Pharrell Williams Talks Documentary and Space-themed Lego Collaboration in Paris

Lily Templeton
·3-min read

MOONSHOT: The sky is not the limit — space is.

“Let’s skyrocket it, P,” and “goodbye, gravity” proclaimed messages at an event on Wednesday celebrating the collaboration between Pharrell Williams and Lego.

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Guests including designers Amina Muaddi, 3Paradis’ Emeric Tachtchoua and Mira Mikati were among those who landed in the Oscar Niemeyer-designed French Communist party headquarters in Paris.

For the occasion, its dome’s striking ceiling was lit blue, turning it into a planetarium complete with pixelized spaceships and stars. This was an apt backdrop for Lego designs that included a spaceship, an abacus of “Phriends” and figurines of Williams and wife Helen Lasichanh as astronauts as well their XXL interpretations curated by Sarah Andelman.

“Pharrell is inhabited by creation,” said Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. The veteran French designer was particularly appreciative of the assembled crowd given it had taken him a year to build all the elements showcased in his Lego-inspired spring 2009 show, he added.

While some sampled sphere-shaped bites imagined by French culinary studio Balbosté, jeweler Nadine Ghosn and model Cindy Bruna were gamely posing among the human-sized Lego faces arranged abacus-style.

“I love that you can either follow the instructions — that’s more my style — or invent things,” Andelman said as Yaz Bukey showcased a headpiece adorned with Lego flowers.

Taking pride of place at the center of the space was a larger-than-life Lego figurine of Williams, decked in fresh carnations by Brooklyn-based floral artist Mr Flower Fantastic.

Pharrell Williams holding the spaceship from his collaboration with Lego.
The set imagined by Williams contains a soaring spaceship with a multicolored trail, two figures depicting him and wife Helen Lasichanh as astronauts, and an abacus of “Phriends.”

The real-life version soon came on stage with Alero Akuya, Lego’s vice president of global brand development, to discuss the project, which also includes “Piece by Piece,” an animated feature-slash-biopic on Williams and his career directed by award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville.

Premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on Sept. 10, it’s slated for theatrical release in October in the U.S. and sees the likes of Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg and many more music fixtures voice their characters.

Williams said that as a Black man from America and part of a marginalized community, telling his story using Lego “made it a bit more universal,” allowing people to “see it for what it is.”

“And I feel like having an abacus that represents so many different colors and types of human beings does the same thing,” he continued, naming it his favorite element of the 966-piece Lego set, which is being released Friday.

In his opinion, the wide range of skin tones and facial features depicted was a reminder that “when you take the politics out of it, it just boils down to humans.”

Louis Vuitton’s creative director of menswear also shared memories of looking out of his childhood window to the stars, which triggered a lifelong fascination with space, but also of having an imagination that fired in all directions.

“But when a Lego set is in front of me, [it] makes all the sense in the world,” he recalled.

“If this inspires you and sets you free, I’m on it, and you should know that it’s never too late to think about whatever your dream is right now — and now is better than never,” he said. “You have no idea what’s on the other side of this day….Everything that you ever wanted is waiting for you.”

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