Pierre Cardin unveils durable development Prix Bulles Cardin prize

By

Godfrey Deeny

Published
May 11, 2022

The house of Pierre Cardin has unveiled a new durable development prize entitled Prix Bulles Cardin, whose first winners will be presented during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival.

 
The prize is named after the Palais Bulles, the futurist, bubble shaped villa built by the designer and located at Theoule-sur-Mer, a few kilometers west of Cannes, hanging from a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. The opening award will take place on May 18, during the festival’s 75th edition.
 
Since the death of Pierre Cardin in December 2020, the house has been led by his nephew Rodrigo Basilicati-Cardin. An engineer by training, Rodrigo intends on unveiling a collection made of fully recycled fabrics to celebrate the centenary of the birth of the founder.

The house’s multi-license business model was once revolutionary but is now atypical. However, today it still boasts some 180 licenses spread over 140 countries, giving it unique leverage to introduce more environmentally positive production and distribution systems via its licensees.
 
“Fashion is the second most polluting industry in the world after the oil business, so we have a duty to react and redirect the fashion business. It’s something my uncle believed in strongly,” said Rodrigo in a press conference inside Maxim’s, the famed Art Nouveau restaurant in Paris the founder acquired in 1981.

 
This January, the house staged its first collection since Cardin’s passing, focusing on space exploration in a show entitled Cosmocorps 3022, and staged in the Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget airport.
 
Subsequently, the house developed Objectif Terre, or Objective Earth, a series of partnerships with the likes of the European Space Agency, Arianespace and the Spatial Center of Guyana (CSG), which all participate in Copernicus – a joint satellite project to continually scan and map the condition of the planet.
 
The new Prix Bulles Cardin is designed to distinguish five important projects or personalities who have acted to encourage great ecological development. These can include cinema studios, actors or directors; international organizations acting to defend the environment; activist media; or universities. A further Prix d’Honneur will award 50,000 euros to a young generation start-up,  project or individual with a dynamic eco-project.
 
In addition, during the first annual prize giving, a giant series of satellite images culled from the Copernicus world mapping will swathe the Palais Bulles.