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THE BEST HOMEs, INTERIORs & DESIGN
SPACES maga z i n e is sue 12
issue 12 MAY/JUNE 2005
the look for your lifestyle
Living on the Edge
May/June 2005 Pierre Cardin & Antti Lovag’s * Maison Bulle * P H O T O S:
Ken
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WORDS: Lynda Clar k translation: Olivier Bassil ÂŁ3.25
MODERN HOMES
by Polygon Publishing Ltd. A ll r ight s re ser ved. Mor e info at spr k s .com
Published
* PIERRE CARDIN * DESERT RETREAT * MOROSO * SURREAL MEXICO *
ISSUE 12 MAY/JUNE 2005
8 SHOPPING
What’s hot in the shops for the eternal shopaholic.
32 Antonio Marras Artistic director of Kenzo and master of Italian avant-garde.
50 PIERRE CARDIN
Quadra 25 Parentesi
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Italian style at its best.
PATRIZIA’S PEOPLE
The story of Patrizia Moroso, the power house behind the name.
36 CONTINENTAL DRIFT
It may look like an alien spacecraft, but it’s top designer Pierre Cardin’s Mediterranean retreat!
ISSUE 12 MAY/JUNE 2005
78 SHIP SONG
This extraordinary house looks ready to set sail at any moment.
84 NEW MEXICAN WAVE Javier Senosiain, one of Mexico’s most influential organic architects.
ANGINA MONOLOGUES 104 MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 108 THE
Where worlds and cultures meet, mix and join together.
How could you possibly live in a house that is 3 m wide?
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THE X FACTOR
The Peruvian desert is not the most obvious place to build a house, but it makes a perfect home.
contents
WORLD OF IT'S 125 AOWN
One of the best spas in the world and if that’s not enough, the architecture is pretty inspiring too!
Just what makes men tick?
128 DIRECTORY
All the contact details from this issue.
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THE END OF THE WORLD
118
STICK TOGETHER
130
Just what would we do if it really
Sculptor extraordinaire, Stickman works with twigs and branches to make works of art.
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Pierre Car WOR din’s DS: Lynd bub aC lark bly PH OTO S: hid Ke nS ea pa rke wa s y
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Maison Bulle has to be one of the most Extraordinary houses on the planet. Sitting on the side of a cliff just outside Nice. The label ‘visionary’ becomes instantly apropos the moment you hear the owner’s name — It is none other than the legendary French fashion designer, Pierre Cardin.
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Driving along a winding coastal road in the South of France, you pass through the glamorous
resorts of Cannes and St Raphael. Continue on, and the road suddenly swings round a sharp bend and there above you is what can only be described as an alien spacecraft, just landed from some unknown planet a few million light-years away. Actually, it is nothing of the sort. What it is, in fact, is the most fabulous, most breathtaking house imaginable. It is an organic house extraordinaire. Begun in 1968 by the Finnish architect Antti Lovag, it is one of those living structures that may never quite be completed. It is the sort of thing with a life and purpose of its own that just keeps on evolving. The design of the house gives a first impression of a series of protruding orbs and bulbs. These initially appear as a series of individual cells and are reminiscent of some prehistoric multicelled creature sheltering itself among a series of magnificent Jurassic rocks. In 1992, Pierre Cardin began searching for a home on the Cote d’Azur. But nothing he was shown had that special quality he required to make something his own. He just couldn’t find the right place or design. The mere prospect of living in one of the usual whitewashed villas that are dotted along the coast was more than he could endure. He needed something original and avant-garde; something which echoed his own personal philosophy and iconoclastic imagination. One day, he chanced across the construction site of a house being built by Antti Lovag for an industrialist. Cardin was instantly fascinated, for here at last was a house that was totally original yet exactly what he had in mind. When the industrialist died suddenly before the house was ready, Cardin, one of the world’s most original haute couture designers, was unexpectedly able to buy his dream home prêt-àporter, so to speak.
