ITS A WRAP - ARTIST CRISTO'S LAST PROJECT REALIZED -THE ARC DE TRIOMPHE
Michou (me) in Paris for the Wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe
Welcome to our ONLINE STORE and blog.
As a home product and lighting design company every week we take you behind the scenes to the people places and things that inspire us. This week we are in Paris for the Maison & Objet Home Show as well as Art Paris Week along with the wrapping of the Arc de Triomphe.
Artist Cristo standing in front of his rendition
Thomas and I are so gifted to be able to travel to the best cities in the world for work. Not only was he in Venice, Italy , I happened to be in Paris at the right time. After both Thomas and I had been to almost all of the Cristo projects together and separately I was lucky enough to be able to see this last project realized in person.
Being Wrapped
Why would anyone conceal something that was built to be seen — and which most people would consider too big to wrap?
Like so many of the projects of Christo (1935-2020) and his wife, Jeanne-Claude (1935-2009), wrapping the Arc de Triomphe was an impressive logistical feat. Much of the media attention has understandably focused on the scale of the project (270,000 square feet of polypropylene fabric, shimmery gray to match the zinc roofs of Paris; almost 1.9 miles of red rope).
The number of workers involved (1,200), the technical challenges (protecting the arch’s sculptural reliefs and nesting falcons), the bureaucratic impediments and the delays caused by environmental concerns and then covid-19.
The Technicians
But logistics are logistics. Once you have said “wow,” there’s little left to add. In the end, we’re talking about a work of art, not a bridge or a tunnel, so it’s more interesting to wonder what it means — to you, to me, to the people of France — to wrap the world’s most famous triumphal arch in pleated fabric. What does “L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped” evoke? What emotions does it stir?
Its a Wrap
Beauty, unquestionably, is part of it. To convert something as solid and sturdy as the Arc de Triomphe into a gently billowing, pleated wrap, like a Greek gown cinched at the waist, is an act of useless — and splendid — beauty.
Me (Michou) at the Rooftop Bar of Hotel Raphael
To view our last visit to one of Cristo's installations click this LINK.
Have a great weekend !
Michou
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Alessandra
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