Interview with Philippe Starck

Philippe Starck seems to be sending mixed messages these days. D Magazine Frontburner reviewed this interview where the French designer proclaimed “design is dead”. Last week at West Week in LA, Starck and David Sutherland unveiled a new collection “RobinWood”, which is the first collaboration between the two furniture giants. Read below for the interview - I think Starck had a great time designing this extraordinary collection, and talks about it in his usual mischievous, irreverant way. But, maybe he just had a great time working with David Sutherland. Wait one month for the May DHome to see more.

Interview with Philippe Starck -

What was the most difficult design challenge?

I never understood how outdoor furniture generated its own style, such a peculiar style that sometimes leads to its own caricature. Nothing naturally led to outdoor furniture as it exists nowadays. It is an inspiration that comes from nowhere and goes nowhere. But outdoor life is as legitimate as indoor life, and I really became interested in this outdoor life and trying to understand the obligatory parameters for outdoor furniture. Analyzing the subject, I realized there was no reason that outdoor furniture should be that different from indoor. Once all the technical issues have been solved, there is no particular reason why style should be so peculiar. That is the reason why I simply brought indoor furniture outside and tried to avoid transforming it.

What was the inspiration behind this collection?

If you take outside a chair which originally was supposed to be in your house, when suddenly carpet turns into grass, wallpaper turns into trees and the ceiling turns into stars, this chair becomes a very poetic element. I plunged into this surrealism, into this poetry within the frame of icons. I tried not to create forms, shapes, tried to avoid creating design, but instead to work the icons of our common shared memory. Those icons mainly come from the great European centuries, even French, from Louis XIV, XV, XVI and so on. It is thus conceptual furniture, synthesized. It belongs to a common global memory and thus it is more interesting to assimilate the references that come from these icons which belong to all of us.

The name Robin Hood came naturally, as Robin Hood is a rebel and he lives in the woods. The positioning of this collection is a rebellious one which states its own personality, its own integrity, its own vision. And of course it is meant to live in the woods and it is made of wood. It is RobinWood Deluxe – Deluxe by its shapes, materials, and elegance.

What is the role of humor and play in this collection?

Humor is linked with surrealism. Sense of humor is a sign of human intelligence. It should be everywhere.

What brought you and David Sutherland together?

So far I had never designed outdoor furniture. I believed the day I would, I would need to collaborate with the best company of the world. Although French, I went to U.S. in order to work with David Sutherland. He is the warrant of products of quality, developed with great intelligence but most of all in a friendly atmosphere of trust and understanding.

Is there one sentence that sums up your overall thoughts about RobinWood?

The secret of the RobinWood Deluxe collection is that it has solved the paradox of being at the same time rebel, classic, timeless and fair.

For further information on this collaboration

Contact: Nicole Gill-Ottinger – NGO Public Relations

312.22.8.8030 or E-Mail: Nicole@ngo-pr.com