Ross Lovegrove: The power and beauty of organic design

Summary

El discurso de Lovegrove, conocido como Capitán Orgánico, explora su amor por la forma y cómo esta toca las almas y emociones humanas. Defiende la creación de formas inteligentes, rechazando el blobismo y el consumismo artificial. Su proceso de diseño, influenciado por la naturaleza y el arte, se basa en la observación, la curiosidad e intuición, buscando formas orgánicas y esenciales que se integran en la vida cotidiana. Lovegrove comparte su visión de un futuro sostenible, utilizando materiales innovadores y procesos que reflejan la eficiencia y la belleza de la naturaleza.

Takeaways

• 😄 El orador, Lovegrove, se identifica con un lado 'extraño y feo' y lucha constantemente con ello, lo que refleja en su enfoque en la creatividad y la disciplina.
• 🎨 Lovegrove es conocido como 'Capitán Orgánico', lo que refleja su posición filosófica y estética en el diseño.
• 🏺 El discurso se centra en la importancia de la forma en el diseño y cómo puede tocar las emociones y el alma de las personas, sugiriendo que nuestra apreciación de la forma es intrínseca y arraigada en nuestra evolución.
• 🤖 Lovegrove está interesado en la creación de 'forma inteligente' y rechaza el 'blobismo' y otros enfoques superficiales en el diseño contemporáneo.
• 🌱 Él promueve el uso de materiales sostenibles y el diseño que respete y eleve la percepción de los objetos cotidianos, enfocándose en el desarrollo de empaques que realcen las ideas.
• 🧬 Lovegrove introduce el concepto de 'DNA': Diseño, Naturaleza, Arte, que son los tres pilares que condicionan su trabajo.
• 👨‍🎨 Se inspira en observadores y creadores como Leonardo da Vinci, y utiliza su instinto y curiosidad para desarrollar diseños innovadores.
• 🔧 Lovegrove describe su proceso de diseño, que incluye la maqueta digital y el prototipado rápido, para revelar estructuras celulares y aplicarlas en diseños prácticos.
• 💧 El diseño de un frasco de agua es presentado como un ejemplo de su enfoque en la simplicidad y la funcionalidad, donde el frasco se adapta a las necesidades de diferentes usuarios y se ve afectado por el nivel de agua.
• 🚗 Lovegrove comparte su visión del automóvil del futuro, que sería más sencillo y posiblemente hecho de componentes biopolímeros, en contraste con la complejidad actual de los vehículos.
• 🌿 Finalmente, Lovegrove enfatiza la importancia de la observación de la naturaleza y la aplicación de patrones naturales en el diseño, buscando crear objetos que sean orgánicos y esenciales.

Q & A

¿Quién es Lovegrove y cómo se describe a sí mismo en el discurso?

Lovegrove es un diseñador conocido como 'Captain Organic', quien describe su posición filosófica y estética en el discurso. Se refiere a sí mismo como un 'traductor del siglo XXI de la tecnología en productos cotidianos' y menciona tener un lado 'extraño y raro' que lucha constantemente.

¿Cuál es la posición filosófica y estética de Lovegrove sobre el diseño?

Lovegrove aboga por el 'diseño inteligente' y rechaza el 'blobismo' y otros estilos superficiales en el diseño. Él valora el diseño que eleve la percepción y el respeto por los materiales y los productos que se usan en la vida diaria.

¿Qué es 'DNA' según Lovegrove y cómo influye en su trabajo?

Para Lovegrove, 'DNA' significa 'Diseño, Naturaleza, Arte'. Estos tres elementos condicionan su mundo y su proceso creativo, inspirándose en la observación, la curiosidad e instinto para crear diseños que impacten emocionalmente.

¿Cómo describe Lovegrove el proceso de diseño de su botella de agua y cómo se relaciona con su filosofía de diseño?

Lovegrove describe el proceso de diseño de su botella de agua como una que se adapta y se moldea al contenido, cambiando de forma según el nivel del agua. Esta adaptabilidad y la simplicidad del diseño reflejan su filosofía de 'diseño orgánico' y 'diseño esencial'.

¿Qué le inspira a Lovegrove en el ámbito de la tecnología y los materiales para el futuro del diseño?

