Very well put, Mr. Wakefield.

Mr. Starck... what say you?

Well, I think Starck is right. But in what sense? The poor people in the world (meaning the majority of the world) need doctors, educators, and other professionals to help them. Where does the designer come in? What is his/her importance? How much can he/she help the majority of the world population? Compared to other professionals in my humble opinion, their importance is almost near zero! Today the problem in my opinion is over consumption. Especially when it is related to global warming and the financial crisis facing the
world. In a world of hard competition and a harsh reality, Starck nicely says sums it up " But the thing one needs most, he added, was the "ability to love".

mh, I won't argue with that. We're for smart consumption here at MoCo, ie., consume what you need, leave a small footprint on the planet. All I'm saying is that Starck is in a unique position to make a difference in that regard and that designers that make that difference should be applauded.

Hear hear - if only...!

Justin, the designer, contrary to popular (and Starck) belief, is not necessarily just an artsy-fartsy scarf-wearer whose only job is to add cool-points to pointless objects. The creative tool kit, which is what the designer uses professionally, can - and should - be used to solve very real problems, as is pointed to (although not nearly seriously enough) by the :INDEX design award project, and others.

But as long as the tone setting designers refuse to take that kind of responsibility, the rest of us aren't taken seriously when claiming this is, in fact, a job for a creative professional, and one that we can, in fact, already do...

Every design studio in the world is becoming green!!!
Ubik, Starck's design studio, was until now less green than some competitors...

Indeed. Phillipe, use your clout to change the world you are in, don't step out of it.

I just read your letter to the great Phillipe Starck and felt that I had to respond.

Are you high? You are asking that one of the most accomplished and talented designers to walk away from design? Yes, Starck himself admittedly struggles with the realities and hypocrisies of the industry but as a critique and fan you shouldn't encourage retirement. There is almost nothing greater than to see a design legend working well into their twilight (think Sottsass or Johnson or Niemeyer). These people are our heros, asking for early retirement is shameful.

Lastly, as a designer, sadly you cannot just knock clients over the head and tell them "GO GREEN!" It's not the way it works, no matter who you are. He doesn't produce, distribute or sell these things, he designs them.

well...
see here and i loved to have some of the stuff he had before his speech...;-))
bthw. i love him he is a great character and we shouldn't take him more serious than he does himself!!

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/197

I saw Karim Rashid give a talk the other night and someone raised this question to him. He seemed to think it was more selfish than anything - that just as Mr. Starck is retiring, he conveniently proclaims, "design is a dreadful form of expression."

I love how Stark acknowledges something and the response is basically to say "um, well, we've mentioned this, but he had better be pure before he starts uttering this shit for real." There are a lot of us out here who are approaching a similar place to Stark and we're sick of being met with this glare.

Jesper: why are you lecturing to me?

Newls: are YOU high? Re -read the post.

he did the same teasing when he was 49 , now he's 59... and design is only 10% of his business.

One of his 20 businesses is Yoo = 50,000 apartments in the world… Yoo by Starck is currently working on 20,000 new ones
it’s enough to stop designing!!!

It seems that Newis missed the main part of the article, that Starck himself is saying he is retiring early, not Harry asking for that. Harry is asking that a designer with such clout stay in the game and urge the industry to think a bit better about materiality. The world does need designers just as much as doctors to help them, if designers weren't present we would still be nomadic people killing our food with rocks, everything in the human world has been designed to this point. If we stopped then how would human evolution continue to progress.
The direction just needs to shift from designers who don't think about the final outcome of there products to designers who wholely realize the entire life, use, death, consumption of there products, and making sure that companies they work for are too.

The premise of the question is fundamentally flawed, and I've never understood why MoCo Loco persists with this grade-school essay level of questioning.

Sure - the world is already full of "stuff"; but there are many reasons to design and build more: Make things perform better; be more ergonomic; afford more uses and flexibility of use; use less toxic or non-sustainable materials, and yes - go green where possible.

Why no-one seems to have pointed out all this before I don't know.

I wish someone would design a fresher, better tasting light beer.

Mr Starck loves to show off. It's easy to say I am "ashamed of it" while his royalties keep his pockets full of money. If you wanna stop. Stop selling at all. Stop receiving money for your useless product and return all the money you earned up to now.

Mr Starck give me a break. I am a designer and I know how difficult it is to show people that we have a serious job and you who has world wide recognition say something like this. It is irresponsible. You are a showman not a designer at all.

probably he thinks mass customizing will kill conventional design.

