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POPVILLE: Tribute to visionary designer Quasar Khanh

From 29 September to 2 October, the "Paris Sur Mode Paris Sur Mode" trade fair in the Tuileries Gardens hosted a brand new exhibition devoted to design...

Design MarketOctober 2016
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From 29 September to 2 October, the "Paris Sur Mode Paris Sur Mode" show in the Tuileries Gardens hosted a brand new exhibition dedicated to the visionary designer Quasar Khanh (1934-2016). The exhibition showcases the designer's iconic pop creations, including the Aerospace inflatable furniture and the Cube car. Nguyen Manh Khanh, whose real name is Quasar Khanh, was born in Hanoi in 1934. He left Vietnam in 1949 and moved with his parents to Paris, France. He studied engineering at the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, opted for the pseudonym Quasar Khanh and obtained his engineering diploma in 1959, working for a number of well-known companies including Société Générale d'Entreprises and the engineering consultancy Coyne et Bellier.Ingenious and inventive, Quasar Khanh has worked on a wide range of projects: boats, aviation, furniture, cars, fashion... In 1968, he designed the Aerospace Aerospace line of inflatable furniture as a tribute to the conquest of space. He was the first designer to come up with this original idea, and its success was quick to follow, with the range being exhibited in 1969 at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris and at the Triennale in Milan. He was also the first inventor of a range of vinyl-covered foam furniture: "the velvet cube". His creations can be seen at the Vitra Design Museum, the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris, the Plasticarium in Brussels and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. [caption id="attachment_6875" align="aligncenter" width="724"] Portrait of Quasar Khanh | Le cube car, photo source: © www.quasar-khanh.com [/caption] Mark your calendars for the publication of a book about Quasar Khanh, with a preface by Philippe Starck, published by Albin-Michel, jointly written by Benoit Ramognino of Velvet Galerie, Marc Mineray of Galerie 47 and Fabrice Peltier of Design Pack Gallery. Photos by Benjamin Chelly

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