Lovegrove se inspira en los nuevos materiales como los biopolímeros y en la tecnología de la impresión tridimensional. Predice un futuro donde los materiales y procesos más sencillos y naturales se utilizarán en el diseño de productos.

¿Cómo relaciona Lovegrove el diseño con la forma en la que evolucionan las especies en la naturaleza?

Lovegrove ve un paralelismo entre el diseño y la evolución natural, donde las formas orgánicas y esenciales surgen de un proceso de selección natural y crecimiento. Él busca imitar esos patrones en su trabajo de diseño.

¿Qué es la silla de magnesio 'Go' y por qué es significativa en el diseño de Lovegrove?

La silla 'Go' es el primer sillón hecho en magnesio, lo que representa un avance en el uso de materiales ligeros y fuertes en el diseño. Es significativa porque refleja su enfoque en el 'diseño esencial' y su capacidad para innovar en el uso de materiales.

¿Cuál es la visión de Lovegrove para el transporte del futuro y cómo se refleja en su concepto de automóvil?

Lovegrove imagina un transporte del futuro que es sencillo, integrado y respetuoso con el medio ambiente, como su concepto de un automóvil de tres ruedas con paneles solares y componentes integrados, que se abren y cierran como una 'caja de pan'.

¿Cómo describe Lovegrove su proceso creativo y su estudio?

Lovegrove describe su proceso creativo como una mezcla de instinto, observación y tecnología, con un estudio lleno de prototipos y objetos que lo inspiran. Se refiere a su estudio como un lugar entre un museo de historia natural y un laboratorio de la NASA.

¿Qué es el concepto de 'Plasnet' y cómo se relaciona con la visión de Lovegrove para el diseño sostenible?

El 'Plasnet' es un concepto de silla en biopolicarbonato que Lovegrove está desarrollando en Italia. Representa su visión de diseño sostenible, utilizando materiales que son más naturales y respetuosos con el medio ambiente.

¿Cómo ve Lovegrove la relación entre el diseño y la arquitectura en su trabajo?

Lovegrove busca crear un diseño de muebles y sistemas de transporte que se integren y se adapten a la arquitectura contemporánea, en lugar de simplemente colocar piezas de diseño clásicas en espacios arquitectónicos.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introducción y Filosofía del Diseño

El orador, Lovegrove, se presenta a sí mismo y comparte su apodo 'Capitán Orgánico', que refleja tanto una posición filosófica como estética. Expresa su desdén por el 'blobismo' y otros estilos superficiales en diseño, y su preferencia por la forma inteligente y el diseño sostenible. Lovegrove enfatiza la importancia de la forma en la conexión emocional y la percepción del usuario, y menciona su enfoque en el 'DNA' del diseño: Diseño, Naturaleza y Arte, inspirándose en observadores curiosos e instintivos como Leonardo da Vinci.

05:01

🌿 Inspiración Natural y Procesos de Diseño

Lovegrove explora su fascinación por las formas naturales y cómo estas inspiran su trabajo en diseño. Comparte su proceso de diseño, que incluye la observación, la curiosidad y el uso de técnicas de prototipado rápido para revelar estructuras celulares. Reflexiona sobre la rapidez con la que se diseñan productos modernos en comparación con la evolución de la naturaleza y cómo su enfoque en los patrones de crecimiento naturales influye en sus diseños, desde sillas de magnesio hasta ideas futuristas para muebles y vehículos.

10:01

🛠 Innovación en Materiales y Tecnología

El diseñador se enfoca en la innovación con materiales y tecnologías新兴的, como los biopolímeros y el proceso de gas-inyectado para crear sillas de poliuretano. Lovegrove habla sobre su deseo de simplificar y reducir el número de componentes en diseños complejos, como los automóviles, y presenta su visión de un vehículo del futuro inspirado en una gota de agua, que incorpora energía solar y diseños integrados. También menciona su trabajo en muebles y sistemas de transporte que se integran más naturalmente en el entorno arquitectónico.

15:03

🎨 Arte, Instalaciones y el Lugar del Diseño en la Vida

Lovegrove concluye su charla mostrando su arte y sus instalaciones, como la 'Superliquidity', que representa su investigación escultórica. Comparte su visión de cómo el diseño orgánico puede contribuir significativamente a nuestra sensibilidad y relaciones con los objetos, y cómo su estudio, lleno de prototipos e inspiraciones de la naturaleza y la tecnología, es un lugar de trabajo y autoinspiración. Finalmente, Lovegrove agradece la inspiración de James Watson y recalca la necesidad de un nuevo instinto para el diseño en el siglo XXI.