"In the future there will be no more designers. The designers of the future will be the personal coach, the gym trainer, the diet consultant," i think design is a profession and will be a profession but it has to change, to fit in our age. the big difference is that the customer will more and more affect the specific design of a product - especially if its not mainly function oriented.

design is a knowledge base from which everyone in the society should benefit.

the future of sustainable design is open source product design - we are trying to establish a platform:
http://www.opensourceproductdesign.org/

Starck is sort of ashamed of his industry and feels like giving up. Of course he is, aren't we all a little bit? We are not curing diseases or stopping wars. We are creators. That is our talent and our livelihood. The community should support each other, not discourage and set ultimatums. Collaborate and co-habitate.

this is definitely an interesting conversation... one that really has no answer but rather an infinite amount of possibilities... haha.. sound smart right? Designers are problem solvers.. just like the doctor when you come into the hospital... both have the ability to make your life better, more efficient and healthier. The fusion of the health professions and the design world is something that has fascinated me for some time now... i am a therapist and currently prepping for my masters in design... and i really do feel a responsibility to create good throughout the course of my lifetime. It's a simple goal... one that may leave me broke but maybe not... If you think very openly about it one could argue that the designer may have the ability to create huge change in this world both for good and bad.. we all just hope that we make the correct decisions and plan for a better future.
thats my take... sorry for the ramble...
ps- i like miller lite.. can a light beer really get any better tasting?

I am tired of these narrow definitions of design and its output. Product design extends beyond the limits of the pages of Wallpaper magazine. Is Phillipe worried that maybe someone will design a better toilet brush than him? It is disingenuous in the least to think design is a static profession and that a line can be drawn under what has already been done. If this was the case we would all be driving Model T Fords etc. New technologies and new industries need new designs and dare I say it, new designers. We may not need a better butter dish but there are plenty of challenges in the medical and health care industries, design for the disabled and elderly, sustainable development and the list goes on. I can think of a lot of really important products that Phil hasn't tackled [that don't need to look like a carrot] which will keep designers busy and fulfilled. Maybe planned obsolescence can apply to designers.
PS I love his work but he is starting to turn into a grumpy old man.

This is not the first time I hear this from Stark and he has added a lot of staff since then. So I am wondering if this statement is not age-connected - with some kind of depression? Or just a way to attract attention again? Either way, I do not agree, of course, design shapes the world and cannot be dead. On the other hand - no one is perfect and it is not hard to find things that one can be ashamed of, even Starck.

I always love it when big-name designers talk this way. It's the same as a rock star saying "Rock and Roll is dead" while putting out another mindless rock album.

That type of talk is meant to get everyone riled up, and to get his name mentioned a bit more. Honestly, I'm trying to remember the last time I thought about Starck until now, and I think it was early 2007.

Someone above mentioned that they felt the "full of stuff" question was inherently flawed... but I urge that person to look back at all of the MoCo interviews that ask that question... every designer has a very specific and, in my opinion, character-defining answer to that question. You don't get creative answers by asking pointed questions full of big words— you have to make your questions simple and vague in order to let the answer have real meaning to the reader.

Frankly, I enjoy that line of questioning. Starck's answer is essentially self-deprecating while still being astoundingly egotistical, something we unfortunately see a lot in the design "community".

if you make a search on INDEX AWARD , design to improve life, the answer is:
HERE IS THE RESULT OF YOUR SEARCH:
The search - starck - generated no hits.

It's all PR spin, my dear Moco friends.

Example: Stark, through his past seminars and public talks at the ICFF, has completely contradicted himself from one year to the next. Nobody ever cares because they are enthralled to sit at these talks in hopes of gleaning a scrap of design & marketing wisdom from the master.

...And he is a Master of PR... and tells you exactly want you want to hear depending upon which way the design market is blowing.

Starck is an extremly talented man.. but a world-class phoney. And we eat it up.

Don't forget he says everything HE designed was unnecessary.

The invention of the wheel sure wasn't useless.

Good thing we don't rely on only one designer to evolve.

