philippe starck may be the most famous and prolific designer alive ....................................................................................................................................
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was born in paris in 1949. inspired by his father, who worked as an aircraft designer starck spent his childhood under his father's drawing boards, sawing, cutting, gluing, and sanding, dismantling bikes, motorcycles and other objects. from the mid-sixties, starck attended the ecole nissim de camondo in paris, and he set up his first company in 1968 to produce inflatable objects. in the 1970s he fitted out the paris night-clubs la main bleue (1976) and les bains-douches (1978). french president francois mitterand assigned him to decorate a suite in the elysée palace in paris in 1982. since then he has reached a phenomenal international reputation in hotel interiors, furniture design and domestic products. in 1984 he designed the interior of the café costes in paris, along with those of other establishments, such as the manin in tokyo (1985) and teatriz in madrid (1990). he has also designed a number of private dwelling houses and apartment blocks, commercial premises. in paris a whole street block, la rue starck, is going up to his designs (1991). philippe starck may be the most famous and prolific designer alive. his desire for transgretion and challenge, of aesthetic and cultural provocation made him change our lamps, door handles, cutlery, kettles, vases, clocks, scooters, motorcycles, desks, beds, taps, toothbrushes, baths, toilets… in short, our whole life. (here illustrated a few early designs and recent work) see more on http://www.philippe-starck.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------ designboom interviewed philippe starck on may 23, 2005. --------------------------------------------------- what is the best moment of the day? when you make love to the person that you love. what kind of music do you listen to at the moment? everything is good. do you listen to the radio? bollywood radio. what books do you have on your bedside table? so many... I read 12 books at a time... 'europeana' by patrik ourednik (a brief history of the twentieth century) it is very important to read. where do you get news from? I live like a monk, so there is no news. I read only the scientific magazines. do you have any preferences on how women dress? ehh... yes. I like the dress that is like a double skin. what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing? cannot say. do you have any pets? no. when you were a child, what did you want to be? nothing. where do you work on your projects? anywhere in front of the sea. who would you like to design something for? nobody. there are already thousands of really, really good chairs. there are thousands of good lamps. there are thousands of everything. do you discuss your work with other designers? never. I am not interested in designers. describe your 'style', like a good friend of yours would describe it. freedom. which of your works has given you the most satisfaction? the next. among the most recent work is ‘collection guns’ lamps for flos. the guns collection is nothing but a sign of the times. we get the symbols we deserve. P.S.: light, functional, affordable and elegant, with over 100 million copies officially produced to date, the kalachnikov is one of the industrial design success-stories of our age. mr kalachnikov has never received any royalties for this design. he often complains about it. thus, I intend to pay him a commission for the sales of the model that replicates his invention. poor guy. the remainder will be donated to ‘medicins sans frontieres’, ... read more can you describe an evolution in your work from your first projects to the present day? more honest. do you design for the masses? I have been trying for 20 years now. how I make life better for my tribe. you once said that it is your dream to make the world a better place... is it beauty you are looking for? no, not for beauty. we have to replace beauty, which is a cultural concept, with goodness, which is a humanist concept. the beauty of intelligence? yes. of intelligence. the elegance of intelligence and the beauty of happiness. you design shoes, eyeglasses, ... is your approach to fashion design different to that of industrial design? I have no reason with fashion but am interested to make clothes for my friends. and you have designed hotels, clubs and restaurants... again, a different approach? it is the same thing. just the scale is different. is there any architect or designer from past you appreciate a lot? I am not interested in architects or designers. I no longer wish to talk about design. any advice for the young? advice? make a job useful. what are you afraid of regarding the future? the loss of civilisation. --- ------- monthly designboom newsletter ------- ------- ? comments and contact us ? -------	philippe starck © designboom philippe starck portrait by marie françoise prybys. shoe for puma, 2005 ‘collection guns’ for flos, 2005 optical mouse for microsoft, 2004 ‘louis ghost’ for kartell, 2004 originally designed for the ‘kong’ restaurant in paris ‘hudson rocker’ for emeco, 2000 ‘gnomi’ seats for kartell, 1999 ‘ceci n’est pas une brouette’, for XO, 1996 ‘zeo’ TV for thomson ,1994 designed together with the thim thom team ‘W.W.’ stool, 1990 originally phillippe starck designed this stool for an imaginative office environment for film director wim wenders. vitra produces it since 1994. ‘j. (lang)’, driade, 1987 ‘von vogelsang’ for driade, 1985 ‘costes’ prototype 1981, produced by driade since 1984 ‘miss dorn’ prototypes / limited editions V.I.A., 1982 ‘miss wirt’ prototypes/ limited editions V.I.A., 1982 young starck on a prototype for pierre cardin, 1971