Indianapolis Museum of Art Blog

A few weeks back I read an interview from the weekly German newspaper Die Zeit with french designer Philippe Starck. I don’t normally make it a habit to read weekly German newspapers. I prefer the bi-weekly ones much better. You know, more objectivity, less fluff.

Starck is a superstar designer, if you will. A design celebrity. Kind of like a Britney Spears of the design world. Just with a beard and a little less crazy. He’s designed countless products and interiors…everything from toothbrushes to hotels and restaurants around the world. In the 1990’s he began championing product longevity as part of his design process. He’s said that a designer’s role is to create more happiness with less. A nice thought.

In this interview Starck said that in two years he’s retiring from design. He’s reached a point in his life where he looks back to the objects he has produced over the past 20 years and has come to the conclusion that he has done nothing but contribute to materialism. “Everything I have created is absolutely unnecessary”

He went on to say that “design is really a terrible way to express oneself.”

The design community took a collective gasp and everyone started lining up to take sides, Read the rest of this entry »

Blogging anyway. So…where to start? I began by making a list of things to talk about. Things I have read recently about design or maybe just some stuff about myself so you can get to know me a little better. You know, something funny and charming that would win you over by the time you finished this first paragraph. I like puppies and I recycle. And there it is.

Okay, well maybe not. Perhaps I’ll just follow Richard’s lead and start off with what I do.

I’m the Senior Graphic Designer here at the IMA. So what does that mean exactly? Any graphic designer will tell you that we get this a lot. Not a big deal. Don’t be afraid to ask if you ever find yourself in this situation. My own family still has trouble figuring out exactly what I spend my day doing. When I was growing up I loved to draw things. I was a drawin’ fool. Mainly Spider-Man and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. This, of course, implied to every adult that knew me that one day I might just become a successful artist. Watch this kid; he’s going places!

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