Late last year, before being named creative director of Louis Vuitton menswear, Pharrell Williams launched Joopiter, his take on the modern auction house. The superstar musician and producer has been watching episodes of the Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo ; realizing he has multiple storage facilities full of different In addition to the tools that inspire happiness, he realizes that most of them will inspire happiness in others. At the time, he explained that he eschewed established auction houses because he wanted to create something that didn’t just sell stuff but “tell a story”; he would invite friends and other artists to curate their own auctions, and the profits would be Donate to Black Ambition, a nonprofit that awards prizes to entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds.
Today, Joopiter kept its word and announced a new auction in partnership with Sarah Andelman, founder of iconic Parisian store Colette (RIP), who now has consulting and curation Exhibition company Just An idea. The two have been close friends for more than 20 years, and hearing Andelman recall the beginnings of their relationship is a refresher on Williams’ early fashion résumé.
“I think one of the first things we launched together was his Moncler collection, when he designed this camouflage jacket,” she said via Zoom from her Paris studio Said. “It was the beginning of a lot of things for Colette; we did a book signing, we launched his Billionaire Boys Club and Icecream [brand], we launched his Timberland and his first adidas collaboration when he was in There are custom Stan Smiths in the store, each one unique.” The list goes on and on.
“When he started saying maybe we could work together [at the auction],” Andelman recalls, “I said, ‘Look, first impressions are always Your impressions remember’.” Since the first Joopiter auction was Pharrell’s own property, future auctions are expected to be similarly private. “I said, I don’t have anything to sell, but all I can do is bring together different artists and designers for Joopiter.” Launching today, “Just Phriends” brings together Takashi Murakami, KAWS, Futura and Jean Charles de Castelbajac with Louis Rare artwork and specially commissioned pieces from artists like Vuitton and Tiffany, all of which Pharrell has been a frequent collaborator and, yes, sometimes a friend of.
