#023 ☼ Creative Chameleon: Pharrell
People Living in Airplanes • Legends of Chateau Marmont • News from Poolsuite
ISSUE 023
Strawberry Moon Forever
Sourced from the menu at the Goodtime Hotel in Miami
With tasting notes of exciting news at Poolsuite, people converting planes into homes, a sea ranch in Northern California, the loving lens of famous photographers taking portraits of their partners, LA midcentury modern, tales at sea and the legendary clientele of Chateau Marmont.
The good life beckons once more!
CURATE WITH US
Our question this week is:
What’s a book that changed your life?
Let us know in the comments 💭
Further down in this issue, we’ll explore definitions of success discussed last week!
Hot Hyperlinks
☼ Curious about the future of Poolsuite? Ponder no more! Our latest company memo shares the compass…
☼ Eccentricity galore: Meet the people living inside airplanes! Pursuing this particular aviation passion project means buying planes and converting them into private homes
☼ A historic sea ranch paying homage to elegant and understated style in Northern California
☼ Portraits famous photographers have taken of their partners, including Susan Sontag, Patti Smith, Paul McCartney and many more
☼ Apartamento interviews Swedish pop star Lykke Li in her green-hued tranquil home: “This is the first place I have ever said, ‘OK, I’m going to buy a fucking couch’, because I have always lived out of a suitcase” — and what a couch it is!
☼ In 1972, the famous Pirelli Calendar had its first female photographer Sarah Moon, producing a stylistic hit that was “authentically female”
☼ Moxie Marlinspike’s “greatest fear is routine”. Watch his video zine of his tales at sea with a crew of “maniac sailors and anarchist castaways”, aka his close friends
☼ Listen to one of Poolsuite’s favourite visual artists Chloe Wise on this episode of How Long Gone. Revisit Issue 003 of Palm Report to learn more about Chloe’s work, featuring bread bags and quintessentially pop cultural oil paintings
☼ The most iconic guests that have passed through Los Angeles’ legendary Chateau Marmont from Katharine Hepburn to Lindsay Lohan
SUMMER-ENHANCING PEOPLE
Creative Chameleon: Pharrell
In 2003, Pharrell was famously responsible along with longtime collaborator and other half of the Neptunes, Chad Hugo, for producing 43% of music on American radio. This week, twenty years later, he was named the creative director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, the successor to his friend, the late Virgil Abloh.
Obsessed with skate since childhood (earning him the nickname Skateboard P), Pharrell has since ventured into the realms of fashion, architecture, skincare and hospitality as well as being a musician and producer. While his never-ageing appearance might suggest otherwise, Pharrell is a creative veteran who has taken a multitude of industries by storm over the last twenty years through his irreverent charm and limitless creativity. In some ways, it seems like he’s still just getting started.
Join us through a retrospective of some of our favourite Pharrell work.
Highlights
7 minutes of creative advice from Pharrell: “Find something that you love to do, something that you would do for free just because you’re happy to be there. Try to find a vocation connected to it, that you would show up for free, and do whatever it takes! If you can find a way to service humanity as well, now you have a dream job and wake up every day and feel like you get paid for free, and you’re also contributing to good will. That’s the reason you start a business if you’re going to start one”
Chords are coordinates: Two music legends, Pharrell and Rick Rubin sit down together for an epic conversation and how Pharrell discovered his synesthesia while listening to A Tribe Called Quest
Architectural Digest takes us on a tour inside Pharrell and David Grutman’s art deco hotel “Goodtime” in Miami Beach (where you can find our Vacation sunscreen on sale!)
An important design lesson he learned while turning a song into architecture in Toronto: “In this process I realized the things that age well are the things that are beautifully ambiguous. And I’ve come to realize that those are the things that I love the most. I’ve been doing music and apparel and footwear for so long, but they never really held the mirror up to me in the way that a building does. A building has to work five years from now, it has to work 10 years from now, you want it to be loved 25 to 50 years from now. It’s started to make me think about certain things differently. Like, what’s going to age well? Not just the “Oh, but you’ve never seen it like this before!” That’s generally how I think about things. This [project] showed me that there’s also a very subtle and super-grounded and core-oriented point of view that helps things to be ageless”
Pharrell’s best outfits: “Whether it was trucker hats and all-over print Bape hoodies in the 2000s or his more recent work with brands like Adidas or Chanel, the people pay attention to what Skateboard P is wearing”
The coolest rides hiding in Pharrell’s garage including a Ferrari Enzo, a McLaren Mercedes SLR, three Rolls-Royce Phantoms and a Phantom Drophead Coupé
On collaborating with the composer Hans Zimmer: ““All my life I’ve had what I call ‘light towers,’ people who just see and signal you in the right way, and if you listen to them, you’ll always make it to your destination”
On the similarities between sports and music: “Sport teaches you discipline and execution. That's what's required in music. I could see that when I was at high school in Virginia. I played sports but I was also in the marching band that used to perform at [American] football games. I was 16 and I played snare drum and Chad was the conductor. We used to win awards because we were so tight. Sportsmen and musicians are also leaders - not in a 'Follow me' way but in an individualistic way”
20 of the coolest things Pharrell has done in art and design
Pharrell’s dermatologist of 26 years reveals some of the secrets behind Pharrell’s all-gender skincare & wellness company Humanrace: “Perhaps the difference between routine and ritual is the state of consciousness. A routine is automated. A tried-and-true, fixed yet reliable program. A ritual is a thing of ceremonial awareness, the space between being the quality of intention”
COMMUNITY CURATED: BEING KIND FOR FREE
Last week, we asked for your favourite ways to be kind for free. Check out the comment section for lots of good vibes and ideas to incorporate. Here’s a few we loved:
Letting people merge in front of me while driving no matter what - it's a good way to remind myself that life isn't that serious, and a way to show kindness and grace to a stranger.
— via airrrun
Being attentive no matter what the situation. From holding someone the door open, over noticing a specific detail on a person's outfit to noticing and fulfilling a wish of somebody. Regardless its extent, showing attention is my go to way of being kind.
— via Liam
One of my favorite things is complimenting strangers. Who doesn't love an unexpected compliment? I certainly do. It has the power to change your outlook, especially if you're having a tough day.
— via Elizabeth R
Hop in the comments this week as we discuss books that changed our lives.
SUMMER-ENHANCING HOMEWARE
EXHIBIT A: The Meringue by Bureau Benjamin • EXHIBIT B: Startling the Echoes • EXHIBIT C: Ferngully Collection by Another Human
JOIN US
🌴 Tune in to our ultra-summer radio, Poolsuite FM, on iPhone & web
🌴 Follow us: @Poolsuite on Instagram & Twitter, plus @PalmReport on Twitter
🌴 Discover our Hour of Summer mixtapes on SoundCloud
🌴 Say hey, or drop leisurely content you’ve discovered in the comments below!
big magic by elizabeth gilbert ✨
Damien - Herman Hesse