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Joseph Hilton McConnico (13 May 1943 – 29 January 2018) was a designer and artist who was born in Memphis, Tennessee and lived and worked in Paris from 1965.[1]
Hilton McConnico was a self-taught fashion designer. He officially launched his first atelier at 16 years old, and discovered Paris after winning a challenge organized by the magazine Vogue, city where he moved two years later.[2]
After working in fashion for such designers as Ted Lapidus and Yves St. Laurent, he was set designer & art director for more than 20 films, including the cult classic Diva. In 1990 Memphis Brooks Museum of Art held a retrospective of 30 years of his creations.[3]
His collaboration with Daum crystal began in 1987; some of his "Cactus" creations for the manufacturer were presented by former French President François Mitterrand to President George H. W. Bush as a gift of state. He was also the first American to have work permanently inducted into the Louvre's Decorative Arts collection.[3]
McConnico remained active on the global design scene, especially in architecture and interior design. Later projects included the Toupary restaurant on the fifth-floor of the historic Samaritaine department store and the Hermes Museum in Tokyo, which he conceived for the new Renzo Piano building in the famed Ginza shopping district and a collection of limited series and unique pieces for Formia International in Murano Glass.
Hilton McConnico was affected by the Parkinson's disease before his death.[3]
