Philippe Starck, the French Genius of Design

What is the work according to Philippe Starck? It is starting with the minimum and target the center of the subject, without turning around it. It is a taste for basics, it is being required to do stuff we shouldn’t do and finally, the result is really good. Philippe Starck is the french genius of design. Let’s travel on his 40 years career, admire his work and discover what are his new projects.

The origins

Philippe Starck studied at Nissim de Camondo, a private school of Artdéco located next to Montparnasse in Paris. At only 20 years old, in 1969, he becomes the Art director of Pierre Cardin, and design furnitures for him. In 1976, he design the bar “La main Bleue” at Montreuil and “Les bains douches” in 1978 at Paris. Starck is then, an unknown artist. In 1979, he launch his agency Ubik and will become famous and recognized thanks to the French president François Mitterand that ask him to re invente the private flat of the presidential palace, the Elysée. From that event, the artist will never stop between the design of building or simple daily objects. Starck is engage in the defence of the environment and his creation breath humanism.

What’s new?

The Brach Hotel in Paris

The first main event this spring is the opening of the hotel Brach in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The new hotel will be located between plenty of iconic places, the Eiffel tower, the Trocadero, the Passy market and the Bois de Boulogne. Philippe Starck was nominated for the entire design of the 59 rooms and suites, the restaurant, the cocktail bar, the sport club, the spa and the two swimming pools. The hotel is think as a fresh air source on the middle of Paris with a design inspired from the 30’s, a lot of vegetation, mainly on the rooftop with the vegetable garden and with light and balanced food at the restaurant.

Where to find the Brach Paris?

1-7 rue Jean Richepin
37-39 rue de la Pompe
Paris 16ème,
France
+33 1 44 30 10 00

The Maison Heler

When you can’t decide yourself between a house and a flat, you make like Philippe Starck and you build your house on the top of a building. This project seems completly crazy but it will open during the year 2019 in Metz in the north of France, thanks to the collaboration of the designer, the mayor of the city, the Hilton group and the co-founder of the Maison Heler. With a project cost of 22.5 million of euros, 14 floors and 119 rooms, the new hotel will be the first luxury hotel to open since a long time in the region. Inside the house, 40m above the floor, Philippe Starck will create a restaurant and a lounge bar, a sport room and a private meeting room.

Quadri Restaurant, Venezia

The Quadri restaurant, next to the Piazza San Marco in Venezia was falling in darkness when the two heir brothers Massimiliano and Raffaele Alajmo decided to call Philippe Starck to give it a second youth. The place, born in 1775 also needed to support the come and back of the water during the high water season when certain spaces in Venice are completly under water. The 19th century decoration was kept and restored by local craftmen and the foot of the tables and chair are in brass to support the aqua alta. The restaurant is, since this year, ready to welcome visitors.

Where to find the Quadri Ristorante?

Piazza San Marco, 121
30124 Venezia (VE)
Italy

The Best works

Since, Philippe Starck saw his career launched in the 80’s, he never stopped and let his imagination create extraordinary pieces all around the world. Let’s start with the USA where he re designed plenty of hotels, as the Delona in Miami, the Mondrian in LA, the Hudson in New York or the Clift in San Fransisco. In Hong Kong, he creates the Felix rooftop restaurant for the Hotel Peninsula and he imagines the Saint Martin’s Lane in 1999 in London. The Ecole Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs of Paris, the Bordeaux airport or the two restaurants Bon and Bon 2 in France are also a part of his work.

Starck didn’t only worked on buildings or Hotels around the world, he also wanted to create an accessible and easy design. For that he launched a partnership in 1998 with the catalog La Redoute on which one he sold the chair “l’indispensable non-produit” for a more massive market. In the same way, he created the juicer Juicy Salif, an industrial design piece in 1990. This object, not really usefull to press lemon, was exposed on several museum as the Museum of modern art of New York. In 2004, Starck receive the Raymond Loewy Foundation Lucky Stricke Designer Award for his life career, among what this Juicy Salif.