andree putman

andree putman, internationally acclaimed french designer and interior architect ................................................................................................................

......................... shop .................. competitions .............. education ................ interviews ................... snapshots ................... history .......... contemporary

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andrée putman

parisian, born in 1925, is one of the contemporary world's
leading interior designers.
andrée putman has an eclectic background.
she began to work in the 1960s as a journalist for the design
magazine 'l’oeil' (eye) and to write the column ‘decoration’
in the 'les cahiers de elle' and had a career as a marketing
consultant in the fashion world.
ms. putman may be best known for having assembled a
collection of 20th century modern furnishings to be
reproduced by her firm 'ecart international', founded in 1978
and located in paris' 16th arrondisement.
it is largely through ecart's efforts that pieces by at the time
forgotten designers as eileen gray, mallet-stevens,
pierre chareau, mariano fortuny, rene herbst and jean-michel frank
were re-introduced to the design world.
andrée putman designed the interior of shops for yves st. laurent,
karl lagerfeld, thierry mugler, azzedine alaia, cartier, ebel,
mannequins for barneys, interiors of the concorde for air france.
when ian schrager and steve rubell opened morgans hotel,
designed by ms. putman, in 1984, the notion of the 'boutique hotel'
was born. many hotels followed, among them 'wasserturm'
in cologne and 'pershing hall' hotel in paris.
ms. putman created the film set for peter greenaway’s movie
'the pillow book', the office of jack lang, frances's former minister
of culture; the bordeux museum of contemporary art...
in 1997 she founded a new firm in her own name -
design products carrying her signature encompass furniture,
and home accessories as flatware, silver, crystal, tableware,
textiles, carpets and rugs, towels, sheets ...fragrance.

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http://www.andreeputman.com
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we met andrée putman in london on september 27, 2003.
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what is the best moment of the day?
the morning when I wake up.
I have a vision of what the day will be like.

what kind of music do you listen to at the moment?
all kinds, because I was a musician until I was 20.
my mother was an excellent pianist and I've studied piano at the
paris conservatoire, I've been a student of francis poulenc.
yes, I like philip glass, billie holiday...
I wanted to be billie holiday when I was 12.
I wanted her color too.
color and soul.
(laughs)

do you listen to the radio?
not much.

what books do you have on your bedside table?
proust, a lot, back and forth.
I read constantly, also young writers.

do you read design magazines?
I don't read magazines.

where do you get news from? newspapers?
yes.

do you notice how women are dressing?
do you have any preferences?
I have a very strong feeling about the way people dress.
I think they tell a lot about themselves.

what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing?
there are many things I adore that I would never wear.
and there are ugly things...
I never wear cocktail dresses.

do you have any pets?
no. never had.

when you were a child, did you want to become a designer?
I wanted to be a writer.
still today the dream of my life would be to be a writer.
I like to experience exaltation and love and I'm extremely
interested in human beings,
but nobody has ever read a line of mine.
its a secret.
(smiles)

where do you work on your designs and projects?
I work mostly in my office.
I travel a lot, but in the planes I never read things related
to my work.

who would you like to design something for?
a children's hospital.

do you discuss your work with architects and designers?
I'm not someone with a professional attitude.
I never discuss my work with people.
if somebody likes my work that makes me happy.
that's all.
I don't see many designers either.
(I cannot breath) if you're only in your work,
without other views of people of other fields of art.
I can spend a weekend speeking about coreography.

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describe your style, like a good friend of yours would describe it.
I have always cultivated the rebel spirit, from my early
childhood.
I wanted to empty rooms.
I turned down all the dictates of good taste and elitism.
I avoid decoration for decoration’s sake.

what project has given you the most satisfaction?
those with a perfect balance between discipline and revolt.

what is in your opinion the big design-mistake today ?
minimalism in interior design has become a caricature.
everywhere you find shops or hotels with an ambience that
makes you feel like you are in a refrigerator.

can you describe an evolution in your work from your first projects
to the present day?
I've always worked with the idea of making beautiful things
accessible to everyone.
I disliked the image of luxury linked to money and arrogance.
I started promoting new products in the original manner
of the 1968 cultural revolution. things were ready for changes.
now I enjoy working primarily on space and light, and with
special care taken for the sobriety, naturalness and elegance
of details.
timeless, simple, familiar and non-trendy spaces.

is there any designer and/or architect from the past ,
you appreciate a lot?
frank lloyd wright, he is a great genius.

and those still working?
oh, very few.
I love the work of jean nouvel,
also, I think ingo maurer is a real poet,
because he is active in many different disciplines.
I like people who are able to write and paint...

any advice for the young ?
open their eyes to the many, many disciplines in art.
to be really aware of what is invented now,
in many many fields.
not to ignore people.

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on the news they said that italians are afraid of unemployment,
criminality and pollution. what are you afraid of regarding
the future?
absurdity, pollution, poisonous food.