“Pierre Cardin, the aesthete of the future” (Marie-Claire), “Pierre Cardin, the last emperor” (Elle), “Pierre Cardin and the tailor founded an empire” (La Dépêche) … On December 29, 2020 the news of the death of Pierre Cardin spread. The media saluted not only the couturier, but also the career of a businessman with multiple creative facets.
Pierre Cardin (1922-2020) was trained as a tailor in the late 1930s, but soon abandoned his training in favor of haute couture. It is thanks to his futuristic silhouettes and his desire to develop ready-to-wear that he became famous in the 1960s. Abolishing the angles, he elaborates clothes through which the quest for an organic future takes shape. Fashion, far from being a straitjacket for the demiurge of a cellular world, is a starting point. During his life, he extends the spectrum of his creations, he distributes and creates furniture sometimes in series, often custom-made.
To understand this attachment to furniture and architecture, we must go back to the early 1930s. The young Cardin, then 8 years old, designed his first furniture. It wasn’t until the early 1970s that he realized this dream, which he expressed in a manifesto: “When one likes to create forms, it is normal that one day or the other one is interested in the piece of furniture. Why admit, once and for all, that it is the domain of the Italians? In France, there is no lack of designers. It is necessary to give them the opportunity, while ensuring them the means to live. It is not normal that in our time talented artists starve in the general indifference and that the craftsmen are condemned to reproduce indefinitely the same models of chairs, lamps, models of past centuries.
“When one likes to create forms, it is normal that one day or the other one is interested in the piece of furniture. Why admit, once and for all, that it is the domain of the Italians? In France, there is no lack of designers. It is necessary to give them the opportunity, while ensuring them the means to live. It is not normal that in our time talented artists starve in the general indifference and that the craftsmen are condemned to reproduce indefinitely the same models of chairs, lamps, models of past centuries.odèles de chaises, de lampes, des modèles des siècles passés. »
Once this shattering observation was made, Cardin launched into the creation and distribution of furniture. Of course, this is not a question of stylish furniture, or even modern furniture, Cardin is turned towards the future. However, in 1973, after the first oil crisis, the dream of modernity for all gradually fades away, even if some editors and designers remain attached to this utopia.
On October 2, 1979, Pierre Cardin and the editor Hugues Steiner presented the fruit of their collaboration through the “Conception 2000” exhibition. The names of the new ranges presented are an affirmation of the desire to put France back on the world stage of furniture creation: Obelisk, Maxim, Trocadero, Forum, Vendôme. Unfortunately, these new seating collections, far from the totems of the Memphis style, are not necessarily in phase with the emerging creations of the 1980s.
. In parallel with this activity intended for wide distribution, Pierre Cardin devoted himself, from 1977, to a more elitist production through his Évolution gallery on rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré. This space exhibits the creations of Maria Pergay, Yonel Lebovici, Serge Manzon but also his own creations, “These are,” he says, “furniture made of organic cells that, agglomerated together, form a new line. These creations draw by their techniques of manufacture in a past craft, sometimes forgotten, and are projected by their form towards a futuristic imaginary. The Manta cabinet is a testimony of it, the form is then innovative, the colors modern but the technique employed is that, extremely demanding, of the lacquer. Whether it recalls the lacquer panels of the eighteenth century or the creations of the early twentieth century, Jean Dunand or Eileen Gray, this technique is far from the connotation low-end sometimes attached to the furniture of the years 1960-1970. . Here, pop is precious and luxurious.
Although Cardin is a fervent defender of ready-to-wear and of design accessible to all, he remains personally attached to luxurious custom creations. Whether as a tailor at the beginning of his career, then through his creations for furniture, or more spectacularly for his personal residences. The most famous of these is, without a doubt, the Palais Bulle. This monument of excess is originally the second order of the patron Pierre Bernard to the habitologist Antti Lovag. The construction of the Maison Bulle began in 1984, but the patron died before the work was completed. The property was then sold at auction. It was under these conditions that Pierre Cardin acquired the Théoule-sur-Mer palace in 1992. He conceived this place as one of the results of his utopian vision, and thus testifies:
Although Cardin is a fervent defender of ready-to-wear and of design accessible to all, he remains personally attached to luxurious custom creations. Whether as a tailor at the beginning of his career, then through his creations for furniture, or more spectacularly for his personal residences. The most famous of these is, without a doubt, the Palais Bulle. This monument of excess is originally the second order of the patron Pierre Bernard to the habitologist Antti Lovag. The construction of the Maison Bulle began in 1984, but the patron died before the work was completed. The property was then sold at auction. It was under these conditions that Pierre Cardin acquired the Théoule-sur-Mer palace in 1992. He conceived this place as one of the results of his utopian vision, and thus testifies:
“This palace clinging to the rock of the Esterel has become my corner of paradise, its cellular forms have long been the embodiment of the image of my creations. It is a museum where I exhibit the works of contemporary creators.
In this way, he joins Frank Lloyd Wright’s idea that “the most desirable work of art in modern times is a beautiful living room […]”.
This 1200 m² palace is the third of Antti Lovag’s six creations, and undoubtedly the most ambitious. Whether it is during a Dior fashion show orchestrated by Raf Simons or in a video clip by the rapper SCH, this experimental habitat questions as much as it fascinates. Antti Lovag transcends, through his creations, the boundaries between the past, the present and the future. This quasi-troglodyte habitat, today a place of pilgrimage for fashion and architecture enthusiasts, still feeds reflections on the habitat of the future.
Article originally written for Architecture de Collection.