Dior by Starck

Dior by Starck

AT THE 2023 SALONE DEL MOBILE IN MILAN, DIOR MAISON and Philippe Starck continued their collaboration by presenting a complete collection of timelessly elegant furniture, including the Monsieur Dior armchair. Marie Audran explores the secrets and genesis of this exceptional alliance.

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On a balmy week in late April, crowds flocked to the Palazzo Citterio, an eighteenth-century palazzo hidden in the heart of Milan’s bustling Via Brera, the vibrant artery of the Salone del Mobile. For that perpetually inspiring event, Dior unveiled Philippe Starck’s exclusive new creations for the House, including Monsieur Dior: an irresistible armchair that revisits the iconic Medallion and was conceived as a follow-up to the celebrated architect’s Miss Dior chair, which debuted at last year’s edition of the Salone.

Like a poetic carrousel, an enchanting merry-go-round, the scenography – designed with the collective Soundwalk¹ – highlighted the essence of the emblematic Medallion’s curves through a game of levitation, a swirl of music, rhythm and videos composed specially for this gravity-defying installation. A hypnotic display that further extended the discovery of a family of couture furniture called Dior by Starck².

In an exclusive interview with Dior Magazine, Philippe Starck reveals what went on behind the scenes in the course of his (total) carte blanche.

1. Music by Soundwalk Collective. Voices: Fanny Mulay Winter, Youka Snell, Joanna Deborah Bussinger, Larissa Tsevi-Unterdörfer, Douglas Pisterman, Fernando Morales, Noah Slee, Simone Ferrante.
Strings: Davis West, Lucas Sanchez, Marie Langlamet, Wolf Hassinger. Conducting and arranging for string quartet: Zacharias Falkenberg. Additional arrangement: Aurélien Rivière.

2. The new Dior by Starck collection will be available in a selection of Dior boutiques starting in 2024, as well as by special order at all of the House’s stores.

MARIE AUDRAN: What was the inspiration for this second collaboration with Dior?

PHILIPPE STARCK: After Miss Dior, it seemed natural to expand the “family” with Monsieur Dior, this new, unprecedented armchair. We started with the Miss, Catherine, Christian Dior’s sister, and then this second creative dialogue continued logically, with the brother, Monsieur Dior, the founding couturier of the house of Dior, the origin of everything. I realized that gravity was at the heart of this encounter with Dior – gravity which, according to Einstein, is the only thing that really exists. It’s that force that holds us down to earth. The Miss Dior chair is made of poetic lightness. When it walks, it dances. When it runs, it flies. The Monsieur Dior chair, on the other hand, is very “held in place” like an anchored incarnation of reality.

MA: These two creations are also perfectly balanced through elemental, existential notions…

PS: Yin and yang! At the centre is this magnificent paradox: making the most of less to give the most of more. Empty being more powerful than full. A way for me to increasingly explore my passion for Asian cultures, where the object is described by what “surrounds” it. Miss Dior and Monsieur Dior, Catherine and Christian, the sister and the brother, the chair and the armchair, lightness combined with gravity, the story of two humans in their sublime complementary duality.

MA: That gave rise to a larger, extremely comfortable armchair, as if purity were enveloped with (even greater) softness.

PS: The comfort of what I design is primordial, intrinsic. If I created uncomfortable furniture, I would be a sculptor (not an engineer). I’m very proud to be in a profession like mine, where it’s about mixing ergonomics, inspiration, semiology and functionality. All the more so for an armchair, which is a place where you can forget yourself, forget your body, dream… Within its minimalism, the comfort here is real and astounding.

“Miss Dior and Monsieur Dior, Catherine and Christian, the sister and the brother, the chair and the armchair, lightness combined with gravity, the story of two humans in their sublime complementary duality.”

– Philippe Starck

MA: With this collection, you’ve signed the most complete set of furniture ever made for Dior…

PS: It’s a couture furniture collection, enhanced by very helpful little brothers and sisters, like a side table – always useful for putting a book or a tray – and stools, all extremely elegant. Then there are the tables, the maternal element – where we are fed – gathering us all at mealtimes, like a queen mother. There are round and oval tables… an evocation of Madeleine, Christian Dior’s mother, a gardening enthusiast who could be imagined arranging a bunch of flowers on the dinner table.

MA: The notion of timeless modernity traverses the entire collection…

PS: Beyond the iconic oval of the Louis XVI Medallion chair, these objects are modern creations that slot into our contemporary lives. The nobility of materials is at the heart of everything, from stone to copper. There is nothing fake and very little covering; we do not lie. You get what you see!

MA: In addition to the aluminium you favour, other materials enhance this “couture family”, like the pink copper you’ve called “pure fantasy, tenderness...”

PS: Aluminium is the starting point from which everything is built, the idea of intelligence and purity of technology. The object as it is in its origin, its essence. Additionally, the depth of black – which punctuates the toile de Jouy in particular – is enchanting: it is not a colour but a non-existence, a quintessence of disappearance. As for the fabrics, I love them all, but I have a preference, in my proud femininity, for the pale pink toile de Jouy on a white background, with its delicately antiquated, patinated freshness. The fluorescent orange toile de Jouy, with its punk side, evokes the role of couture against boredom. As for the bouclette, it is hyper-comfortable, personifying the power of softness when it is cold outside. It is the friend who wraps their arms around you. The chenille piping is a little phantasmagoria in itself, a little folly that makes the great follies of couture.

MA: How would you describe your creative process?

PS: It happens in our collective memory, then it is synthesized in a brain that is projected into the human hand: a sheet of paper and a pencil, a totally artisanal system from the beginning. Then we turn to industrial engineers, who are themselves artisans, working with extreme vigilance. An incredibly talented artisan will adjust the different parts of the mould, using small files, day after day, with infinite meticulousness, until there are no “intervals” (spaces) or discrepancies between them. It is an alchemy of trades in which vision, memory, creativity, artisanship, handiwork, engineering, industry and the magic of detail are combined and harmonized.

MA: What does the figure of Monsieur Dior evoke for you?

PS : In Christian Dior, there is this perfect balance, both solid and subtle, between masculinity and femininity. As I see it, that is the secret of the longevity and importance of his work. When you are yourself, in the right place, you can only be solid and last. This is how I wanted to make an ultra-technological but also totally graceful chair. I was again inspired by this gracefulness, poise, the way couture falls. In couture, one of the most important things is how things fall: “It falls well.” These are concepts that constantly appeal to me.

MA: Monsieur Dior spoke of “fall” in a conference given at the Sorbonne in 1955: “It is not meaningless to speak of the architecture of a dress. A dress is constructed, and it is constructed according to the direction of the fabrics. It is the secret of couture, and it is a secret that depends on the first architectural law: that of the obedience to gravity. The fall of a fabric – and the line, the balance of a dress – results from this fall.” In what way is this project for Dior unique?

PS: Dior gave me total carte blanche, which today is incredibly rare. The result is a product that is totally Dior, and at the same time very personal. The evocation of an ancestral silhouette linked to heritage does not preclude total independence of spirit: I worked with the greatest freedom. I think that when you want to create an object that makes you happy, it is essential that each actor is happy at each stage, from the artisan to the sales representative. That elegance of living, that relational intelligence, is crucial. And that is what has been happening since the beginning of my collaboration with Dior.

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