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« AND HOP THE DESIGN! »


The exhibition at the Museum of Decorative Arts , "Design for all: from Prisunic to Monoprix, a French adventure" offers us a small (Proustian) madeleine and invites us to dive into the French history of popular design.

"WE ARE TWO SISTERS, BORN UNDER THE SIGN OF DESIGN"!

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Les Demoiselles respectively celebrate their 90 and 91 years at the Arts Décoratifs in Paris.

 

One - Prisunic  - born in 1931 the other - Monoprix - in 1932 – same target, same dazzling growth, same objectives: to increase purchasing power and consumption!

From 1946 under the impetus of its president, Jacques Gueden, Prisunic launched its own brands in order to better control the chain: production, distribution, consumer.

With the credo of beauty in the useful and the beautiful affordable, Prisu (for the intimate) will create collections and edition pieces produced in large series, for more than 50 years.

 

Artistic, joyful and multicolored adventure, which marked the 30 glorious years with an orange and green pop iron and which plays a "replay" since the merger of the two brands in 1997.

 

Adventure assumed under the cult slogan invented by Denise Fayolle , creator of the style office  “The beautiful at the price of the ugly”!

 

Adventure of popular design with the objective: to democratize furniture and clothing, to make new creative proposals from new technologies invented by new artists and adapted to a new way of life.

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Another brilliant idea, the creation of a style office in 1955 directed from 1957 until 1967 by Denise Fayolle who recruited the best stylists, graphic artists, photographers and designers of the time. Design names that have become mythical today: Terence Coran, Olivier Mourgue, Gae  Aulenti, Danielle Quarante, Claude Courtecuisse, Marc Held, Joe Colombo, Michel Hamon, Jacques Tissinier…

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Talented graphic designers, Jean-Pierre Bailly, to name but one, drew the famous orange and yellow target in 1965 with a small stylized flower in its center. Printed on plastic shopping bags by the millions, the brand's emblem bag hits the bull's eye, spreading even to the big screen, worn by the divine Catherine Deneuve, embodying beauty, youth and French modernism, in "Les Demoiselles de Rochefort” in 1967.

 

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And to complete this momentum, the launch of the first edition of original works by avant-garde contemporary artists (Alechinsky, Matta, Bram van Velde, Messagier, Wilfredo Lam) under the direction of Jacques Puttman. Renewed in 1968, 1969, and 1973.

From now on, the litho-intello at 100 francs will be displayed on the walls of the kitchen, the toilets or the living room, rivaling the poster “Hi friends” in the teenagers' room! Art for all!

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In 1992 Prisunic was bought by the PPR group (Pinault, Printemps, La Redoute).

In 1997 François Pinault resold the brand to Monoprix.

It's the fashion for “fusion-food”, “fusion-style”, Prisunic, always at the forefront of the trend, therefore merges with Monoprix. Same state of mind, same philosophy of life and design: keeping the heritage alive  Design-Prisunic within Monoprix.

“AND (re) HOP DESIGN! »

 

2000 Back to the Roots! Launch of the first lifestyle collab under the Mono Design label with guest … Terence Conran, who in the meantime has become Sir!

 

Since 2007 Monoprix has been relaunching “lifestyle collabs” with BASH and Le Mont Saint-Michel, Alexis Mabille, Antik Batik, Hussein Chalayan, Maison Château Rouge…(Fashion)

Decoration section, 8 collections per year and 115 collabs on the clock, with flagship collections: India Mahdavi, Paola Navone, Sarah Lavoine, Constance Guisset, Ionna Vautrin, Vincent Darré…

With the other aspect of the desire to highlight the flagship creations of designers invited by Monoprix by taking up a theme dear to the brand – the everyday object – through tableware, seating and clothing. .

 

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Since 2010, new identity for food consumption visuals, under the artistic direction of Havas City. The bayadères are essential and display humorous messages that suggest the content of the product without showing it. Revolutionary… For Ever!

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