Germain, Paris
Philippe Starck
L'Esprit De La Forêt
Ketabi Bourdet"Subversive, ethical, visionary, political, humorous, poetic: this is my idea of my duty as a creator." —Philippe Starck A career rich in 10,000 creations – completed or in progress, an international reputation and a tireless protean inventiveness should not make us forget the essential, Philippe Starck has a mission, a vision: that creation, whatever form it takes, makes life better for the greatest number. This eminently political and poetic, rebellious and benevolent, pragmatic and subversive duty, Starck strongly asserts that it should be shared by all and sums it up with the humor that has accompanied his approach since its beginnings: "No one is obliged to be a genius, but everyone is obliged to participate." In the eyes of this accomplished global citizen, sharing his ethical and humanist vision of a more egalitarian planet is a duty, if not a moral imperative, which gives rise to unconventional projects, full of fertile surprises. It's easy to guess his line of conduct: an object must be good and useful, before being beautiful. His early vigilance for ecological implications, his deep understanding of contemporary mutations, his enthusiasm for imagining new lifestyles and alternative solutions, his determination to change the world, his commitment to positive regression, his love of ideas, his concern to defend the intelligence of the useful – and the usefulness of intelligence – have carried him from iconic creation to iconic creation. From everyday products such as furniture or a lemon squeezer to revolutionary mega-yachts, hotels aspiring to be stimulating, phantasmagorical and intensely alive places, to technological miracles such as the individual wind turbine, the electric car and the spatial habitation module, he has never ceased to push back the limits and criteria of contemporary design. It is as a true visionary that he puts this art of innovation at the service of democratic design and ecology, focused on action and respectful of the dual human and natural heritage, notably with Elise by Starck - a civic and solidarity recycling bin, Zartan - the first fully recycled rotomolded chair, as well as the PATH houses - high-tech, modular and accessible prefabricated habitats - which recently attest to the sustainability of this approach initiated in 1994 with the prefabricated wooden house offered in kit form by the 3 Suisses catalog. Anticipating the phenomena of convergence and dematerialization that are coming, Philippe Starck aims at the heart, underlines the essential, extracts the structural minimum from each object, in order to offer creations and proposals closest to Man and Nature, best suited to the future, such as the Sailing Yacht A - symbol of minimal elegance, the Parrot helmets, the Aeklys by Starck ring and the Baliston by Starck shoes, intelligent and connected.