Castelbajac shares design philosophy

Jean-Charles de Castelbajac

By Yun Suh-young

French designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac spoke of his design philosophy and career to a Korean audience last Thursday, as part of a lecture series offered by the Daesan Foundation.

The foundation, which is owned by Kyobo Life, offers a monthly lecture series on various liberal arts topics.

Castelbajac, who visited Seoul in March to exhibit the installation artwork "King of Signs" around the statue of King Sejong in Gwanghwamun, central Seoul, made another visit late last month to speak at the lecture prepared as part of a year-long event to celebrate the 130th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and France.

"What is important in doing creative work is to not follow the trends," said Castelbajac, showing the audience samples of his garments.

"It's important to create your own work and create your own style. Because style is what lasts, not trends," he said.

His lecture was a combination of a PowerPoint presentation showing his portfolio and past projects and a hands-on explanation using his actual works. Castelbajac had brought a large travel bag filled with garments and fashion accessories he designed and personal items he is fond of to show the audience.

His past works were more ideology-based, exemplified by items such as a T-shirt with phrases from Jean Cocteau's literature. His later works are explorations of color, especially the three primary colors of red, yellow and blue. Castelbajac only uses primary colors these days, avoiding pastels.

The designer also recalled his experiences creating robes for the Vatican. He is the first and only designer to design a robe for a pope.

"I designed the robe of Pope John Paul II. I am the only designer to ever design the robe of a pope. Michelangelo was once known to have offered to create one, but was denied by the Vatican," said Castelbajac.

"I felt honored and even more overwhelmed after knowing that he was later named a saint. So now I designed a robe for a saint!"

His design for the Vatican was an arrangement of crosses in rainbow colors symbolizing the unity of humanity.

"I, who had once designed a scandalous jean called 'Jesus' and was heavily criticized by the Vatican, ended up designing their robes. Isn't life funny?"

Using this case as an example, Castelbajac said, "If you have a belief, you should carry it forth."

When asked by a member of the audience on hardships he’s experienced, Castelbajac talked about prejudice.

"We have a term called 'touche a tout' in French which means someone who gets his hands on everything. It used to be a term to degrade the works of artists," he recalled.

"These days, however, it's an advantage to be a 'touche a tout' because you can do everything. I'm blessed that I'm living at a time when this is considered a talent."

Also answering a question on how he became the designer that he is, he said it took him five things: determination, hard work, humility, knowledge and understanding of history.

As for his source of inspiration, he said, it came from "everything that is invisible and intangible."

"For instance, I took a flight no. 902 and then when I arrived in Seoul, my taxi had the number 902 on it. Then when I arrived at the hotel, guess what? My room number was 1902. Is that a coincidence or what? Things like this, an invisible force that is out there, inspire me heavily," he said.