In Paris, Pharrell Celebrated a Preview of “Just Phriends”—the Latest Sale at His Auction House, Joopiter
Last night in Paris, the universes of fashion, music, art, and design collided at a Joopiter pop-up, quickly subsuming four floors before spilling into the street. The space, owned by Emmanuel Perrotin, sits next to his gallery just a stone’s throw from the Elysée Palace.
The starry preview of the 62 lots (or cultural artifacts as they’re being called) in “Just Phriends”—the latest sale at Pharrell Williams’ fledgling auction house, organized and curated in partnership with Sarah Andelman—drew a steady churn of boldfaced names, among them Takashi Murakami, Kaws, Tyler the Creator, Jackson Wang, Futura, ASAP Ferg, Haider Ackermann, Delfina Delettrez Fendi, and Jeremy Scott, as well as up-and-comers like the model-turned-artist Delfin Finley. He, like many other guests, dropped everything to travel to Paris from LA just for a fly-by.
“When Pharrell said he wanted to do something together for Joopiter, I told him I didn’t have anything to sell, but I thought we could pull together some unique works,” Sarah offered. “I wanted it to be diverse, like a classic auction, and I thought we’d have fun bringing all these worlds together.” While pulling together pieces designed and/or inspired by the multi-hyphenate star, she even took a little inspiration herself, encrusting one molar with a tiny diamond (that dot of bling that could last up to seven months, she said).
Sarah’s husband, the director Philip Andelman, added that she managed the logistics, in part, during a spring road trip through the national parks of Utah. “She’s so passionate about everything, she’s got her system, and somehow she manages to do it all—and then it always ends up with the best party in the world.”
Sarah said she started by calling on friends like Kaws and Murakami, then drawing into Joopiter’s orbit a smattering of new artists, including Nathan Sawaya, whose “Brick Hat” is a life-sized likeness of Williams made of more than 22,000 Legos.
On the “fashion and music” floor were Sarah’s own pink sneakers—one of the first products Williams ever designed in 2004; that lot comes with a specially-made Full Bear Jacket in camouflage colors by Castelbajac. Other limited edition sneaker collabs starred styles for Adidas and Chanel, and the blue and white Air Jordan 1s commemorating Colette’s closing in 2017 (the other part of that lot was a Sculpture bag co-signed by Off White). Mounted on a back wall was a colorful array of 15 “dream” soccer balls customized by Mira Mikati, with input from sports icons like Kilian Mbappé for Hublot (that lot included a Big Bang watch from the 2022 FIFA World Cup, with a yellow bracelet also by Mikati).
Of his contribution, a “Moonman” trophy designed for the MTV Awards in 2013, Kaws said, “I’ve always coveted those, but when Sarah called, I remembered Pharrell performing with Daft Punk, and it just felt like a good combination.”
Glittering under plexiglass were jewels made for (or by) Williams, courtesy of Nadine Ghosn (hamburger and fries pendants), Lorraine Schwartz, and Tiffany Co. But the evening’s Instagram favorite was The Simple Things, a bejeweled showpiece by Williams and Murakami that, at $3.5 million, carries the highest estimate in the sale. “It’s the first project we did together, so it brings back a lot of memories, but he’s starting a new career now—the timing is fantastic; I’m very happy,” said Murakami.
Fortunately for fans of more modest means, Sarah also worked with her round-up of artists to develop exclusive gift items like a limited edition book of Pharrell-isms, T-shirts, embroidered bandanas, or a trio of heart-shaped tinted sunglasses that Victoire de Taillac decided to pick up in red “just for summer, for the fun of it.” For the truly bold, tooth jewelry is part of the mix, too, alongside two gold-capped grills made for Williams by dentist Dolly Cohen, though those will set a buyer back either 20 or 30 grand.
By the time Williams showed up for a quick hello, things had reached a fever pitch.
“You can’t hold on to everything forever—I want [Joopiter] to be a place where collectors and curators feel good about moving things and that those things can become a treasure for someone else,” he said.
Casting an eye around the room, he added, “I’m electrified with excitement.”
The Joopiter showroom in Paris will be open through Paris Men’s Fashion Week, ending Saturday, June 24th. The “Just Phriends” auction will run on Joopiter.com through Tuesday, June 27th.
Photo: Sansho Scott/BFA.com1/24Cindy Bruna
Photo: Sansho Scott/BFA.com2/24Takashi Murakami
