One of these days in Hye (it’s Francedomestic tour companies usually call this place Hieres), at Villa Noailles started Design Parade (Design Parade). This event has already become an annual event, and I can testify that it has a very special, iridescent atmosphere. It’s not some kind of film festival or something… It’s a design event, which means it’s an event dedicated to beauty.
There you can see the works submitted for the international competition of young designers. And to see things as bizarre and exalted as beautiful and extravagant… The festival has been going on for the fourth year already, and this is a great opportunity for young design geniuses to show their work to venerable craftsmen, and for mere mortals to find out in advance how their vacuum cleaner or , say, a chair, or a juicer that way in twenty years (or maybe tomorrow) …
This year, for example, the jury included such people as Jasper Morrison (one of the gurus of the design avant-garde of our time) and furniture trendsetter Inga Sempe. The motto of the festival this year is “Think global. Act local”… The contestants try to balance between practicality and experimentation (and this is the only way to create something great in this area!).
And Villa Noailles itself is a work of art. Its creator is the architect and designer Robert Malle-Stevans, a classic of Art Nouveau, one of the founders of Art Deco. Perhaps that is why it so happened that the whole history of the villa is somehow connected with innovations in the field of design. In principle, this can be said to be a cult place. They even have their own MySpace page…
The event will last until September 21st. And in all the details about what the Design Parade is, you can read on the blog of this event, here is a detailed FAQ on the topic.
