CONTEMPORARY

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• CONTEMPORARY

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PRODUCT DESIGN
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Philippe Starck
Philippe Starck is an Architect, Interior
Designer, Furniture Designer and Designer of
Consumer Goods. He was born in 1949 and grew up
in and around Paris. His father was an
aeronautical engineer. In 1969 he studied
architecture, but only for a year, and on leaving
went to work for the famous fashion house of
Pierre Cardin. During the early 1970s, Starck
worked as an independent designer to no great
acclaim.
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Philippe Starck
He gained some recognition in the late 70s for
the interiors of two Parisian nightclubs and
along with two other designers, the interior of
President Mitterands office, but it was with the
design of a chair that he gained public
recognition. The chair was in an exhibition in
the Victoria Albert Museum where it was seen by
the owner of the Café Costes chain in Paris, who
immediately commissioned him to design the
interiors and furniture for all his cafes. The
chair subsequently sold 40,000 copies.
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Philippe Starck
By the late 1980s Starcks work had been seen in
30 exhibitions in the USA, Japan and Europe and
he had received numerous design awards. He has
worked in a wide variety of design areas, e.g.
toothbrushes for the Company Fluoracil,
televisions for the German Company Telefunken and
the most famous of his consumer goods designs -
the citrus squeezer.
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Costes Chair

• Designed in 1982 by Philippe Starck, the Costes
  Chair is made of an enamelled tubular steel frame
  with bent mahogany-faced plywood back and a
  leather-covered foam seat

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Costes Chair 1982

• The chair was designed with three legs so that
  waiters at the café would trip up only half as
  many times as usual!

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Ara Light Miss Sissi Lamp
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Taps in Peninsula Hotel
Watch
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Juicy Salif Squeezer designed by Philippe Starck
Function this product is used for extracting the
juice of a lemon or orange. To use it you have to
cut your lemon in half and press it down on the
top half of the product. By turning and pressing
down on the lemon, the juice is forced out onto a
series of V-shaped channels which run down the
body of the squeezer to flow off the point at the
base of the body. The product does not separate
the pips from the juice.
This lemon squeezer has achieved cult status with
people buying it just to have one of their own.
It is one of the best known designs of the 20th
Century and is frequently mentioned in books
about contemporary design.
Materials - Cast Aluminium Measures 29cm x 14cm -
Cost 26.95 (2000)
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Juicy Salif Squeezer designed by Philippe Starck
Starck was inspired by the shape of a squid. The
product has three legs which are long like a
squids but look sharper and more angular. The
squeezer looks more like a science fiction
spacecraft than a squid. It is streamlined, as if
built for speed.
The polished surface highlights the ribs on the
body, creating an attractive striped look with
darker tones in the recessed areas.
Starck sees this object more as a small piece of
sculpture than something to use in the kitchen.
The squeezer is made from polished aluminium, but
a later version was produced which had a matt
grey look.
The body is supported by three long tapering
legs. The space between them is where a glass is
placed to collect the juice. At the end of the
legs there are small plastic feet. These stop the
aluminium legs scratching the work surface and
keep the squeezer in one spot when it is being
used.
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ALESSI
In 1993, Italian manufacturers Alessi introduced
their Family Follows Fiction range which used a
mixture of polyamide and stainless steel. Key to
the range was the idea of giving the products
friendly names to encourage a relationship
between the object and the user. The use of
bright, colourful plastic gave the range a
toy-like appeal and Alessi managed to subvert the
notion of plastic being cheap by making it
expensive and exclusive.
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Storage Jar Anna Corkscrew
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Kettle with Bird-Shaped Whistle 1985manufactured
by Alessi
The knob on the lid is exactly in the centre of
the round shape formed by the handle.
The inside of the grip has four uneven dents,
designed to fit the different widths of the
fingers when the kettle is lifted
The kettle has a highly polished stainless steel
surface. An alternative (seen behind) has a
silicone resin matt finish with a yellow whistle
The body is a squat circular cone shape. It was
formed to to accept and maintain a large volume
of water at its base, nearest the flame
Just above the base is a decorative band of
circular domes suggestive of the pattern of
rivets. The rivet pattern is based on a
traditional way of joining metal together. The
shape can be traced back to a traditional iron
kettle which would sit on an open fire. This
kettle sits on a hob. There is no on or off
switch.
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Kettle with Bird-Shaped Whistle 1985
Plastic grip on handle in a pale blue colour. Red
detail like a round bead - same colour as the
whistle.
Whistle sits on the top of the spout. Small
circular vent on either side is where steam
escapes and sound of the whistle is created.
Reminiscent of the Spirit of Ecstasy figure on
the bonnet of a Rolls Royce car.
The handle was not to extend over the pots
side, so it would not be exposed to the direct
heat of the cooking surface
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INTERIOR DESIGN
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Maison Le Moult Le Sphinxdesigned by Philippe
Starck
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Le Sphinx Paris 1987
The house was built for the Le Moult family on a
very small area of land - 5.6m wide by 60m long,
on a small budget. It looks big, but in fact is
quite small.
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Le Sphinx Paris 1987
External staircases extend from the four corners
of the main block, like the arms of a Sphinx, and
lead to small doors - the access to the interior.
Like an Egyptian burial chamber, one first
climbs to then descend into the main living area.
Rooms are spread over three levels, minimalist in
style and open plan. Privacy is obtained by
screen walls.
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Interior of Le Moult House
General Observations This is a contemporary,
minimalist interior, yet the room - a kitchen,
dining and living room in one - looks grand.
There is nothing hanging on the walls, no
bookshelves, no rugs, no cushions and no
ornaments. The emptiness itself makes the room
seem large.
Materials - all materials used are man-made and a
balance of reflective surfaces (like the glass
table top and the stainless steel kitchen) and
surfaces that absorb light (like the concrete
walls). This means that they will take on any
colour at different times of the day (natural
light) or could be affected by coloured electric
light. While daytime could cause a sense of
coldness, yellow electric light would feel warm.
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Interior of Le Moult House
The furniture is simple in shape and looks not
only placed, but sculptural and in general,
uncomfortable. The few pieces are quite far
apart, therefore again there is a sense of
spaciousness. Because they look arranged the eye
is fooled into not noticing the arranged
structure of the room.
Colour - There is very little colour, even when
there is a change in the use of materials - from
the shiny grey of the stainless steel kitchen to
the dull grey of the concrete walls. What does
stand out are the thin black lines of the stair
handrail, chair and sculpture.
Light floods in through the wall that is made
from glass, but also streams through the narrow
space between the pillars. As the ceiling of
this room is higher than the floor of the next
level, this creates an illusion of spaciousness.
There are no obvious lights, and no lamps.
Lighting is recessed into ceilings and walls,
therefore not attracting attention.
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Interior of Le Moult House
The stairs that hug the side walls sweep into the
room creating the feeling of making a grand
entrance, while the curved strip of three steps
that span the whole width of the room serve not
only to create a feeling of width when looking
back up the room, but separate the dining/kitchen
area from the living area.
The two pillars not only support the upper floor,
but add height and grandeur. They frame the
kitchen area making it a focal point (not unlike
a fireplace might in a different room) and the
narrowing of the space makes the room appear
longer.