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©MARCUS LEATHERDALE Studio Andrée Putman opens its first U.S. showroom in New York, marking the 100th anniversary of the designer's birth. T he iconic French design house Andrée Putman has opened its first showroom in the U.S., in New York on the Bowery, next door to Jean-Michel Basquiat's former studio. For Olivia Putman, Andrée's daughter and the studio's artistic director, the location is more than a coincidence: It's deeply personal. In the 1980s, when Basquiat was electrifying the New York art world, Olivia spent a summer in that building. She knew him well and was, in fact, the one who introduced him to her mother. The Basquiat connection was entirely A Most Modern Designer By Rebecca Sherman. serendipitous, says Aurélie Laure, Andrée Putman Studio owner and CEO. Laure first collaborated with the Putman studio in 2012, and it was Laure who discovered the Bowery space. "I chose this space before I knew about Olivia's connection to it," Laure says. "The link is real — but it found us." The new studio is part of an ongoing global program marking the 100th anniversary of Andrée Putman's birth and includes a debut collection of re-editions and new editions, and archival works drawn from more than 300 drawings spanning four decades of commissions, with most furniture available to purchase for the first time. For Olivia, the Basquiat connection is proof that Andrée Putman always knew where the energy was. "New York was a completely different place back then," Olivia says in an email from Paris, where she runs the namesake studio her mother founded in 1997. When Basquiat came to Paris fresh off a very successful exhibition, Olivia brought him into her circle. "He was alone and a bit lost in Paris at that moment," she says. It was there that she introduced him to her mother. Basquiat was a good cook, and it became natural for the group to gather at Olivia's apartment. "Those evenings were never formal," she recalls. "They were more like open gatherings, where friends would come and go, and where conversation, food, Andrée Putman photographed by Marcus Leatherdale at the Morgans Hotel in New York, 1980s, for The New York Times 112