When two of France’s greatest design names come together to create a furniture collection, how could it not live up to Philippe Starck’s desire to combine the best of the past and the best of the future?
Photography by Till Janz
Words by Alia Akkam
Christian Dior’s Medallion chair, distinguished by its graceful oval-shaped back, is at once minimalist and regal, as much a symbol of the fashion house as the Lady Dior handbag and Bar Jacket.
It celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2022, the same year that the madcap French designer Philippe Starck reimagined the icon in splendid combinations like black aluminium and toile de jouy as the Miss Dior, an ode to Christian’s younger sister, Catherine.
The Dior by Starck couture furniture collection has since evolved – and regaled attendees who caught a glimpse of it at Salone del Mobile this year with the addition of the Monsieur Dior armchair as well as a slew of stools and dining, coffee, bistro and side tables that beckon with their sleek metal silhouettes.
Below, Starck shares some of the inspirations and approaches taken for this imaginative collaboration with the French heritage label.
Photography by Adrien Dirand
Alia Akkam: What was your goal when you began this design journey with Dior?
Philippe Starck: I always have the same process. It’s to find the centre of the target – the heart, the bone, the spine, the reason to exist – and how to do it at the very minimum to be sure that we can guarantee the elegance of minimum.
The elegance of minimum is the only way to guarantee timeless and longevity – two modern ecological concepts. Timeless is never trendy. Longevity – there is no reason to put it in the garbage because it’s broken. That is the idea that drives Miss Dior.
AA: Lightweight Miss Dior forms an organic dialogue with Monsieur Dior, your sturdy armchair iteration of the Medallion. What did you want to convey with this piece?
PS: When I extended the collection with Monsieur Dior, we spoke with gravity. We have not put on more weight – absolutely not, never, because everything which is not used is toxic and useless – but the design by itself and the way you sit on it, it’s gravity. The Miss Dior is sparkling, non-stop in the air, and the Monsieur is grounded on the floor, an old man.
AA: You were greatly influenced by Dior’s family on this project, including the dining table that pays tribute to his mother, Madeleine. How else does this theme manifest?
PS: I wanted to express the idea of the mother feeding all the faces of the family. It’s a big table, but it’s very gracious. The small stools are the children because the different colours of metal – pink, silver, gold and bronze – and the different ways to do it, with it or without a pillow, with different piping, means everyone has their own personality. For me, the only acceptable trend is the individual freedom to recognise and to choose and to do what you are. I want people to find what they need, what they are.
Photography by Till Janz
AA: A reverence for timelessness guided this collection. Why is this characteristic so important to you?
PS: The centre of design is humanity and the effect the product will have on the person who lives with it. That’s why a product is good and not only beautiful. I don’t care about beauty because beauty is not timeless. Today we think it’s beautiful, tomorrow we think the contrary, after tomorrow, we think it’s beautiful. To be timeless you have to take the best of the past and the best of the future. We have the best of the past, the intuition of Christian Dior, and the best of the future, incredible engineering.
AA: While working with Dior, what impressed you most?
PS: Dior is a timeless brand and it’s not possible to make something which will last six months or one year. First, I hate that. Two, I think it’s bad and it’s not Dior. It’s the first time there is a fashion brand that succeeds in furniture because before mainly all the other brands have made trendy products. This is the first time it’s the right direction. Trends are contrary to ecology.
AA: How did your personal connection to the Medallion inform your designs?
PS: My grandmother was very elegant, and she had a beautiful, French apartment and at this time everything was Louis XVI. There was a Medallion with a white linen slipcover when I was small, and I was living night and day under this seat. That’s why it’s very sentimental. Everything with me is hyper organic. I work mainly with my subconsciousness. After, there is the professional work, where I am an engineer, an intuitive, sentimental engineer.
The Medallion chair by Dior and Philippe Starck is available to order now, and will be delivered in September 2024
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