Last December for Art Basel in Miami Beach, La Prairie debuted a new commission by architect Mario Botta. The special project marked the Swiss luxury skincare brand’s second year partnering with the leading contemporary art fair. For La Prairie, Botta created an immersive structure within the brand’s Pavilion in the Collectors Lounge. The full-scale installation was comprised of wooden slates that curve form what he calls, an Archisculpture, meant to be admired from both outside and within. At the heart of the piece is the ultimate pursuit—the search for the origin of life, inspired by the recently release Platinum Rare Cellular Life-Lotion.
In March, La Prairie tapped South Korean artist Chul-Hyun Ahn to create three unique works in the La Prairie Pavilion of the Collectors Lounge at Art Basel in Hong Kong. Inspired by the La Prairie’s dedication to the Science of Light, Ahn explored luminosity, color, and reflection, resulting in the works Transparency, 4 Dots, and Light Drawing.
The La Prairie Pavilion at Art Basel in Hong Kong in 2019.
Chul-Hyun Ahn, courtesy of La Prairie.
Whitewall spoke with Chief Marketing Officer of La Prairie Group Greg Prodromides and CEO Patrick Rasquinet about the brand’s most recent artistic commissions.
WHITEWALL: Can you tell us about how the collaboration with Mario Botta began?
PATRICK RASQUINET: For Art Basel in Miami Beach, La Prairie continued its series of collaborations with Swiss artists using different art mediums. For that edition, we explored architecture for the first time.
Mario Botta’s close affinity with the School of Bauhaus—also the guiding aesthetic of La Prairie—means the collaboration was a natural fit for us. Platinum’s latest creation explores the origin of life to celebrate Haute-Rejuvenation. We sought to isolate and capture the power at the heart of the rejuvenation process. It is this life force that inspired us to enter into this very special artistic collaboration with Mario Botta.
Chul-Hyun Ahn for La Prairie.
WW: In March, La Prairie debuted a collaboration with artist Chul-Hyun Ahn. How did this project showcase the power of light for La Prairie?
GREG PRODROMIDES: Working with Chul-Hyun Ahn was a natural fit on the thematic of light, considering the artist is known and defined as a “Light Sculptor”. Indeed, light is his sole medium of expression: his art pieces are known to combine luminescence, colour and illusion as physical representations of infinite beauty. Within our brand, one collection uses light as its main source of inspiration: White Caviar. This collection is about illuminating and firming the skin, answering to the quest of a luminous skin. Mr Ahn’s works explore the poetics of light as a visual representation of unlimited possibility, enhanced by the science of light; they use simple materials to create beauty.
Courtesy of La Prairie.
