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Late last year, before he was named creative director of Louis Vuitton menswear, Pharrell Williams launched Joopiter, his take on a modern auction house. The superstar musician and producer had been watching episodes of the Netflix series Tidying Up With Marie Kondo; realizing that he had multiple storage facilities filled with paraphernalia that no longer sparked joy, he recognized that much of it would spark joy in others. At the time, he explained that he had eschewed the established auction houses because he wanted to create something that was not just about selling things but “telling a story”; he would invite friends and other artists to curate auctions of their own, with the profits benefiting Black Ambition, a nonprofit that grants prizes to entrepreneurs from underrepresented backgrounds.
Keeping his word, today Joopiter announced a new auction in collaboration with Sarah Andelman, the founder of the iconic Parisian store Colette (RIP) who now owns the consulting and curating company Just an Idea. The two have been friends for more than two decades, and hearing Andelman recall the beginnings of their relationship is a refresher course on Williams’s early fashion résumé.
“One of the first launches we did together was his Moncler collection when he did this camouflage jacket,” she says over Zoom from her studio in Paris. “It was the beginning of multiple events at Colette—we did book signings, we did the launch of his Billionaire Boys Club and Icecream [brands], we did the launch of his Timberland and his first collaboration with Adidas when he custom-painted Stan Smiths in the shop and each one was unique.” The list goes on and on.
“When he started to mention that maybe we could work together [on an auction],” Andelman recalls, “I said, ‘Look, the first impression is always the one you remember.’” Since the first Joopiter auction had been Williams’s own belongings, the expectation would be that future auctions would be similarly personal. “I said, ‘I don’t have anything to sell, but what I could do is bring different artists and designers together for Joopiter.’” Launching today, “Just Phriends” features a mix of rare artworks and specially commissioned pieces from artists like Takashi Murakami, Kaws, Futura, and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, as well as brands like Louis Vuitton and Tiffany Co., all of whom have been frequent collaborators—and yes, sometimes friends—with Williams.
“Sarah is a master of curation, and from the earliest days of Joopiter, I always knew we needed to work together on something special,” Williams said via email. “We’ve shared a longtime friendship that has been fueled by our mutual love of discovery and a constant search for inspiration. The selection she’s brought together from artists we love and admire is a testament to that, and I’m excited to show the world what we’ve been working on.”
Highlights of the auction include an MTV Video Music Awards Moonman by Kaws (“I know he is busy, so I thought he would give us an existing painting, but he came back with a Moonman!” Andelman shared) and a teddy-bear jacket by de Castelbajac custom-made for the auction. Williams himself is partial to a piece created in collaboration with Murakami called The Simple Things, a quasi dollhouse in the shape of one of Murakami’s signature creatures made from glass fiber, steel, acrylic, wood, and LEDs and filled with objects (a can of Pepsi, a bottle of tanner, a little shoe) made from gold and set with a variety of precious jewels. “It’s impossible to choose a favorite, but I am very grateful that [this] piece is part of the auction,” he said. “It’s the first time anyone is going to see this in Paris, so it’ll be interesting to see how a new generation and audience interacts with it.”
If a structure filled with movable sculptures made from precious stones is not in the budget, the Joopiter auction also features a selection of merch commemorating the event. Something that has always been important to Andelman is that everyone can get a piece of the fantasy. “I really think it will be an interesting cultural moment to see all these artists together,” she added. “You can have a little Murakami doll, a T-shirt with artwork, and it will still be super collector and limited edition. You can have this moment.”
