Five questions with
Christian Louboutin
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A brilliant, eclectic spirit, Christian Louboutin is the founder of the eponymous footwear brand and a long-time friend of Marie. His relationship with Venice was very much related to our founder: he never visited town without seeing her. This month, we met with the designer and entrepreneur at his penthouse in Paris. A tour of the house – uniquely furnished with a mix and match of styles that mirror the owner’s personality – reveals grotto-style shell mirrors, real and fake leopard taxidermy, the latter made out of paillettes, a massive wood kitchen door sourced in Egypt, a clear glass table with a steel skeleton structure, and more gems that seem to be straight out of a cabinet of curiosities. Overall, this is the perfect background for the glassware selection he curated for our 30th anniversary: a mixed combination of different styles – the Berlingot, the Goto, the Bolle, and the Margherite – “playing with transparency, stripes, and spots.”
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Interview Caterina Capelli
Photos Alessandro Trevisan
Styling Erica Toffanin
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What’s your definition of creativity?
Creativity is to be able to express yourself through different media. In some way, anyone could potentially be creative. The difference between a creative person and someone who’s not is only the fact that the former steps forward and decides to actually believe in themselves and share their creativity with other people. Being creative is always a form of giving; creativity is a bridge between yourself and others.
How could a company have a meaningful, positive impact on society and culture?
Compared to the past, people are way more concerned about a company's values and about how things are done. It’s a new way of thinking. If I purchase one thing, I know that I validate the company, which means that if I disagree with the company or the company’s policy, I will not buy that product. Nowadays, a lot of companies have disappeared because they didn't have values or they had rather negative ones. So the values of a company are definitely very important. It can be tricky sometimes because you don’t just want to create beautiful things; you also want to provide a dream. And how do you provide a dream while at the same time being very concerned? You have to consider which side [of yourself] you want or do not want to expose. With the world being more and more complicated, twisted, and violent the research of true value is something that people want to hang on to.
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Do you have an archive?
Now I do, but I have very little from the first five, six years of my company. I started collecting things and building my archive when I did an exhibition in Paris for my company’s 30th anniversary in 2021. As it was my hometown – this is where I live, where I was born – it was actually very important for me. Showing yourself in your town is completely different than exporting yourself abroad. The exhibition was called Exhibitionist. In French, the word exhibitioniste refers to the “exhibition” but also to someone who unveils themselves. That’s when I started the archive. This made me realize the importance of my first years, even though, at the time, I didn’t keep anything. Now I realize that I could have kept things. But I’m not going to regret it. That’s the way it is. When you start a company, you’re not looking behind. You’re watching the road in front of you.
Marcantonio told me that in early 2000, you started working with Marie on a possible collaboration with Laguna~B, trying to design a shoe with Murano glass components.
Yes, I remember designing the shoe with her, but again, that’s one of the things I didn’t keep. Actually it ended up being a complicated thing to do, because of the technique, and we dropped the project. What I remember of that collaboration is the kind of happy, joyeux regard of the glassblowers, who were trying to avoid looking at her but couldn’t. She was very beautiful, and in the furnace, it was very hot, and she wore dresses that were rather transparent. So when she was working with glass, you could see her body completely. But she was very at ease, and I could see the guys trying not to look at her. Marie was captivating. She was a great dancer; she had this great body language she used to express herself, engaging her entire body when she was talking. She had something quite levantine.
Are you a collector?
No, I don't collect. I actually buy a lot of things, but I’m not a collector in that sense because I’m too eclectic. Collectors specialize in something, into one or two topics. And I’m not that person. I’ve also seen collectors who sometimes sell things to get better items and achieve a better collection. I never did that; I never sold anything. From the smallest to the biggest things that I have, they have the same importance. Also, I don’t care if people like what I, let’s say, collect, while a proper collector is oriented toward the rest of the world.
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Discover Christian's selection
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