sprks.com It was perfect in almost every way. The Maison Bulle is rather like a mirror of much of his own extraordinary work. Remember, it was Cardin that created the bubble dress and the trapeze coat; it was he that used giant buttons and teamed mini skirts with maxi coats and made much of what is now fashion history. He and Lovag became great friends and admirers of each others work. Lovag was born in Russia to a Russian/Jewish father and a Finnish mother. He spent time in Finland and Sweden, but also in Turkey. Indeed, that is where he discovered the curves of Islamic architecture which have featured in his work ever since. Cardin also loves curves. ‘The circle is my symbol: the sphere represents the creation of the world and the mother’s womb. I have always used holes and cones in my designs. The instant I first saw the house, I fell in love with it. It has everything that I truly believe in.’ Actually, the reference to a space craft is not that far fetched. It looks and feels rather like what most of us think a space station
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Here too are the fantastic furniture sculptures designed by Claude Prevost. A grand chair stands in pride of place on its own little stage and looks like it just came off the set of Doctor Who.
s p ac e s ought to. The doors and windows appear almost as much like observatories as they do eyes looking from different perspectives and rooms. Cardin decided to keep the curved theme when he furnished the house. Baths and beds are all circular. Even the swimming pools are round! No wall is flat, and there are no corners or regular lines. There isn’t a right angle in sight, so each room seems to wrap around you and makes you feel totally enclosed. All, it must be said, without the slightest hint of the claustrophobic. The walls are painted a soft pink, a perfect backdrop to the wild furniture and a world class collection of art. The lighting is designed so the colours change according to the time of day. Dominating the main sitting room is a huge oval window with absolutely breathtaking views of the Mediterranean. Smaller portholes look out in various directions, each with its own unique glimpse of the coastline. Here too are the fantastic furniture sculptures designed by Claude Prevost. A grand chair stands in pride of place on its own little stage and looks like it just came off the set of Doctor Who.
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Prevost had made some mural tapestries for Cardin which he loved so much that he asked the artist to design some functional sculptures, taking as his inspiration natural forms like the roots of plants. The results are these organic shaped armchairs and sofas that are nothing short of sensational. Continuous curving corridors, stairs, and tunnels connect the different zones with the small quiet gardens and pools placed in between. The house — although very large — has an exquisite feeling of intimacy. It really does give a sense of a hideaway. It literally makes you want to relax and take some time out. As the house winds around the cliff, you suddenly come across a full-scale outdoor stage with seating for several hundred people. Here events are staged as the spirit moves: previews of films prior to or even during the Cannes Film Festival or even music and theatre festivals. Says Cardin, ‘It’s the perfect setting and we enjoy it at every opportunity we get.’
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When Lovag first envisioned this design, he wanted to adapt the space to create a shell to live in which was beautiful yet also functional. The inside living space should be decisive while the facade is a reflection of the interior soul of the structure. The bubble house is a perfect example of this philosophy.
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When Lovag first envisioned this design, he wanted to adapt the space to create a shell to live in which was beautiful yet also functional. Lovag believes a house must be practical and not merely beautiful. The inside living space should be decisive while the facade is a reflection of the interior soul of the structure. The bubble house is a perfect example of this philosophy. Although Pierre Cardin is based in Paris, he visits as often as he can. ‘This house is a piece of art. It is different from anything that has existed since post-modernism’. Love it or hate it. Many people dismiss the Lovag retreat for Cardin as a space age experiment gone mad. Locals may sometimes refer to it as the ‘Crazy House’ but then they are the ones living in the quite run-of-the-mill whitewashed villas. aren’t they? To say this is a house built before its time is not true at all. It is more accurate to say that it is a house built for all time for a creative legend in his own time.
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It looks and feels rather like what most of us think a space station ought to. The doors and windows appear almost as much like observatories as they do eyes looking from different perspectives and rooms.
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The design of the house gives a first impression of a series of protruding orbs and bulbs.
First published by Spaces magazine in 2007, it may be found online at www.sprks.com/1081/maison-bulle-by-pierre-cardin-and-antti-lovag Photos Š 2007 Ken Sparkes www.sprks.com All rights reserved. For more information, syndication or licence to use, contact ken.sparkes@gmail.com All the words, images and materials are protected by copyright which resides with the individual contributors and may not be used for any purpose without prior permission, so please get in touch! Many thanks to Pierre Cardin and to Olivier Bassil who conducted our interview.