Welcome to "STARCKphan." Explore a visual design encyclopedia of projects by today's foremost+famous+ infamous+renowned+vilified designer+architect+intellect: Philippe Starck. He is one of the most prolific and versatile designers and entertaining personalities of our era.
Whenever one encounters an object or a place designed by Philippe Starck, an enveloping world of theater, drama, surprise - perhaps even confusion - is entered.
Since the 1970's, this unique and confounding architect, interior designer, product and object designer - and yes, intellect - has been a part of our daily lives by creating unconventional objects and places, which purpose is to be "good" before being beautiful. Starck creates iconic environments that remove a "cultural tribe" out of themselves and toward something hopefully better... but most definitely new.
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Born in Paris in 1949, the son of an aircraft designer, Starck maintains that he spent his childhood under his father's drawing boards, sawing, cutting, gluing and sanding, and dismantling bikes and motorcycles.
Starting in the mid-sixties, Starck attended the Ecole Nissim de Camondo in Paris, set up his first company in 1968 to produce inflatable objects, outfitted the Paris night-clubs La Main Bleue and Les Bains-Douches in the 70's... when in 1982, French President Mitterand truly launched Starck's famed career by commissioning him to decorate a private apartment in the Elysée palace in Paris.
In 1988 Starck obtained a commission by famous and convicted nightclub owner Ian Schrager of “Studio 54” to refit the Royalton Hotel on New York’s East 44th Street. This is the design project that changed the hotel industry -- and was my first introduction to Starck's work. Starck had seemingly invented the "boutique hotel," where the lobby itself is a destination for guests, the local in-crowd, and savoir-faire-seeking tourists... where design is the main idea.
This partnership continued in New York City at the “Paramount,” then spreading to LA at the “Mondrian,” Miami and the “Delano,” London with “St. Martins Lane” and the “Sanderson,” San Francisco with the “Clift,” and once again to New York City at the “Hudson” Hotel. These projects by Starck were especially important in energizing his career.
Philippe Starck has become perhaps the most famous and prolific designer in our time (like Raymond Loewy of mid-century fame). Starck has achieved a phenomenal international reputation for hotel interiors and condominium projects, furniture design and domestic products... lamps, door handles, cutlery, kettles, vases, clocks, scooters, motorcycles, boats, desks, beds, toothbrushes, baths, toilets… in short, the products and spaces of our whole life.
The "STARCKphan" goal is to provide an in-depth visual repository of Monsieur Starck's work.
➤ The "STARCKphan" website is a personal hobbyist effort and resource and is not in any way (other than in admiration) affiliated with Philippe Starck or his official website "Starck.com"