Looking for Phillipe Starck’s Pratfall armchair? Visit our product catalog and buy a chair at the best price.
Designer and architect Philippe Starck is a great master whose creative life is filled with bright achievements and unique projects. Born on January 18, 1949 in Paris in the family of an aircraft designer, he showed his love for design and drawing from childhood. As a teenager, Philippe decided to study interior design at a prestigious institution in Paris after graduating from the Camondo School.
While still at the age of 18, Philippe Starck founded his own company specializing in creating amazing inflatable objects including installations and even houses. This entrepreneurial initiative was the starting point of his career, attracting the attention of international designers such as Pierre Cardin, who offered him a collaboration.
It took almost a decade before Philippe decided to focus on industrial and interior design, opening his office in the late 70s after a two-year round-the-world trip. This experience was pivotal in shaping his style and prefigured his future work.
In almost every field he touched, Philippe Starck achieved success and fame. He accepted a challenge from representatives of the French President and set about renovating and redesigning the Elysee Palace. His collaboration with Baleri Italia in 1984 and the design of the torch for the Winter Olympics in 1992 only emphasized his talent and skill.
Philippe Starck has become internationally renowned, working in Tokyo, Madrid and New York, and his work is immortalized in the collections of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and the Design Museum in London. In 2008, he was appointed “Artistic Director of the French Presidency of the European Union”.
Philippe Starck continues to inspire the world with his amazing work, creating designer objects, original interiors and buildings. Awards such as Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur underscore his contributions to the world of art and design.
Despite the diversity of his projects, Philippe Starck does not ascribe a specific style to his work. His work is easily recognizable by its technological sophistication, original solutions and irony. Philippe Starck remains an advocate of “affordable” design, offering things that are accessible to the general public.
Pratfall armchair
The Pratfall chair, the result of a successful partnership between Philippe Starck and Driade, is a unique symbol of contemporary design. An integral part of the collection that began with Cafe Costes, it was designed while Stark was restoring the private chambers of the Elysee Palace for François Mitterrand, President of the French Republic.
The essence of Pratfall’s design lies in the principle of maximum economy – not only in materials, but also in energy and space. Philippe Starck’s intervention of removing one of the chair legs resulted in the Cafe Costes chair. This mechanical economy not only gave the chair a refined look, but also led to a practical solution for cafes such as Café Costes, where reducing the opportunities for waiters to stumble reduces the risk of spilling drinks.
However, the Pratfall chair has not only become a symbol of functionality, but has also become a key interior element in the French President’s office. Designed as an exceptionally economical chair on three legs, Pratfall was the catapult to Stark’s fame as a designer. Produced by Driade from 1985 to 2003, the Pratfall chair has become an integral part of modern furniture.
In honor of Pratfall’s continued commercial success, Driade and Philippe Starck himself decided to introduce new finishes to this iconic chair this year. Pratfall was a prime example of the fusion of different functional elements in a single product, where less material and form create more intelligence and maneuverability.
This story of Pratfall is the story of how two different functional aspects came together to create something unique. Inherent in Stark’s philosophy is the pursuit of the minimum to achieve the maximum – less material, shape and thickness for more intelligence and convenience.
Philippe Starck, with his versatile imagination, stays true to his belief that creativity should improve the lives of as many people as possible. Stark’s projects, including Pratfall, are examples of “democratic design” striving for simplicity, accessibility and functionality. Through his work in a variety of design fields, Stark continues to push boundaries and become one of the leading creators in global design.
Looking for Phillipe Starck’s Pratfall armchair? Visit our product catalog and buy a chair at the best price.
