Onsite risks of buying fake objects were

Kenzo is discreet and secret. Most often are those that tell the best. His real name, Kenzo Takada, he was born in 1939 in Imeji, near Kobe. It is a designer known for having invented a gay world and mixed resolutely contemporary. However, it has a Japanese world frozen in the past. He is the son of the owner of a tea house which had the taste of refined lacquer bowls. His mother had many traditional child and entrusts kimonos have been "very proud of its elegance. He arrived in Paris in 1965. His first name, he launched a brand sold in 1999 to LVMH (also owner of the "voices"). He had a time to advance on the trend by inventing a style that it said "ethnic". It is the same spirit in more spiritual that was found in his incredible home in the neighbourhood of the Bastille he lived since 1990. The 1.200 m2 of its outstanding remains Japan, rice-paper sliding partitions, meditation room, traditional garden and small pool where swimming carp, were recently sold to a TV producer (he is obviously Pascal Breton, producer among others the drama "under the Sun"). Kenzo Takada is slate of the past.

Universal curiosity

He went live in Saint-Germain-des-Prés and sells at auction, as the hammer of the auctioneer of Neuilly Claude Aguttes, the entire contents of his house estimated to be 1.5 million. One is tempted to rapprochement with the recent sale of the collection of Yves Saint Laurent, but, in this case, nothing to see. Highest catalogue estimate is 100,000 euros. Kenzo gave in the past a part of the important pieces from the collection, among others of primitive art, by the Pace of New York gallery. The man with the universal curiosity has clearly not been quest "from" masterpiece but sought rather works from various religious cultures that he had in harmony around him, constantly renewed carefully. At the auction, he entrusted a little. He tells that, ironically, by his friend, Xavier de Castella, who made studies of architecture, that he has rediscovered the Japanese treasures. "When I was young, I was attracted by Paris." "For me, there was that Paris", explains t - he with his permanent smile to the lips and a strong Japanese accent. When his companion disappears one with which he had designed the Bastille home, he remembers then have "compensated" by buying many objects of art. "I often traveled in Asia." I loved the rustic, the primitive and also refined lacquer. On-site, risks of buying fake objects were. I sent to dealers specialized in Paris and Brussels. "On the spiritual aspect of objects, it has an almost unconscious approach:"when I was young, I considered as too religious statues of the Buddha and I thought that I posséderais ever." But with the Khmer art I started to wear another look on these parts. "And then it adds as to return to his love of Paris:" I would have loved possession of Matisse, and light. ". But it was too expensive!

For two years, date on which the designer took the decision to sell his house, he bought more works of art. "My new world lies in a Haussmanian without garden building but with a view of Paris." Today, I no longer purchase frenzy. "The expert in Asian art sale, Jean-Luc Estournel, said the modesty and the eye of Kenzo Takada. "He never did the acquisition of an object, simply because he was told that it was exceptional." To compare its collection to a modern set, it seems that he did not purchase of Picasso, but good masters, valued by time. It does not book easily and can hang awareness of his level of intellectual sophistication by looking at his library of books in Japanese. "One of the best symbols of the spirit of Kenzo Takada is, according to Jean-Luc Estournel, a bust of Tenjun, a sculpture of Japanese wood of 60 centimetres high, 16th century, representing the God of the scholars, estimated 15,000 euros. It also gives the example of a rare work appearing catalogue: a 13th century wooden Buddha measuring 1.98 metres high, of the ancient Kingdom of Pagan in Burma. The head is extensively worked, but the style is primitive. In fact the acquisition in the Parisian merchant Jacques Barrère. A very different kind, in his living room opening onto the garden, were found in, among others, four funeral Chinese figurines in terracotta of time Tang (618-907). The dancers all curves, of the bun to drape dress fell to the ground. They are estimated, exhibit, at 15,000 euros. "The experts know that they are of excellent quality." It is not poor parts as found commonly on the market. "It has acquired in the Belgian market, Gisèle Croës. The personality of the designer also has a more "fun" aspect is in the form of a set of the Hopi of Arizona Indian tribe Katchina dolls. These archaic figures were traditionally given to children to introduce them to the mysteries of the masks of the tribe. They were acquired with the Parisian Gallery Flak and are estimated from 3,000 euros.

Finally, this bloated sale Kenzo consisting of 1.043 lots offer a multitude of small decorative objects and the brûle-parfums (from 50 euros) of sake (from 150 euros) vials or bowls Japanese traditional earthenware (from 50 euros) which should attract the curious, lovers of good business especially for Japanese objects But even those who have a taste for the relics of celebrities.