Keywords

💡Forma

La 'forma' se refiere a la apariencia física o la estructura de un objeto. En el video, el hablante está interesado en crear 'forma inteligente', lo que indica que busca un diseño que no solo sea estético, sino que también cumpla con una función o propósito. Ejemplos en el guion incluyen la botella de agua y la silla de magnesio, donde la forma está diseñada para adaptarse a las necesidades humanas y ser a la vez atractiva y funcional.

💡Organismo

El 'Organismo' es un término que describe a cualquier ser vivo, y en el contexto del video, se utiliza para enfatizar la conexión del hablante con la naturaleza y los patrones de crecimiento naturales. El hablante menciona que su trabajo es inspirado en los organismos y sus formas, como se ve en su proceso de diseño que busca emular la simplicidad y la eficiencia de la naturaleza.

💡Diseño Industrial

El 'Diseño Industrial' es una disciplina que se enfoca en la forma, la función y la apariencia de los productos manufacturados. El hablante se autodenomina 'Capitán Orgánico' y habla sobre su papel como traductor de la tecnología al diseño industrial, creando productos que la gente usa diariamente y que se relacionan con la tecnología de manera natural y hermosa.

💡Biopolímero

Un 'Biopolímero' es un tipo de polímero que se produce a partir de materias primas renovables y que puede ser biodegradable. En el video, el hablante menciona los biopolímeros como el futuro de los materiales, sugiriendo que en un plazo de aproximadamente una década, estos se utilizarán en diseños que reemplacen a los polymeros convencionales para aplicaciones más importantes y sostenibles.

💡Naturaleza

La 'Naturaleza' es un concepto amplio que abarca todo lo que se encuentra en el mundo físico, excluyendo a los seres humanos y sus creaciones. El hablante destaca la importancia de la naturaleza en su proceso creativo, utilizando patrones y formas naturales para influir en sus diseños, como se refleja en su admiración por la forma en que la naturaleza 'mejora con un propósito cada vez mayor'.

💡Innovación

La 'Innovación' implica la introducción de nuevas ideas, métodos o productos. El hablante describe su enfoque en el diseño como una forma de pensar innovador, tomando inspiración de la naturaleza y los patrones de crecimiento para desarrollar nuevas formas y productos que sean orgánicos y esenciales.

💡Tecnología

La 'Tecnología' se refiere a la aplicación de conocimiento científico para prácticas工具, sistemas y materiales que sirven para satisfacer necesidades humanas. El hablante se presenta a sí mismo como un traductor de la tecnología en productos del diseño industrial, utilizando la tecnología para crear formas que la gente puede usar y apreciar en su vida diaria.

💡Sostenibilidad

La 'Sostenibilidad' se refiere a la capacidad de un proceso o sistema para mantenerse a largo plazo sin dañar el entorno o los recursos. El guion del video menciona la sostenibilidad en el contexto de los materiales y diseños, como con los biopolímeros y la reducción de componentes en un automóvil, lo que sugiere un enfoque en la creación de diseños que sean amigables con el medio ambiente y durables.

💡Arte

El 'Arte' es una expresión o aplicación de la creatividad o imaginación que tiene un valor estético o emocional. El hablante compara su proceso de diseño con el arte, especialmente con el impresionismo, y menciona que sus procesos y conceptos se venden como obras de arte, lo que indica que el diseño que él crea tiene un valor estético y una conexión emocional profunda.

💡Integración Holística

La 'Integración Holística' se refiere a la unificación de partes en un todo coherente. El hablante menciona la 'integración holística' en relación con el diseño de un automóvil de tres ruedas y una escalera, donde todos los elementos están diseñados para trabajar juntos de manera eficiente y armónica, creando un diseño que es más que la suma de sus partes.

💡Prototipo

Un 'Prototipo' es un modelo preliminar de un producto o un proceso que se utiliza para pruebas y evaluación. El guion del video habla sobre el proceso de diseño que involucra la creación de prototipos, como en el caso de la silla de Kevlar y la primera silla de bambú con manillas plegables, lo que muestra la importancia de probar y evaluar diseños antes de su producción final.

