The Industry Leading Thinker, and Founder/Creative Director, of Colette Talks About Bringing Her Latest Project ‘Just And Idea’ To Life
By Mark Hooper
Renowned for her role as the founder and creative director of Colette, the Paris concept store that helped to define a new model for curated retail when it launched in 1997, Sarah Andelman enjoys a legendary position amongst fashionistas.
Upon Colette’s closure in 2017, she launched Just An Idea, a consultancy that built on Andelman’s talent for making connections and instigating collaborations.
Just An Idea Books followed in 2021: extending her remit into publishing, with a diverse set of contributors (ranging from Douglas Coupland to Dude With Sign) producing books always in the same format and always in a limited edition of just 400.
As she finalizes her latest collection of books, we caught up with her via Zoom from her Paris HQ, where she discussed inspiration, optimism, and the ‘high dose of wonder’ that informs everything she does…
Mark Hooper: Everyone was excited to see what you were going to do next, and Just An Idea Books feels like a great way to get across your ideas and your inspirations in a different, succinct format…
Sarah Andelman: So I kept the same name, Just An Idea, from the company I started after Colette closed five years ago, first in a way to continue what I was doing at Colette, but without dealing with the logistics from the shop. The idea was to connect different parts together, to work with different brands, do collaborations, special pop-ups and projects… so for three or four years I worked with fashion, streetwear, beauty, designers. And always with this wish in my mind that if I see a cool artist or creative talent, I could introduce them to the brand I was working with and they could do great collabs. But I realized it was not as simple as that! And I have always loved books, as a buyer for Colette or just buying books for myself, and naturally I spend too much time on Instagram!
Mark Hooper: Was there any particular inspiration behind launching the books?
Sarah Andelman: The first artist I saw that made me think I should start this publishing company was Sho Shibuya; I was following him on Instagram, I love his everyday coverings of the New York Times, with his reflections on the news. So I asked him if he was working on a book and he said, ‘No, why?’ [laughs]. There are so many books out there already, so I thought it had to be something very simple, always the same format. I started with five books to show a little of the concept of the books from the beginning. And so the first collection included Nicole McLaughlin, who up-cycles objects from everyday life; Louis-Géraud Castor, this florist from Paris; Eric Ng from Australia who creates these mini sneakers; and Douglas Coupland to add some credibility to the project!
So that was the beginning. After this I did a collection of seven books, and the latest collection is five books. And I will continue with no rules on how many times a year we publish or anything like that. It also helps from a production point of view to do five books in such a small quantity. And then I looked at objects related to books, like bookends, maybe I will do bookmarks. But always for the pleasure of collaborating with artists.
Mark Hooper: Was there any particular inspiration behind launching the books?
Sarah Andelman: The first artist I saw that made me think I should start this publishing company was Sho Shibuya; I was following him on Instagram, I love his everyday coverings of the New York Times, with his reflections on the news. So I asked him if he was working on a book and he said, ‘No, why?’ [laughs]. There are so many books out there already, so I thought it had to be something very simple, always the same format. I started with five books to show a little of the concept of the books from the beginning. And so the first collection included Nicole McLaughlin, who up-cycles objects from everyday life; Louis-Géraud Castor, this florist from Paris; Eric Ng from Australia who creates these mini sneakers; and Douglas Coupland to add some credibility to the project!
Sarah Andelman: So that was the beginning. After this I did a collection of seven books, and the latest collection is five books. And I will continue with no rules on how many times a year we publish or anything like that. It also helps from a production point of view to do five books in such a small quantity. And then I looked at objects related to books, like bookends, maybe I will do bookmarks. But always for the pleasure of collaborating with artists.
Mark Hooper: Do you have any particular criteria for who you work with or is it just people who interest you?
Sarah Andelman: No, no: it’s just if they touch me: if I think it’s interesting or new. The criteria is only about me loving them. And I love how people don’t understand why in the collection of seven, there is the looks of Marc Jacobs shot by Nick Newbold; or someone like Brad Hall who is this geek speaking of his love of sneakers. For me it’s the passions and obsessions these people have.
