.

(Some of the following pic’s are taken by me on the tour, so aren’t the best!) If you like details, you’ll love these.

Cohen House, Interior, Sarasota. Sunken lounge area called a conversation pit-genius.

And now for the iconic glam stuff. Rudolph had an apartment in Beekman House, Manhattan. It’s glam and a bit glitzy, but filled with detail. Checkout the ceiling: reverse conversation pits, the plates recessed into the walls, the glassy ceiling and wall surfaces, all very Hollywood glamour, with a modern twist, and, the colours…