Eric Deroo – författare

A sumptuous journey into the vibrant world of Parisian jewelry designer Marie-Helene de Taillac, renowned for her traditional craftsmanship, colorful gemstones, and exotic inspirations. The French designer s first-ever monograph, this book showcases de Taillac s stunning creations while delving into her fascinating world of inspiration, from whimsical childhood fairy tales to exotic travels to far-off lands. Readers accompany de Taillac as she journeys to London, Jaipur, Tokyo, Paris, and New York with each city s unique spirit infusing her dynamic jewels. Coupled with original illustrations by the renowned artist Jean-Philippe Delhomme, essays penned by Hamish Bowles and Gabrielle de Taillac offer insight into de Taillac s myriad influences and unrivaled creative vision. Designed to appear like a decadent jewelry box, this exquisite volume is an indispensable addition to any library of jewelry, fashion, and design.

‘Human zoos’, forgotten symbols of the colonial era, have been totally repressed in our collective memory. In these ‘anthropo-zoological’ exhibitions, ‘exotic’ individuals were placed alongside wild beasts and presented behind bars or in enclosures. Human zoos were a key factor, however, in the progressive shift in the West from scientific to popular racism. Beginning with the early nineteenth-century European exhibition of the Hottentot Venus, this thoroughly documented volume underlines the ways in which they affected the lives of tens of millions of visitors, from London to New York, from Warsaw to Milan, from Moscow to Tokyo… Through Barnum’s freak shows, Hagenbeck’s ‘ethnic shows’ (touring major European cities from their German base), French-style villages nègres, as well as the great universal and colonial exhibitions, the West invented the ‘savage’, exhibited the ‘peoples of the world’, whilst in many cases preparing for or contributing to their colonization… This first mass contact between ‘us’ and ‘them’, between the West and elsewhere, created an invisible border. Measured by scientists, exploited in shows, used in official exhibitions, these men, women and children became extras in an imaginary and in a history that were not their own. Based on the best-selling French volume Zoos Humains but with a number of newly commissioned chapters, Human Zoos puts into perspective the ‘spectacularization’ of the Other, a process that is at the origin of contemporary stereotypes and of the construction of our own identities. A unique book, on a crucial phenomenon, which takes us to the heart of Western fantasies, and allows us to understand the genesis of identity in Japan, Europe and North America.