Highlights

Lovegrove introduces himself and his background, including his unique family history.

He discusses his discipline of an 18-minute talk and his strategy to manage it.

Lovegrove is known as Captain Organic, emphasizing a philosophical and aesthetic stance on design.

He expresses his disdain for superficial design trends like blobism and consumerism.

Lovegrove's admiration for figures like Amory Lovins, Janine Benyus, and James Watson is highlighted.

He positions himself as a translator of technology into everyday products with a natural and beautiful relationship.

The concept of DNA in design: Design, Nature, Art, is introduced as the foundation of Lovegrove's work.

Lovegrove's comparison of his digital drawing of water to the impressionist art form.

His process of digital creation and the importance of the unseen background noise of industrial design.

The revelation of the final water bottle product and its significance in contemporary design.

The uniqueness of the water bottle, allowing for mass individualism through varying water levels.

Lovegrove's vision for the future of materials, specifically biopolymers, in design.

His personal freaky side and how it influences his design inspirations.

The importance of natural growth patterns and forms in Lovegrove's design philosophy.

The design and development of the world's first chair made in magnesium, called 'Go'.

Lovegrove's approach to furniture design, aiming to create pieces that fit architecture naturally.

His concept of a futuristic car inspired by a water droplet, emphasizing a holistic and integrated design.

The presentation of his studio environment, a blend of Natural History Museum and NASA space lab.

Lovegrove's aspiration to create designs that are not just visually appealing but also have a deeper connection with nature and human beings.

The introduction of his 'Plasnet' bio-polycarbonate chair and the world's first bamboo bike.

His closing thoughts on the need for a new instinct for the 21st century in design.

Transcripts

My name is Lovegrove.

I only know nine Lovegroves, two of which are my parents.

They are first cousins, and you know what happens when, you know --

(Laughter)

So there's a terribly weird freaky side to me,

which I'm fighting with all the time.

So to try and get through today,

I've kind of disciplined myself with an 18-minute talk.

I was hanging on to have a pee.

I thought perhaps if I was hanging on long enough,

that would guide me through the 18 minutes.

(Laughter)

OK. I am known as Captain Organic

and that's a philosophical position as well as an aesthetic position.

But today what I'd like to talk to you about is that love of form

and how form can touch people's soul and emotion.

Not very long ago, not many thousands of years ago,

we actually lived in caves,

and I don't think we've lost that coding system.

We respond so well to form.

But I'm interested in creating intelligent form.

I'm not interested at all in blobism

or any of that superficial rubbish that you see coming out as design.

This artificially induced consumerism -- I think it's atrocious.

My world is the world of people like Amory Lovins,

Janine Benyus, James Watson.

I'm in that world, but I work purely instinctively.

I'm not a scientist. I could have been, perhaps,

but I work in this world where I trust my instincts.

So I am a 21st-century translator of technology

into products that we use everyday and relate beautifully and naturally with.

And we should be developing things -- we should be developing packaging

for ideas which elevate people's perceptions

and respect for the things that we dig out of the earth

and translate into products for everyday use.

So, the water bottle.

I'll begin with this concept of what I call DNA.

DNA: Design, Nature, Art.

These are the three things that condition my world.

Here is a drawing by Leonardo da Vinci, 500 years ago, before photography.

It shows how observation, curiosity and instinct

work to create amazing art.

Industrial design is the art form of the 21st century.

People like Leonardo -- there have not been many --

had this amazingly instinctive curiosity.

I work from a similar position.

I don't want to sound pretentious saying that,

but this is my drawing made on a digital pad a couple of years ago --

well into the 21st century, 500 years later.

It's my impression of water.

Impressionism being the most valuable art form on the planet as we know it:

100 million dollars, easily, for a Monet.

I use, now, a whole new process.

A few years ago I reinvented my process

to keep up with people like Greg Lynn, Thom Mayne, Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas --

all these people that I think are persevering and pioneering

with fantastic new ideas of how to create form.

This is all created digitally.

Here you see the machining, the milling of a block of acrylic.

This is what I show to the client to say, "That's what I want to do."

At that point, I don't know if that's possible at all.

It's a seductor, but I just feel in my bones that that's possible.

