French musician Woodkid has partnered with Vacheron Constantin, translating the tempo of the maison’s watches into an exclusive musical track
Few watchmakers are so firmly entrenched in the lexicon of culture and art as Vacheron Constantin. In music, the Swiss maison – the world’s oldest watch brand in continuous production – has fostered creative collaborations with rising talent and long-established leaders since 2018 with the unveiling of its ‘One of Not Many’ Mentorship Program with the world-famous Abbey Road Studios in London.
Woodkid at Abbey Road Studios
In 2022, French musician and director Yoann Lemoine, AKA Woodkid, whose work spans multiple disciplines including video direction, graphic design, illustration, songwriting and production, joined the initiative as its official mentor. From this, the multihyphenate landed incredible opportunities with the likes of singers Lana Del Rey, Katy Perry and Pharrell Williams, as well as Japanese game designer Hideo Kojima, fashion designer Nicolas Ghesquière and Parisian street artist JR. ‘To be able to pass on one’s knowledge and artistic sensitivity by working with young talent is a privilege for me as a musician,’ said Woodkid at the time, speaking of the young London-based singer-songwriter Ewan J Phillips, who was the first to join the programme. ‘Above and beyond the mentor-apprentice relationship, the exchanges and discussions we have had with Ewan are enriching for both of us.’
Woodkid composing
For 2023, Woodkid has expanded his ongoing partnership with Vacheron with the development of an exclusive track that translates the sound of the maison’s watches into music. Woven throughout the piece is a contemporary interpretation of Vacheron’s “Less’ential” theme, a composition that explores the Euclidean forms that feature in all major rhythms and unite the worlds of mathematics and music.
The result is a masterful symphony employing an array of instruments, from the marimba to the clarinet, produced on an hourly tempo with 12 pulses, directly inspired by a Vacheron Constantin watch. Accompanying the musical piece is a motion design, created by Woodkid through software coding, that beautifully illustrates the Euclidean rhythms through architectural forms.
