For over 30 years, the director at modernist Villa Noailles has propelled fashion, photography and art, supporting the industry and his surroundings by developing an awe-inspiring wonder spot in the South of France. Quietly turning away from the demands of rigorous marketing-driven storytelling, Jean-Pierre Blanc, the founder of the International Festival of Fashion and Photography in Hyères and notable director of Villa Noailles, has an altogether more modest approach.
“I don’t like stories,” says Blanc, before adding quickly, “At the same time, I love the ones I come up with myself! Novels and scenarios can completely bore me because there’s a beginning and an end and I was always discouraged by the word fin in a film.” The idea of an ending or a sense of completion is, for Blanc, not one worth entertaining. 21 years ago he created the International Fashion and Photography Festival in the South of France – a progressive move in 1986, when Paris held centre-stage for the arts. By spotlighting new talent, Blanc was one of the first to encourage young artists and promote diversity – factors that he continues to strive for today.
Self-taught and equally as determined as he is modest, Blanc is driven by passion, friendship and generosity. This is why the cult fashion festivals, photography, design and architecture that he has created occupy a truly special place in the landscape of French creative platforms and take place in the modernist Villa Noailles, which Blanc is director of. Nestled in the hills of Hyères and designed in the 30s by Mallet Stevens for Charles and Marie Laure Noailles, there’s a unique approach at play here – somewhere between the legendary “Think small” for Volkswagen by Bill Bernbach and the “Think different” by Apple.
“We built these adventures from the heart, with the love of people and of life. We never said we’ll put flowers on the counter because it will produce some particular effect. Everything was done at the mercy of chance and encounters,” explains Blanc of his approach. It’s far from the format common to Parisian circles. “This is what gives the whole thing its beauty.”
To read more about Jean-Pierre Blanc’s life and work, visit Freunde von Freunden.
