Why lo-tech Philippe Starck is the ‘Robin Hood’ of design
As the newest restaurant he’s designed opens in Venice, the Frenchman talks mega yachts, why he stays away from fashion, and designing for Xiaomi despite not owning a mobile phone or computer
Philippe Starck is removing the large cardboard sleeve of a Taschen book on Venice that’s on a coffee table in front of him. He looks at the sleeve intently, examining the folds that allow it to envelop the hardback, but also curiously allow the sleeve to stand up by virtue of another fold. “What is this? What is the point of this? This is bad design,” says the French designer.
We are in Venice, in the plush VIP rooms at the recently opened T Fondaco dei Tedeschi by DFS, a few hours before the gala opening of Starck’s latest restaurant design project, Amo. Dressed in his signature jeans, hoodie and sneakers, all in shades of grey and black, Starck is in a boisterous mood despite the long day of interviews, not least because food and restaurants are so close to his heart. “People go to restaurants for special reasons – birthdays, because they are in love, a business deal – and it’s a very good place to give them the opportunity for an experience.”
Advertisement
For the 67-year-old, the experience is more than just the look, feel, taste, touch or smell of something. To achieve that full sensory experience Starck packs his design with triggers. “All of my restaurants are full of magic things, what I call ‘fertile surprises’ and mental games. They are a global experience to open the mind,” says Starck, who has a house on the Venetian island of Burano and has been a “Venetian for 30 years”.
Philippe Starck’s Amo in DFS' new Venice store. Photo: Federico Nero
A collaboration between Starck and Michelin-starred Venetian restaurateurs the Alajmo brothers, Amo is full of surprises. Set in the atrium of a luxury department store, Starck has created a space that plays on Venice’s history, with carnival masks, Murano glass, gondolas and other typical motifs all playfully and tastefully interwoven into the design.
Amo is the latest in a long line of “big” Starck projects that have included Parisian grand palace hotels Le Meurice and Royal Monceau and mega yachts for billionaires.
