The exhibition pays homage to Pierre Cardin, an extraordinary forerunner of forms and ideas through the design projects that defined the vision of the great couturier in the XNUMXs.
The "Sculptures Utilitaires” are furnishings and lights in which Pierre Cardin, the sculptor of fashion, translates his geometric figures, symmetrical cuts, curves into everyday furnishings.
«I think like a sculptor, I create a shape. It's a process where what matters is the creation of a line that wasn't there before. And it's meant to last.".
From this path, futuristic forms are born that reconcile the techniques of traditional lacquer and cabinet-making with elementary geometries. The innovative intuition of Pierre Cardin it becomes a structure and an aesthetic component.
Pierre Cardin says: «I wanted to give shape to furniture like sculptures that can be looked at from different angles like the bodies I dress». Space furniture, moon lamps, functional objects such as wardrobes, chests of drawers, shelves, are designed from multiple perspectives and their functionality is almost hidden by the lacquered surface.
In the words of Maurice Rheims de l'Académie française «A true evolution takes place in Pierre Cardin's design, where the idea of a piece of furniture gives rise to a sculpted image. Seldom in the decorative arts have we been able to perceive what the craftsman was like
touched by grace".
Pierre Cardin, 1922, of Italian origin and French education, was the first designer to create the prêt-à-porter in 1959 parading from the Printemps department stores; the first to create the fashion collection for men in 1960; the first to go to Japan, China and Russia opening boutiques; the first to apply licenses in the distribution of products that were not just clothing, the first to set up exhibitions and the first to dress every area of life, from glasses to restaurants, from ships to planes.
Deeply attracted by the world of theater and cinema, Cardin worked with Jean Cocteau and Jeanne Moreau, until he opened the Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris in 1970, dedicated to theatre, cinema and dance, and founded the Festival in 2000 Château Lacoste in Provence.
In 2006 he designed Marco Polo's choreography for the Peking Opera. In June 2016 Pierre Cardin produced Dorian Gray at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice and designed the costumes. In November of the same year, the Pierre Cardin fashion show for seventy years of Design took place at the Institut de France in Paris. In spring 2017 he will present the book «Seventy Years of Design» by Jean-Pascal Hesse, Assouline publisher.
Among the many awards, the three Gold Thimbles from Haute-Couture of France in 1977, 1979, 1982; the Legion of Honor in 1982, nomination as Honorary Ambassador by Unesco in 1991 and Member of the Académie des Beaux Arts in 1992, FAO Goodwill Ambassador
in 2009, the Legend Award of the city of New York in 2010, the Golden Lion of the Veneto Region in 2012, the Order of Friendship of the Russian Federation in 2014.
inauguration
Monday 3 April 2017, from 18.00 to 22.00
On show
From Tuesday 4 April to Monday 1 May 2017
Every day, 10.30 – 19.30
Wednesday and Thursday, 10.30 – 21.00
Special openings – Salone del Mobile
from 3 to 9 April 2017, 10.30 – 21.00
