Design for Life

Starks presence in this world grows daily as he designs and redesigns artefacts and archetypes for the current and future generations. It’s very interesting to see Starck’s personality on film rather than though his design. He’s just so animated and passionate about design, it’s almost like putting a voice into one of his objects

The structure of the show somewhat resembles our studio practices which is good to know we are being prepared for the real world. Starck is constantly reinforcing that the students must look for the story behind the product and “question whether we need to design more products”. Something that I think should be considered further within our course.

It’s very interesting to watch the contestant’s tangent off on a path and receive a scalding from stark for not evolving their designs in a positive way. I guess I can relate to this and once again it reinforces the need to constantly re-evaluate what you’re doing at every stage.

Too often people don’t consider the full impact their product will make on the world. Trends today seem to have made design reliant on its social impact, rather than its cultural responsibility to be well considered, timeless, sustainable and functional. Starck’s theory of democratic design is admirable and so is his commitment to sustainability.

It is easy to see why Starck wants to help shape the future into a thoughtful utopia but I would argue that Starck has also been guilty in contributing to the problem. Sometimes, offering new form to a product can inevitably detract from its intended function. For example his Alessi kettle is original and has a thought provoking aesthetic but lacks all functionality. At times Starck seems harsh, but you come to realise how much he truly values his time, and how much his life and his work are intrinsically linked.

“If you think everything is easy.HAHAHAHAHA...No it wont work like that. In the end it’s work work work, but if you work on a bad platform, you will arrive nowhere.”- Philippe Starck