If you follow Pharrell's career at all, you know he cares about aesthetics. He knows how to dress, he knows how to make a song appeal to all the senses, and he's a lover of art and design. In true Renaissance Man fashion, he doesn't just admire the work of great visual artists and designers, he dabbles in many mediums himself. Over the years, he's created sculptures, designed furniture, and done building planning, while also creating platforms for other artists to make and share their work.
In anticipation of "G I R L," the exhibition Pharrell has curated at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin's new location in Paris, which opens tomorrow, May 27, we've gathered The 20 Coolest Things Pharrell Has Done in Art and Design.
In 2008, he teamed up with Chad Oppenheim to create The Pharrell Williams Resource Center in his hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
He collaborated with Takashi Murakami on a sculpture that supposedly sold for $2 million.
He was commissioned by Domeau & Pérès to design a "Perspective Chair" that has feet.
He also designed the "Tank Chair," which launched at Art Basel Miami Beach 2009 at Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin.
He partnered with Tyson Toussant on Bionic Yarn, which is a high-performance eco-thread.
He founded the i am OTHER platform.
He released a book with Rizzoli titled Pharrell: The Places and Spaces I've Been, which shows his endeavors in the arts and interviews with top creatives.
He told Hypebeast that he's collaborating with Zaha Hadid on an idea for a prefab house.
Pharrell and Daniel Arsham collaborated on a sculpture of the first keyboard Pharrell ever made music with.
He's collaborated with numerous visual artists for his clothing brand, Billionaire Boys Club, including Michael Kagan.
He interviewed Jeff Koons for Reserve Channel's ARTST TLK series.
Year: 2013
They spoke about Koons' development as an artist, the destruction of his art after his divorce, and about his wild success in the art world.
He remixed the theme song for Takashi Murakami's "Jellyfish Eyes" and stars as an anime character in its video.
Year: 2014
Pharrell's second collaboration with Takashi Murakami happened earlier this month, when he remixed the theme song for Murakami's film, Jellyfish Eyes. Murakami created a video for the remix, where Pharrell appears as an anime character. The film is showing at select U.S. theaters through June 5.