A few days ago a personal exhibition of the work of French photographer Baudouin was opened in Paris, at the Galerie Clementine De La Ferronière. His shots of Parisian women in their homes are very famous and they were recently published in a book (75 Parisiennes (ed. Snoeck, 36 euro).
I like to write about this exhibition because I appreciate the way in which the photographer uses interiors: like sets for a story, emotional stages that support the personalities who inhabit them. We are miles away from the coldness and stiffness of so many “designed” environments, pictured in catalogues. When looking at these pictures, we immediately wonder about the details that we see in the homes because the impression is that of a place that is rather than one that aspires to be. It is an effect that very few furniture catalogue are ever able to convey.
So I came to think that just like in fashion an ever increasing number of brands prefer to show themselves through movies (see here the lastest chapter of Women’s Tales by Miu Miu, the short film presented in Venice It’s Getting Late), also the “other part of made in Italy”, that is to say that of design and furniture could really earn a lot by betting on storytelling. After all, this is exactly what a successful and extremely forward thinking company such as Vitra has done with its Vitra Fiction
- 75 Parisiennes di Baudouin
