Pierre Cardin: the couturier who dressed the interiors

Pierre Cardin (1922-2020) was a fashion pioneer and one of France's greatest couturiers. What is less known is that the Italian-born French businessman also exercised his talent as a furniture designer, starting in the 1970s.Three years before his death, in 2017, on the occasion of the Milan Furniture Fair, Carla Sozzani's Gallery at the 10 Corso Como concept store had presented a retrospective of Pierre Cardin's design creations, for the 1^rst time presented with a selection of iconic Haute Couture models from his famous brand. A beautiful exhibition and a strong tribute to the creative talent of Monsieur Cardin. In this article, we take a look back at the history of designer Pierre Cardin, with a glimpse of his most beautiful creations.

Let's first point out that Pierre Cardin had an early desire to design furniture. What he does in the early 1930s, he is then only 8 years old. It would be 40 years before he realized his first pieces... The sense of form is what fascinates this bulimic creator who readily uses the term design when talking about fashion: Fashion design is so diverse. It has no clear identity as before with Balenciaga, Chanel, Cardin, Courreges.

In the late 1970s, Pierre Cardin collaborated with the publisher Steiner, which launched new ranges of furniture, including many seats with an objective: to put France back in the center of the game in the creation of design furniture. Unfortunately, the various collections created were not as successful as expected, despite the critical success of the press. But the Steiner episode is interesting, because it shows the know-how of Cardin who combines in his creations, luxury, know-how and audacity. The already internationally renowned fashion designer is also very comfortable designing furniture.

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The designer's taste for geometric and futuristic shapes can be seen

Another foray into industrial design not widely known to the general public is his investment in the twin-engine Westwind Jet for the American firm Atlantic Aviation in 1978. Cardin signed the interior design and exterior decoration of the jet. At the time, the designer was among the best-known French personalities in the United States: in 1974, he was the 1st^er couturier to make the cover of Time Magazine, like Raymond Loewy in another era...

Despite the collaboration with Steiner not meeting the brand's expectations, Pierre Cardin would employ his creative genius in another project that would make him a recognized designer with a very distinctive style. Still in the 1970s, he opened his own gallery named Evolution and did what he knew how to do best: a production of haute-couture furniture...

Pierre Cardin thus started his own production of stylish and high-end furniture in 1977. In his gallery, the designer exhibits in particular the creations of Maria Pergay, Yonel Lebovici and Serge Manzon, but also his own achievements. He turns to a more elitist production. Often, the furniture he creates is produced in limited series (between 8 and 10 copies). But to understand the DNA of the maestro's design creations, it is necessary to return to the Cardin style that made his success and fame in the world of haute-couture and ready-to-wear.

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The furniture created by Pierre Cardin is indeed a reflection of what the designer achieved in fashion. To begin with, Pierre Cardin never stopped experimenting to invent the garment of the future. In the 1960s, he drew his inspiration from the conquest of aerospace and created the cosmonaut fashion, with a very pop colored touch. Above all, he pays attention to curves and shapes, he shapes the garment as if it were a real sculpture... He does the same with furniture: he imagines and designs furniture that are real sculptures. He likes to say, It is silly to place a piece of furniture against a wall [...], if my furniture is double-sided, it is to be seen from all angles. From the back as well as the front.

The Cardin style is based on an immoderate love of geometric shapes and curves. His haute-couture designs reveal shapes that build geometric silhouettes based on rounds and triangles, giving the whole a certain sculptural volume. The furniture of the Cardin Line reflects this aesthetic quite well: furniture with geometric shapes and sensual, bold curves that are true sculptures that can be viewed from the front and back, in a very sober style.

For his custom-made furniture, Pierre Cardin invented the Utility Sculptures collection, which designates pieces of furniture with sinuous or geometric sculptural forms, very elegant, with ample volumes and which add to their decorative function that of utility. Thus, Pierre Cardin's sculptures are furniture or accessories of common use: chest of drawers, table, lamp, chair, console, storage cabinet, etc.

What do they have in common? In addition to their sleek and futuristic sculptural form, Pierre Cardin uses precious materials (ebony, macassar, lapis lazuli), he likes to make the surfaces shiny and smooth, which is why many pieces are made of lacquered wood. Pierre Cardin calls upon past arts and crafts such as cabinet making (he is a great connoisseur of Art Nouveau and Art Deco). The colors are vivid, pop with a pronounced taste for green that Cardin designates as the hue of well-being. We also distinguish in some rooms a Japanese influence.

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Since 2007, the Uutilitarian Sculptures have been borrowing heavily from the forms of wildlife. The style has remained the same, pieces that can be considered true works of art. In the book Pierre Cardin, evolution (ed. Flammarion, 2006), the couturier told its author, I wanted to make furniture like sculptures, to be looked at from all angles, like the bodies I dress.

François Boutard

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