This post represents why Harry Wakefield is my hero.

i'm with you sally :)

+ i enjoyed a bit of your talk at dwell home silicon valley saturday!
i overheard people saying you know everything + every source for green homes

(my little daughter wouldn't let me catch the whole talk. at least she went through the whole house tour. then she she had to watch the chocolate chip cookies bake in the electrolux oven + spend an hour in the home cinema room with the $10,000 projector watch nemo)

Harry Wakefield 's edito is a red dot... to the designer of guns series
(some prototypes of this weapon was exhibit to buzz in Milan 2005) .
Peter Zec from red dot award told about PS and industrial design ( read the article in Metropolis) ...
Gerard Garouste, a french painter closed to him told : "he is not a designer, he is a sculptor" ...
Starck said : "i'm not de designer"...
So he will be an artist as Jeff Koon + hotels in partnership with Arab princes+ building with Yoo and Jager+ space with Branson +Key, branding for asia with french ad managers + Xo design company +co-branding+ royalties of "long sell"products.++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Milan 2008 is close and it's a Starck buzz with a "no product "
Following John B, i can say he is a Master of PR... and just married with a nice LVMH's PR manager, world master of Luxe...

Zuy, est-ce qu'on peut voir la version francaise de ton commentaire?

I would not tell him to wind down faster but to rapidly help design fabulous products to help the clue less urbanite who wants to GYO ( grow your own) food...
Electrolux is to my knowledge one of the only brands to be seriously looking at how any of us can grow food indoor or out as easily as we use a DVD ...
See the VEGE and The Hydroponic veg sphere
That will save food miles and it is only that way the mainstream will get growing ...
This is an SOS to PS!

The problem as I see it is not in designing new (and fabulous) things... take a look around you.. walk into a Target, Walmart, into any shopping mall and you'll see the real problem... the mountains of "cheap" stuff that's out there. By cheap, I don't mean inexpensive, I mean, how it's made, how long it's life cycle is... stuff that is designed to be obsolete the moment it leaves the store, if not before!

I wish there was more emphasis on good, long lasting design that can expand the life of a given thing beyond one user (like the heirlooms of yore) instead, we as consumers are bombarded with crap that needs to be replaced almost immediately. this keeps us con$uming all the time and it damages our planet in the long haul..

Please!!!

The last time I willingly read something Stark said...
He was talking about wanting to design a tampon.
I haven't paid attention to him since at least until I
came across this thread.

He is just a sensationalist.

STARCK RADIO INTERVIEW : very interesting but in french...
France inter Radio
http://www.radiofrance.fr/franceinter/em/nonobstant/index.php?id=65075
>click on : écoutez l'émission du lundi 17 mars 2008

=>End of design = bionism...
my comments:
=> nota design will be more concept, less material...=> "design is dead" is the buzz before Milan furniture fair 2008 = gun buzz 2005 (less Starck furniture than in 2007)
=>China will be your Master in 10 or 20 years...=> nota he is to Asia with Key (branding agency) and with Yoo (real estate + interior), he dvp partnerships with some hyperrich from India and China and may be some BON (restaurants) after Paris 2 and Moscow...

> he said i never read this book => but i think it's a book to read to understand his strategic thinking: world Go player... chinese strategy
LE CAS PHILIPPE STARCK OU DE LA CONSTRUCTION DE LA NOTORIÉTÉ de Christine Bauer

"Everything I designed was unnecessary. I will definitely give up in two years’ time."

HE'S Being SARCASTIC!
and you're missing the hilarity of his comment.

1. A true designer doesn't just "give up" design
2. He's going to give it up in two years. not NOW... in two years. That is deliberately noncommittal. If he meant it, he'd do it now. But he doesn't mean it.. It's like saying "I think what I'm doing is totally wrong... and I'll stop in a couple of years."

I will stop now because it's a buzz... this year his work is dominated by new riches in Asia, in Russia ... not by Milan. In Europe it's only communication, promotion, book, cristal vase... and buzz...

I have the news now: as Starck was out of new tech (see major US design studio as fuseproject, Ideo...), out of the new future of design (see "design and elastic Mind" in MoMA) ... he dvp before Milan furniture fair a global buzz ("design is dead")... In fact it's a tease for a new product range in co-branding... His strategy is now to dvp more and more a brand strategy with co-branding and brand is immaterial... The go game now is against major US studio... and not against plastic man Karim Rashid.

But wait!
obsolescence is a crucial design element, not a naughty word.
Take nature as a guide; successful systems are cyclical.
our very bodies are disposing of zillions of dead cells all the time...
the real problem is too much permanence; the products we make aren't utilitarian enough throughout their life-span...they dont become other things / have other uses.
we need to think more about 'catalysts', 'enzymes', 'interfaces'; you know, things that effect changes in materials.
Surf the entropic nature of things, as it were.
change enables life

ps
"Starck will eat itself"

Heres a good question: Has anything that starck has recreated, been made better? More functional?

I think in that, you will realize that he isn't a designer, but an artist, a sculptor; as someone mentioned several posts back. Hence what he makes are just pretty things.