STARCK

"I'm trying to move towards making objects which are honest, objects for non-consumers, for "modern rebels". Look, there are already millions of excellent chairs which are very comfortable, lamps which provide light, and so on. Is it necessary to create any more? The only question is: what will it bring to the human being who is going to use it? The urgent thing today is not to create a car or a chair which is more beautiful than another; what is urgent is for us all to fight with every means at our disposal against the fact that something is becoming extinct: love." Philippe Starck is a legend. An extraordinary mix of pop star, mad inventor and romantic philosopher, he is also probably the most famous designer in the world. His work is everywhere: from the chic hotels of New York to the FF4900 mail-order house, from the private apartment of a French president to the biggest waste disposal centre in Europe, from hundreds of thousands of chairs and lamps in cafés and homes all over the globe to the toothbrush in your bathroom. Seen together it is a pulsating magma of signs and symbols, a plastic menagerie in which object and meaning collide. Now in the prime of his working life, Starck is leading the way in reconciling objects and the people. This book, made in close collaboration with Starck and containing much material from his personal archives, is the most comprehensive synthesis of his ideas and work to date. "Ich versuche, eine Bresche für auftichtige Objekte zu schlagen, Objekte für Nicht-Konsumenten, für >moderne Rebellen