PHILIPPE STARCK Philippe Starck was born on January 18 1949 in Paris, France. He has become widely known since the start of his career in the 1980s for his interior product, industrial and architectural design work. After setting up his first industrial design company, Starck Product (later known as Ubik) he began working with manufacturers in Italy such as Kartell, Alessi and Driade. For the past thirty years Starck has been designing luxurious hotels and restaurants all around the world. One of his recent projects is “Yoo inspired by Starck” which is a complex of luxurious apartments all around the world. On the contrary, Starck is known for his “democratic design” concept- well designed, quality objects that are affordable to a wider range of population.
PRODUCT Target Group Starck is famous for his democratic design, which makes his products more affordable and mass produced. The target group are open-‐minded individuals around the age of 35 with more of a creative soul and an extrovert personality.
Physical His products are usually things of everyday use. Not only he designs pieces of furniture such as chairs, lamps, room decoration etc. but he also designs kitchenware, speakers, headphones, bikes etc. So most of his products are quite practical and functional. His designs are minimalistic usually of an organic shape, slightly curved and we don’t see many sharp edges in his designs. Most of his work is made out of artificial and light materials. Starck uses bright colours as well as very simple colour spectre-‐ silver, grey, white, black. Adding bright colours to his designs creates a fun and an interesting look. All of his products are well-‐made and of a high quality.
Symbolic Starck’s products might be influenced by other cultures-‐ Japanese simplicity, Italian Futurism and American Streamlining. He is also interested in science fiction and that might inspire him to give his designs more of a futuristic look.
Reflection Philippe Starck is one of the most well known contemporary designers and his work is not only focusing on being decorative, some of his pieces are also showing a “political message” and he’s also concerned with the environment and ecology. His works can be found in museums in Europe and the USA.
User Functional As he designs many everyday use products that are quite affordable it’s possible to make the user’s apartment more interesting in details. For example, using his famous lemon squeezer might not be the most efficient but also functions as an unusual decoration in the kitchen.
Emotional His products will say a lot about the user’s identity since he/she can play around with different colour combination, combining Starck’s minimalistic and some over-‐the-‐top products. Starck’s designs offer the user to get creative and express their own personality.
Culture The Person Philippe Starck is defining the style of his designs by his personality. He is creating products for different companies under his name.
DESIGNS
Louis Ghost Chair (Kartell)
Wireless Speakers (Zikmu)
Gun Table Lamp (Flos Lighting)
Juicy Salif Citrus-‐Squeezer (Alessi)