Starck naked - Philippe Starck

“Brain-dead” and exhausted following the “loveless” BBC2 Design for Life series where British would-be protégé designers were put through their paces, globally renowned designer – “I am a pain in the ass” – Philippe Starck has consoled himself with his very first kitchen collection. It’s for Miele die Küche which is being rebranded Warendorf. 

He bares his soul to ek&bbusiness

Why did you want to do the BBC2 series Design for Life and how satisfying and stimulating was it?

They proposed something that I longed to do – a masterclass on creativity. Originally it had a different title, The Starck Creativity Team, and later... what was it called? Oh yes, Design for Life. It cost me six months, many hours a day, working together with youngsters and trying to explain the essentials to them. It was exhausting. I almost had no brains left and we lost a lot of work, but I had this high motive. I was more dead than alive by the end. And of course I forgot; this is television. You can cut and cut. There was almost nothing left. Only a Philippe Starck answering yes or no. All the information in between was lost. I watched it for just 10 minutes. You know what? I felt it was so loveless, I even forgot to cry!

You were looking for tomorrow’s designers, yet you say you don’t like designing things any more. Have you made too much?

So much, so much... so many of these things I made. But we are going to make less. Some of the objects I would not design today, but I needed them  as a step towards something else, or a vision. I make mistakes; I am not God. You can check this if you want! Creating is already a 40-year conversation and it is still nowhere near finished. Someone condenses his feelings and thoughts into a song that you can sing in five minutes. I have to talk with chairs or toilet brushes and then I make my composition. Sometimes it is like a major symphony, at other times a small serenade. I am still convinced that all those expressions were necessary when I made them, because I am not a designer; I am an explorer, always following my intuition, aiming to realise a dream. And every time the disappoint­ment comes when it is finished. The material has overtaken my dream. The thought was perfect, but the piece of metal is not. So I always cry when something is realised. I cry a lot.

Why did it take so long for you to enter the kitchen world? We expected this years ago.

I am the fastest and the slowest designer of the world, which means I can draw a chair in 10 minutes, but before that I dream and think, sometimes for 30 years. Many times over the years, ideas for kitchen products have entered my head, but I kept hesitating. 

When Miele approached me I knew I had found the right people at the right time. If I had proposed this kitchen 20 years ago, people would have shouted: ‘This does not fit into my cooking area!’ Nowadays, cooking, computing, eating or just sitting and relaxing have all come together, so time has paved the way for my ideas.

What was the design motivation behind your Starck by Warendorf range?

I can tell you clearly that my dream is to take away a little of the misery and pain other people feel. They have to work their whole lives just to keep warm and to have a roof over their heads. That is ridiculous and such a waste of time: working every day just to be able to afford a house! 

We should develop completely new ideas about working and the costs of living. A good, well-designed, energy-efficient house, at the right price; should that cost so much that you have to work for it every day?

Do you have any influence over marketing the four different Starck by Warendorf kitchen modules?

Nice question. Yes and No. Listen: I am a pain in the ass. You can find me to be the nicest, easiest-going person as a designer. But if something is not going as it should be, I become a nightmare. I can afford this because they make their money through me. They have to respect me and I will respect them. However, I am not a businessman, so if they explain that something is impossible, I don’t start yelling that you have to do what I want. That would be stupid. Designing can also be listening, wishful thinking and accepting logistics.

How far do your Warendorf design ideas reflect the great French cooking tradition?

French cuisine is archaic. I mean that the cooking is very sophisticated, but with the wrong motives. You take some vegetables, some fish and with human magic you transform it into a dish, but in France they do this shrouded in secrecy, as if they develop something in a laboratory. These days the Japanese and Italians are the tops in cooking. In their restaurants you very often find an open area where you can see what the cook is preparing. In France this is usually hidden. How could you ever design an open-space kitchen for them? If you have the best, you should show it. The olive oil beside the cookery books, that is what shelves are for. 

I would love to have a transparent fridge, so I could see my salad. I will install the Warendorf kitchen in my own house, maybe in two houses. I will ask a friend to decorate it, so it really becomes our kitchen.