Design Features A Profile of Philippe Starck

Date Published:

10/06/2008

Many of us are probably most familiar with Starck from his work with Grohe on their bathroom fittings. Here, with more than a cheeky wink to his customers, Starck has pretty much taken the idea that the classic tap vaguely resembles a willy and gleefully developed this concept to its obvious conclusion.

Restaurant 'Kong', Paris, 2003

It should come as no surprise to anyone who reads the Taschen book Starck on Starck or indeed who visits his website (www.philippe-starck.com) that this remorselessly playful and inventive man should want to get into our underwear, our beds and even our toilets and make them better for us.

As he says himself in Starck on Starck: 'If, designing a toothbrush, I thought of nothing but the toothbrush, I'd be dumb or venal. I try to be neither: that's the duty I recognise. I have to think of the mouth this brush will enter; I have to acquaint myself with its owner. I need to know the kind of society that has given rise to this life. I need to acquaint myself with the species of animal that created this civilisation.'

Obviously much of this creativity stems from the fact that companies wishing to be associated with his clear zeal for modern, workable design see in Starck a magnificent engine to be harnessed to their product marketing. It's a good move.

Today Starck's name is associated with innumerable projects in innumerable different fields, and if he is yet to fail in any of them, then it is not common knowledge. His astonishing career has so far netted him more awards than David Beckham has product endorsements including Oscar du luminaire: France (1980), the Harvard Excellence in Design award: USA (1997) and Chevalier de l'Ordre National de la Legion d'Honneur: France (2000) amongst many others.

Armchair 'Louis Ghost' for Kartell, 2002

And if that wasn't enough he's also found time to father three children who doubtless paint, paste and 're-imagine' at their father's knee as he once did.

Much of Starck's restless creativity might seem to be explained by his love and understanding of the environment. As he says himself in Starck on Starck: 'I have grown closer to the stars by acknowledging the little hillock of mud on which I stand.'

It is perhaps his grasp of the environment and his understanding that any addition should sit seamlessly within that setting and not on top of it like a statue to be applauded that raises him above many of the modernists who seem to have inspired him. His easily apparent humour which seems to run the entire gamut between high-brow and decidedly low-brow resonates in those who use his many products and walk through his many environments.

Just as a good sense of humour makes those we love easy to live with so Starck's idiosyncratic and far from poe-faced outlook on life make his improvements to our environment acceptable, even comfortable.

Currently there seem very few signs of the creative juggernaut that is Starck ever juddering to a halt. Indeed, if he truly does 'produce out of sheer idleness', one wonders what might be achieved if he ever woke up and decided to really, really knuckle down for a bit. But if Phillipe Starck should ever regretfully develop a taste for high quality skunk, X-box, pot noodles, golf or daytime TV, then the world would inevitably be a poorer place as a result.