“Pierre Cardin, the aesthete of the future” (Marie-Claire), “Pierre Cardin, the last emperor” (Elle), “Pierre Cardin and the tailor who founded an empire” (La Dépêche)… On December 29, 2020, the news of Pierre Cardin’s death spread. The media hailed not only the couturier, but also the career of a multi-faceted creative businessman;
Pierre Cardin (1922-2020) trained as a tailor at the end of the 1930s, but soon abandoned this training in favour of haute couture. It was thanks to his futuristic silhouettes and his desire to develop ready-to-wear that he became famous in the 1960s. Abolishing angles, he created clothes that reflected his quest for an organic future. Far from being a straitjacket for the demiurge of a cellular world, fashion was a starting point. Over the course of his life, he extended the spectrum of his creations, distributing and creating furniture, sometimes in series, often made to measure.
To understand this attachment to furniture and architecture, we need to go back to the early 1930s. At the age of 8, the young Cardin designed his first pieces of furniture. It wasn’t until the early 1970s that he realized this dream, which he expressed in a manifesto:
“When you like to create shapes, it’s only natural that sooner or later you’ll turn your attention to furniture. Why admit, once and for all, that this is the domain of the Italians? In France, there’s no shortage of designers. But we need to give them the opportunity to do so, while providing them with the means to make a living. It’s not right that, in this day and age, talented artists go hungry in the midst of general indifference, and that craftsmen are condemned to endlessly reproduce the same models of chairs, lamps and models from centuries gone by”.
Pierre Cardin, Cupola armchairs and sofa, Edition Steiner, circa 1979.
Having made this resounding statement, Cardin began creating and distributing furniture. Of course, we’re not talking about stylish or even modern furniture here; Cardin is looking to the future. However, in 1973, after the first oil crisis, the dream of modernity for all began to fade, even though some designers and publishers remained committed to this utopia.
On October 2, 1979, Pierre Cardin and publisher 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 : Obélisque, Maxim, Trocadéro, Forum, Vendôme. Unfortunately, these new seating collections, far removed from the totems of the Memphis style, are not necessarily in phase with the emerging creations of the 1980s.
Parallel to this activity aimed at a 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 exhibited the creations of Maria Pergay, Yonel Lebovici and Serge Manzon, as well as his own creations, “These are,” he declares, “furniture made of organic cells which, agglomerated together, form a new line. These creations draw on their manufacturing techniques from a past, sometimes forgotten, craft, and project themselves through their form towards a futuristic imagination. The Manta cabinet is an example of this, with its innovative form and modern colors, but using the extremely demanding technique of lacquering.
Pierre Cardin, Armoire Manta, circa 1980.
Whether reminiscent of 18th-century lacquer panels or early 20th-century designs by Jean Dunand or Eileen Gray, this technique is a far cry from the low-end connotation sometimes attached to furniture from the 1960s-1970s. Here, pop is precious and luxurious.
Antti Lovag, Palais Bulles, construction 1984-1993.
While Cardin is a fervent advocate of ready-to-wear, and of design accessible to all, he remains personally attached to luxurious bespoke creations. Whether as a tailor at the start of his career, then through his furniture creations, or more spectacularly for his personal residences. The most famous of these is, without doubt, the Palais Bulle. This monument to excess was originally patron Pierre Bernard’s second commission to habitologist Antti Lovag. Work on the Maison bulles began in 1984, but the sponsor died before the project was completed. The property was then auctioned off. It was under these circumstances that Pierre Cardin acquired the Théoule-sur-Mer palace in 1992. He saw it as one of the culmination of his utopian vision, and thus bears witness:
“This palace clinging to the rocks of the Estérel has become my corner of paradise, its cellular forms the embodiment of the image of my creations. It’s a museum in which I exhibit the work of contemporary artists”
In so doing, he echoes Frank Lloyd Wright’s idea that “the most desirable work of art in modern times is a beautiful piece of living space […]”;
This 1200 m² palace is the third of Antti Lovag’s six creations, and undoubtedly his most ambitious. Whether in a Dior fashion show orchestrated by Raf Simons or in a video clip by rapper SCH, this experimental habitat questions as much as it fascinates. Antti Lovag’s creations transcend the boundaries between past, present and future. This quasi-troglodyte habitat, today a place of pilgrimage for fashion and architecture enthusiasts, still nourishes today reflections on a habitat of the future.
Architecture de Collection is today pleased to present for sale Antti Lovag’s ultimate achievement: the Maison Hélène et Christian Roux. Conceived as a prototype for the future of housing, this is the most accomplished creation of the habitologist.
Adrien Jaïs
