Sarah Andelman & Pharrell: Phriends Phorever
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Being friends with Pharrell Williams must be like being friends with a rocketship. It has to be exhilarating to be in such close proximity to a figure of constant ascension, especially now that Pharrell is in full blast-off mode. Having known the man for over two decades, Sarah Andelman loves being along for the ride.
“Pharrell gives me this magic energy,” Andelman tells me from her Paris office during an early June Zoom call. “I love that he’s able to accomplish so many different things [simultaneously] and he understands that I also have the same appetite. We nourish each other. I feel so lucky!”
Andelman knows a thing or two about multitasking. As the co-founder of trailblazing Parisian boutique colette, Andelman simultaneously wrangled partnerships with leading luxury labels, buzzy young designers, and world-renowned artists to keep her store on the industry’s cutting edge. Now, with her creative agency, Just An Idea, Andelman intertwines all of those creatives on a daily basis.
She met Pharrell several times prior to 2010 but that was the year their working relationship solidified. “One of his first launches with us was his [2010] collaboration with Moncler,” Andelman recalls.
“From then on, we worked together regularly, and we’d carry Pharrell’s Billionaire Boys Club [BBC] and ICE CREAM brands. I remember there was this one moment, I think in 2012, where I was seeing him do all these different things — he was working with G-Star, he was working with Timberland, there was a discussion with a fragrance company — and I proposed that we just launch everything at colette in a five-week span.”
You don’t take on that kinda responsibility for just anyone.
I also figured that because Andelman worked so closely both with Pharrell and famously cagey fashion house Chanel — colette is one of the few third-party retailers ever granted permission to sell Chanel ready-to-wear outside of Chanel’s own stores — that she was the quiet force behind the once-in-a-lifetime Pharrell Chanel collection. Not so, though, according to Andelman.
“The one key person here was Mr. Karl Lagerfeld,” Andelman smiles. “You know, he’d go to colette every week. [Lagerfeld and Pharrell] would see each other sometimes at colette’s restaurant, but they had their own relationship.”
Relationships. That’s what it’s all about. Hence the name of the special sale that Sarah Andelman has curated for Pharrell’s JOOPITER auction house: “Just Phriends”
“When Pharrell proposed that [I should] do something with Joopiter, I realized that I have nothing of my own to sell,” Andelman says. “Instead, I decided to bring together artists, designers, people that Pharrell worked with, people who I follow and find interesting. Originally, it was 50 lots but I kept finding new things. A little bit of jewelry, some street flair: it was like building a galaxy.” It’s an appropriate turn of phrase for a guy whose oeuvre is sprinkled with outer space-inspired patterns and Star Trek references.
JOOPITER is fairly young — it launched in 2022 and has only hosted boasting two prior auctions thus far — so maybe it’s preemptive to describe “Just Phriends” as JOOPITER’s most exciting sale yet but, boy, it sure feels like a big deal.
Lots range from huge to niche, fine art to quirky one-offs created by Pharrell himself. There’s a painting from auction house favorite George Condo in the mix, for instance, but also a customized RIMOWA case from Ed Banger founder Pedro “Busy P” Winter that houses a handpicked vinyl records that star, feature, or at least were overseen by Pharrell, including a rare test-pressing of a Neptunes’ Daft Punk remix.
“The selection is interesting because it touches different communities,” Andelman says. “Someone who follows contemporary art or jewelry or design — there’s something for them all.”
The crown jewel is THE SIMPLE THINGS, a squat sculpture co-created by Takashi Murakami and Pharrell that sold for over $27 million in 2019.That THE SIMPLE THINGS is up for auction is itself a testament to inherent desirability, yes, but it’s also a tangible signifier of Murakami and Pharrell’s decades-long friendship, mirroring the relationship to Andelman already reflected in the auction’s name.
Really, everyone who’s participating is a “Phriend” to some degree. It’s just that Pharrell and Sarah Andelman are especially close.
Andelman suggests that viewers don’t let the big-ticket items keep them from savoring the auction’s other treasures. “I love the work of this young girl from Miami, Gabriela Noelle,” exclaims Andelman, whose excitement builds as she discusses the participating talent. “And Nathan Sawaya did this amazing life-size sculpture of Pharrell in LEGO bricks.”
Andelman also points out a unique painting from street artist Invader — “It’s special because it’s [both] the first time he’s worked with crystals and because it’s coming directly from him; most of his work [is sold] secondhand.” — and Palm Angels founder Francesco Ragazzi: “He donated this Ben Baller jewelry that he got in, I don’t know, 2000-something, with these ICE CREAM characters. It’s very personal.”
And MSCHF’s teensy, tiny Louis Vuitton handbag? It’s “just perfect.”
Truly, the “Just Phriends” lots are staggeringly expansive. We didn’t even have time to touch on the many fashion-y offerings, which include one-offs from Richard Mille, Chanel, Tiffany & Co., and Pharrell’s new bosses at Louis Vuitton.
I ask Andelman if she felt any pressure to pick out great stuff for “Just Phriends,” given that Pharrell personally came to her to curate the auction. She grins a carefree grin: “If I tell him I will do something, I really want to do it because I have so much respect for him. I don't want to disappoint him,” Andelman laughs. “There’s a lot of trust.”
Fair enough. Surely, it’s gotta just feel good to play a role in 2023, the year of Pharrell, which encompasses JOOPITER’s auction, BBC’s 20th anniversary, and, of course, his historic appointment as Louis Vuitton’s artistic director.
“It's been a very, very special year, but every year he’s so strong, growing and evolving,” says Andelman. “And he is so loyal to everyone he’s met along the way. He always says, he’ll never forget what we did for him, how we supported him. But I always say, ‘No, you supported us. You.’”
