Celebrity Life
La Prairie: Preserving Beauty Through the Arts and Science
At La Prairie, beauty is all encompassing. The House has made it its mission to bring beauty to society, not only through premium products, but also through its patronage to the arts and sciences.
Its tireless pursuit of timeless beauty has long inspired the House to support initiatives that strive to preserve and promote culture and science with a shared connection — beauty through the prism of Switzerland. Below, we look at how La Prairie is giving back to society: from its collaboration with local artist Carla Chan on an artwork to be shown at Art Basel Hong Kong, to its breakthrough in creating refillable packaging for its Pure Gold Collection, to its continued support to ETH Zurich on its important glacier studies.
Patronage through Arts
La Prairie has invited a local artist to create an artwork inspired by the light of the golden hour. The commissioned work, by Hong Kong based artist Carla Chan, will be unveiled on the occasion of Frieze New York in May. The commissioned work is an installation and the result of a unique artist residency, a first for La Prairie, at the energy self-sufficient Monte Rosa Hut in Switzerland designed by ETH Zurich.
Being in remote Switzerland and surrounded by nature became the core inspiration behind Chan's piece. She says: “The human encounter with raw nature – the stillness, the beauty it imparts pushed me to reflect on the relationship between nature and the humankind and how we cohabitate together. It was important for me to create an immersive experience conducive to such contemplation.”
The piece, titled "Space Between the Light Glows", is a time-based video installation that will immerse guests in the majestic and yet fleeting beauty of the golden hour. "The golden hour is a singular moment that focuses on change and the in-between," says Chan. "It is a moment where you lose the sense of time and space during which emotion, thoughts and imagination are heightened."
In that moment of profound beauty, Chan hopes viewers could take the time to reflect on the world around us. After its premiere at Frieze New York from May 5 to 9, the video installation will be exhibited at Art Basel Hong Kong from May 19 to 23, 2021.
The Art of Packaging
Chan's artwork is also created in celebration of the launch of La Prairie's new collection, Pure Gold. In creating the Pure Gold Collection, La Prairie sought to revitalise skin and recreate a unique radiance with a precious and rare ingredient: gold. The exclusive Pure Gold Diffusion System is designed to provide immediate and sustained results; the gold particles give the skin an instant glow upon application, and continues to penetrate and nourish the skin.
The design of the packaging is a manifestation of a will to make beauty endure and is La Prairie's first designs for refillable products. For each creation of the Pure Gold Collection, the metal casing and the cap are designed to be kept indefinitely. The cream and eye cream also come with the durable 18K gold plated spatula. This collection is La Prairie’s first step to building the beauty of future. It is an expression of sustainable luxury.
Through science: studying glaciers
Since its beginnings, La Prairie has looked to nature to unlock the secrets to timeless beauty for the people. Now, La Prairie is giving back to nature and dedicating its efforts to preserving the beauty of nature itself.
In 2019, La Prairie partnered with ETH Zurich's Glaciology Section, with the hopes that its long-term patronage can help understand the effects of climate change through research into our glaciers. First and foremost, the two institutions are born in Switzerland. Greatly attached to the country in which they operate in, both institutions are committed to preserve the pristine environments of their natural habitat.
"We are both deeply fascinated by the beauty of the pristine environments that harbour glaciers," says Professor Daniel Farinotti of ETH Zurich. "Indeed, we must recognise that these are some of the last places unaffected by human activity."
La Prairie's support since 2019 has contributed majorly to two ongoing projects at ETH Zurich. This year, with the announcement of La Prairie's ongoing patronage, the Glaciology Section at ETH Zurich will be operating two ground-breaking ice monitoring initiatives.
To learn more about La Prairie's Pure Gold Collection, click here.
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