Industrial Designer and Architect
Political, ethical, subversive, ecological, humorous: this is how Philippe Starck sees his duty as a creator.
Despite more than 10,000 creations — completed or in the making — his global fame and his tireless protean inventiveness, he never forgets the essential. He has a mission and a vision: creation, whatever shape it takes, must make life better for the largest number of people possible. He believes this highly poetic, political, rebellious, benevolent, pragmatic and subversive duty must be borne by all and he does it with the humor that has accompanied his approach since the earliest days. He firmly believes that, while no one is forced to be a genius, everyone has to take part.
A citizen of the world, he considers it his duty to share his ethical and subversive vision of a fairer planet by creating unconventional places and objects with a purpose of being ‘good’ before being beautiful.
His profound comprehension of contemporary mutations, his enthusiasm for imagining new lifestyles, his determination to change the world, his devotion to positive de-growth, his love of ideas, his desire to defend the intelligence of usefulness — and the usefulness of intelligence — have accompanied one iconic creation after another. From everyday products such as furniture and citrus squeezers, to revolutionary mega-yachts, hotels and restaurants that aspire to be wondrous, stimulating and intensely vibrant places, he never ceases in pushing the boundaries and requirements of contemporary design.
From individual windmills to a smart thermostat, electric bikes, or innovative and ecological wooden prefabricated houses — soon to be followed by solar boats and space habitation modules — his technological miracles are vectors of democratic ecology, focused on action and a respect for the future of both humans and nature.
Predicting the phenomena of convergence and dematerialization, he has always devised objects that demand the most from the least. The solutions provided by his dreams are so vital, so essential, that he was the first Frenchman to be invited to speak at the legendary TED conferences.
He is an inventor, creator, architect, designer and artistic director, but above all, he is a man of honesty, in the purest tradition of the Renaissance artists.
Photo credit: Jean-Baptiste Mondino
