Philippe Patrick Starck (born January 18, 1949, Paris) is a French product designer and probably the best known designer in the New Design style. His designs range from spectacular interior designs to mass produced consumer goods such as toothbrushes, chairs, and even houses.
He was educated in Paris at École Nissim de Camondo and in 1968, he founded his first design firm, which specialized in inflatable objects. In 1969, he became art director of his firm along with Pierre Cardin.
Starck's career started to climb in earnest in 1982 when he designed the interior for the private apartments of the French President François Mitterrand.
Starck has worked independently as an interior designer and as a product designer since 1975. Most notably, in 2002, he created a number of relatively inexpensive product designs for the large American retailer Target Stores.
His most recent notable designs include an optical mouse for Microsoft, yachts, and even new packaging for a beer company. He was commissioned to design the Virgin Galactic "spaceport" in New Mexico (Foster and Partners are its architects).
He made the exihibt Democratic Ecology with Pramac.
In autumn 2009 Starck appeared in a BBC 2 programme 'Design for Life' in which 12 aspiring design students competed to gain a six month placement with Starck's Paris based company.
Design
Unlike most other New Design artists, Starck's work does not concentrate on the creation of provocative and expensive single pieces. Instead, his product designs are of usable household items which Starck himself helps to market for mass production. His products and furnishings are often stylized, streamlined and organic in their look and are also constructed using unusual combinations of materials (such as glass and stone, plastic and aluminum, plush fabric and chrome, etc.).
Products
Two of Starck's designs include stylized toothbrushes (1989) and a sleek juicer dubbed the Juicy Salif created for Alessi in 1990. The Juicy Salif has become an affordable and popular cult item. In 2004 he designed the first toothbrush sanitizer for the Yonkers, NY based company VIOlight which won the 2005 Industrial Design Excellence Award. In 2008 he created wireless speakers for the iPod and iPhone : Parrot Zikmu.
Furnishings
Regarding Starck's furniture designs, he is famous for his designs for the Italian manufacturer Kartell, many of which are made from polycarbonate plastic. World famous products he has designed include the transparent Louis Ghost chair, Ero|S| chair, Bubble Club sofa, and La Bohème stool. He has also been involved in the relaunch of the World War II-era Navy Chair in the U.S., designing a classic furniture collection around it.
The Bubble Club chair is featured prominently in the television series Boston Legal. A pair sit on the balcony outside Denny Crane's office, where he and Alan Shore end each episode with a cigar and a glass of Scotch while discussing the events of the episode.
Starck's furniture has been featured at Pinkberry locations.
Restaurant interiors
Among his interior designs for restaurants, Starck designed the Felix restaurant-bar at the The Peninsula Hong Kong, a classic hotel facing the Hong Kong harbour on the Kowloon side. This design, located on the 28th floor, is known for several design features including the men's washroom, which features urinals facing glass, and a spectacular view of the Kowloon cityscape.[8][9]
An earlier design by Starck, now world famous, was for the Café Costes in Paris (1984).
Hotel interiors
In 1988, Starck was commissioned by famed nightclub impresario Ian Schrager, former co-owner of Studio 54, to refit the Royalton Hotel on New York's West 44th Street. It was a design moment that has since changed the hotel industry; boutique hotels, where design is an important factor, became the industry buzz. However the Schrager hotels are also known for their celebrity and publicity orientations that attract attention to the hotels.
The Starck-Schrager design hotel partnerships continued in New York at the Paramount hotel, and then spread to Miami with the opening of the Delano Hotel in South Beach in 1995, to Los Angeles with the Mondrian Hotel in December 1996, to London with both the St. Martins Lane hotel in 1999 and the Sanderson hotel in 2000, to San Francisco and the Clift hotel, and finally back to New York with the Hudson hotel, with what is described as "Cheap Chic".
The look and feel of Starck-Schrager hotels has been highly influential, including the approaches at Starwood's W hotels.
Starck also designed Jia, the first Philippe Starck-designed boutique hotel in Asia.
From 2007 until 2022, Starck is under an exclusive contract with nightclub mogul Sam Nazarian to design Nazarian's new hotel brand, SLS Hotels. The first property, SLS Los Angeles at Beverly Hills (a massive renovation of the former Le Méridien At Beverly Hills), was opened on October 28, 2008, and was entirely designed by Starck. The hotel lobby features unique Starck-designed display cases presenting rotating design items curated by gallerist Murray Moss.
From December 2007, Philippe Starck and his daughter Ara were involved in the redecoration of public areas at Le Meurice, Paris.
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