RALPH PUCCI MANNEQUINS, A FACTORY TOUR
I had the great pleasure of visiting the Ralph Pucci headquarters in New York City the other day. Pucci makes mannequins - and sells limited edition home furnishings - and I have five of their creations. Those of you who know my work know that I love to photograph my mannequins, and I've always kept the Pucci people aware of what I'm doing. Wade Willams at Pucci has always been gracious and fun to talk to, and when I had a trip planned to the city, I made an appointment with Wade to get a tour.
Photo by Liza Cowan. This is Wade, reflected in a fabulous mirror by Philippe Hiquily in the Pucci foyer.
A shelf of heads in the sculpting room. On the upper right is the head of my beloved Maira Kalman girl.
Photo by Liza Cowan. Three finished mannequins in front of a shelf of casting forms.
Photo by Liza Cowan. Ralph Pucci mannequin head molds. These things look to me like ancient treasures recovered from a sunken ship. Maybe Greek amphora. But they're not. They are workaday artifacts, which, in my opinion, only makes them more valuable.
Photo by LIza Cowan. An assortment of Ralph Pucci mannequin hands.
Photo by Liza Cowan. Sanding down the cast fiberglass mannequins at the Ralph Pucci factory.
One of my Maira Kalman mannequins in my show window.
Photo by Liza Cowan. This is Wade, reflected in a fabulous mirror by Philippe Hiquily in the Pucci foyer.
A shelf of heads in the sculpting room. On the upper right is the head of my beloved Maira Kalman girl.
Photo by Liza Cowan. Three finished mannequins in front of a shelf of casting forms.
Photo by Liza Cowan. Ralph Pucci mannequin head molds. These things look to me like ancient treasures recovered from a sunken ship. Maybe Greek amphora. But they're not. They are workaday artifacts, which, in my opinion, only makes them more valuable.
Photo by LIza Cowan. An assortment of Ralph Pucci mannequin hands.
Photo by Liza Cowan. Sanding down the cast fiberglass mannequins at the Ralph Pucci factory.
One of my Maira Kalman mannequins in my show window.
I work nights, sleep days, and sometimes when I'm trying to go to sleep, I watch Mr. Rogers -- I find him creepy, so I don't stick around for the whole show, I'm only waiting on the section where he shows a video of how things are made. Some factory tour of a place that makes umbrellas, or ugly plaid blankets, or weiners, or the like. I find these reels fascinating. I LOVE factory tours.
The finished models with the "sign of the wave" hands are gorgeous -- much nicer hands than in the next shot. And funnily enough, this weekend I watched half of the first episode of Battlestar Galactica (before my DVD player gave out) and the hands of the first Cylons on screen, the body guard detail for that very bad blonde Cylon (don't know her name yet, only got as far as where she snapped the neck of a baby, BAD cyborg) -- when I saw their elegant, deadly hands, I flashed back to this photo. Though they are not actually similar, so can't explain it.
Posted by: Maggie Jochild | May 04, 2008 at 10:51 PM