.
oops sorry SDR, you got there before me, lets run with yours.
I can see where he is coming from and its good to see he has some capacity for self reflection...but his approach to design allways struck me as mercenary, he could have put his talent to better use.
Form-for-the-sake-of-it is getting pretty tiresome.
Revolution
I think his epiphany reflects his conscious gone "green", and the impact his work has produce. Since he's a pivotal figure in design, his words are megaphones. His message is not original, the original messages have caught up to him.
This reminds me of former environmental polluters/pillagers, whose ambition produced not only wonderful, but also damaging results....They have an epiphany...then denounce whatever they did, and go into seclusion (sort of). If his epiphany is so resonate within him, he should stay and contribute on a more noble level...don't pass the buck.
That's my take at least....
*Updating this, I don't accuse him fully as a polluter, we all are in varying degrees.
good points, I hope he does...
good points, I hope he does try and do something better (whatever that might be) rather than indulging in a fit of hysteria.
We have so much spectacular and novel design that wer'e drowning in it, no one can keep up with all these blogs and magazines, every 5 seconds theres some alarming looking shiny metallic plastic piece of shite thats meant to be an armchair that means NOTHING and solves NOTHING.
The design industry needs a cold shower, were supposed to be thoughtful people who care about what it is we do, not oinks sitting in a shiny bathtub full of cash splashing it around and congratulating ourselves about how clever and glamorous we are.
A bit of sobriety can only be a good thing.
Huh, who'da thunk it?
I have two reactions to reading his quotes. First, thet indeed his consciousness seems to be reaised, which is a good thing. I was never really a starck fan. I found his stuff too frivoulous...and I guess he now thinks that too. But my second thought is that he shouldn't be ashamed of his work. Yes, much of it was design for the sake of design, which is landfill fodder in the making. Rather than design to meet a need or solve a problem...where beauty of form arrises from the elegance of the solution. But, something Starck did do which, I'd argue was valuable even if it was unintended, was to create design awareness. His 'star power' brought the idea of design to the masses. This IS a good thing. The more we are conscious of what we design and consume the better.
Rest in peace...
No, I do not wish design to be dead, but it would be nice if all this visual pollution that was so abundantly displayed by P.S. would stop being considered an achievement for himself and a goal for so many young designers. As Heath points out, the virtual world grows every day with an exponential amount of useless ideas, solving un-existing problems and showing of the incapacity to see the real ones and solve them or at least make an interesting start that can evolve into a solution.
As so many others P.S. is a product of his time and who knows, he might be able to de-fashion the kind of design that he made so fashionable, but I have my doubts. P.S. is not a product of himself, he never was. He was sponsored pushed and promoted by a French government and a delinquent industry in need for an ?ornament? on its bowsprit base. I suspect that that need will continue and that someone else will become the darling of that kind of design. Now that they have succeeded in hijacking ?design? and erode its noble origins and causes, why would they give it back? The King is dead?long live the King!
So Philippe, after a career of navel gazing you let the curtain fall on what you think was a useless career?Yes you are to harsh on yourself, you put smiles on rich people?s faces, you were at times a talented clown, a well rounded performer (yes you need a personal trainer especially if your interest is now reduced to "a pillow perhaps and a good mattress." We watched with a certain amount of envy. Nobody ever knew what we envied, certainly not your products, interiors or architecture, probably not the visibility either. Most people know the high price that comes with it, not the attention because most of us also know how demanding it is to continuously live up to people?s expectations. So it probably was envy in its purest form, just for the heck of it!
Rest in peace dear friend and while you are at it, make it a ? Sardanapalus? agony? (see Eugène Delacroix or Lord Byron) and take your followers with you.
not so sure about derivative ...
not so sure about derivative but yeah I agree very self conscious.
Too much ego in contemporaray design and its expected to be so , any designers who want to buck the trend and produce modest objects without fanfare have a hard time of it.
Hopefully with so many voices shouting 'look at me' the ones who shut up might get the quality attention if Starcks renunciation is a harbinger of change.
More than dead I'd think design is in the "limbo".
About Philly...
Mmmmm design is dead, that's why he is going to retire in 2 years... Mmmmmmmm.
If design is seriously ill, he was the one that more help it to go in that direction. And he admitted it.
If it is really like that, When design will resuscitate? in 2 years and a day?
About design is dead...
I also think design is ill. Became a devaluated word. I really hope design is in the "limbo".
Tiborocity
What a sad little article! No reason given for this turnaround (not that I bothered to google it further).
I think what he says about his designs being useless has a level of truth to it. Who has ever had any success with the damn orange juicer. But his plastic ghost chairs still show up everywhere!
The whole thing also reminds me of Tibor Kalman - who, when faced with the prospect of a design world continuously looking for newness, freshness, complexity, returned to the most basic un-designy designs. Starcke could learn a lesson from Tibor - no need to give up, just start over. Figure out why his designs are useless, and correct the mistakes.
The problem with Starcke is that design, as he knows it, IS dead. Instead of solving problems his designs play with materials. Instead of usefullness we get social commentary and kitsch. People are tired of irony and kitsch. They want - as has been already stated - something that DOES something.
the reality is...
The bottom line is this. People are ALWAYS going to need STUFF. And in these times of environmental awareness, the need for STUFF that is eco-friendly, is more paramount than ever. And we NEED designers to create this eco-friendly STUFF. What we don't need is another bloody citrus juicer that doesn't actually work Mr Starck!
the reality is...
The bottom line is this. People are ALWAYS going to need STUFF. And in these times of environmental awareness, the need for STUFF that is eco-friendly, is more paramount than ever. And we NEED designers to create this eco-friendly STUFF. What we don't need is another bloody citrus juicer that doesn't actually work Mr Starck!
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