Mark Hooper: It reminds me of when Colette was still open, it was always the first port of call for me when I was visiting Paris, because you knew you would bump into someone you knew, or there would be a cool exhibition, or a CD compilation of what was happening in music. How do you see the state of retail now, with the perspective you have?
Sarah Andelman: Yeah I think there is still a space for shops with a point of view, for that experience, but it has changed a lot. We were open for 20 years, from 1997 until 2017: already during our time everything changed, but I think even so, in the last few years, everything is harder. I think brands have done a lot of work to push their own websites and shops. Today it’s different times. Online is so convenient now, but I think you still go to shops for something that you can’t find anywhere else.
Mark Hooper: It’s the same with producing a physical book – there’s a tactile nature to it, and photos just don’t look as good on a screen, do they?
Sarah Andelman: But it’s funny, because everything I’m doing in the books ends up online! And most of the people in the collections were creating these images just for Instagram and for no other purpose. But it shows that to be able to touch paper and to take a book from a shelf instead of scrolling on a screen – obviously we still need these moments. I think there is an appetite for this kind of contact.
For me, I like visual inspiration, but the more my collection goes, the more I want to have serious text contributions as well. I try really hard to have this balance of images and reading. Of course it’s exciting to have someone like Pharrell Williams write a foreword, but in this last collection I have introduced longer texts. I think it’s interesting to see this evolution.
Mark Hooper: Do you have a philosophy or manifesto for everything you do?
Sarah Andelman: Just Do It! [laughs]
Mark Hooper: Someone else has taken that one I think!
Sarah Andelman: Yes! But when I speak to young people now, they have so many questions. ‘Should I do this or do that?’ But I think you have to push yourself, you have to believe in you, you have to show what you are about. It’s true that any project I’m working on, even if it’s crazy and it is 99% certain that somebody will say no, I will still contact them and check, just in case there is this 1% chance of them saying yes. Just to try it.
Mark Hooper: Would you say you are generally an optimistic person?
Sarah Andelman: Yes. I don’t now if it’s optimistic or naïve! But definitely. I am amazed to see always new ideas that we haven’t seen before in photography, in art, in digital. And when I see someone do something new, something touching, it gives me hope for the future.
Mark Hooper: I think that’s how I’ve always seen you – from your work at Colette through to Just An Idea, you’re a curator, the filter for what is interesting in culture. I asked about you being optimistic because it feels like there’s so much pessimism around at the moment, given the state of the world, but you always manage to find something inspiring.
Sarah Andelman: You know, people ask me nearly every day if I miss Colette, and I really don’t. But through the books I had close relationships with some retailers, and I did some events with them where I had to go on a Friday night to prepare the space, to check I had everything in storage, and it gave me some really great memories from my Colette days. So it was nice to have this small retail experience, but as long as it can be quickly ‘in and out’.
Mark Hooper: What can we expect to see next from you?
Sarah Andelman: So the next collection of books will be published in 2023 and I think it will be mostly photography. I wish I could tell you more about what I’m working on, but it’s still a little confidential. I did the Just A Space event last year, which happened very quickly, like everything I’m doing! It was still during Covid, when they had just announced we would have to wear masks again and I was so stressed to run this space, having worked so hard on something that might have to close before it had even opened. But it worked, and there was really a great energy because we had people who knew me from Colette and the new generation of people, Sean Wotherspoon, Dude With Signs… it was a really fun mix. It was just three days, with different events, and that was cool.
Mark Hooper: It’s great that you have found somewhere that your skills and your role works perfectly without dwelling too much on the past and getting nostalgic about what you did previously.
Sarah Andelman: I think it’s very organic and a natural transition. Every day I am speaking with someone from beauty or from design, or food of course… so it feels like what I have always done. It’s a good continuity. The only time I’ve said no – because I knew they wanted something that doesn’t exist anymore – is a retailer asking me to do something that is closer to clothes buying. I prefer to be curating something more creative.