So we go, we look at the tooling.

We look at how that is produced.

These are the invisible things that you never see in your life.

This is the background noise of industrial design.

That is like an Anish Kapoor flowing through a Richard Serra.

It is more valuable than the product in my eyes.

I don't have one.

When I do make some money, I'll have one machined for myself.

This is the final product.

When they sent it to me, I thought I'd failed.

It felt like nothing. It has to feel like nothing.

It was when I put the water in

that I realized that I'd put a skin on water itself.

It's an icon of water itself,

and it elevates people's perception of contemporary design.

Each bottle is different,

meaning the water level will give you a different shape.

It's mass individualism from a single product.

It fits the hand.

It fits arthritic hands. It fits children's hands.

It makes the product strong, the tessellation.

It's a millefiori of ideas.

In the future, they will look like that,

because we need to move away from those type of polymers

and use that for medical equipment

and more important things, perhaps, in life.

Biopolymers, these new ideas for materials,

will come into play in probably a decade.

It doesn't look as cool, does it?

But I can live up to that. I don't have a problem with that.

I design for that condition, biopolymers. It's the future.

I took this video in Cape Town last year.

This is the freaky side coming out.

I have this special interest in things like this, which blow my mind.

I don't know whether to, you know, drop to my knees, cry;

I don't know what I think.

But I just know that nature --

nature improves with ever-greater purpose

that which once existed,

and that strangeness is a consequence of innovative thinking.

When I look at these things, they look pretty normal to me.

But these things evolved over many years, and what we're trying to do --

I get three weeks to design a telephone. How the hell do I do that,

when you get these things that take hundreds of millions of years to evolve?

How do you condense that?

It comes back to instinct.

I'm not talking about designing telephones that look like that

and I'm not looking at designing architecture like that.

I'm just interested in natural growth patterns

and the beautiful forms that only nature really creates.

How that flows through me and how that comes out

is what I'm trying to understand.

This is a scan through the human forearm.

It's then blown up through rapid prototyping

to reveal its cellular structure.

I have these in my office.

My office is a mixture of the Natural History Museum

and a NASA space lab.

It's a weird, kind of freaky place.

This is one of my specimens.

This is made --

bone is made from a mixture of inorganic minerals and polymers.

I studied cooking in school for four years, and in that experience,

which was called "domestic science,"

it was a bit of a cheap trick for me to try and get a science qualification.

(Laughter)

Actually, I put marijuana in everything I cooked --

(Laughter)

And I had access to all the best girls. It was fabulous.

All the guys in the rugby team couldn't understand.

Anyway -- this is a meringue.

This is another sample I have.

A meringue is made exactly the same way, in my estimation, as a bone.

It's made from polysaccharides and proteins.

If you pour water on that, it dissolves.

Could we be manufacturing from foodstuffs in the future?

Not a bad idea. I don't know.

I need to talk to Janine and a few other people about that,

but I believe instinctively that that meringue can become something,

a car -- I don't know.

I'm also interested in growth patterns:

the unbridled way that nature grows things

so you're not restricted by form at all.

These interrelated forms, they do inspire everything I do,

although I might end up making something incredibly simple.

This is a detail of a chair that I've designed in magnesium.

It shows this interlocution of elements and the beauty of, kind of, engineering

and biological thinking,

shown pretty much as a bone structure.

Any one of those elements you could sort of hang on the wall

as some kind of art object.

It's the world's first chair made in magnesium.

It cost 1.7 million dollars to develop.

It's called "Go," by Bernhardt, USA.

It went into Time magazine in 2001 as the new language of the 21st century.

Boy. For somebody growing up in Wales in a little village, that's enough.

It shows how you make one holistic form, like the car industry,

and then you break up what you need.

This is an absolutely beautiful way of working.

It's a godly way of working.

It's organic and it's essential.

It's an absolutely fat-free design,

and when you look at it, you see human beings.

When that moves into polymers,

you can change the elasticity, the fluidity of the form.

This is an idea for a gas-injected, one-piece polymer chair.

What nature does is it drills holes in things.

It liberates form.

It takes away anything extraneous.

That's what I do.

I make organic things which are essential.

And they look funky, too -- but I don't set out to make funky things

because I think that's an absolute disgrace.

I set out to look at natural forms.

If you took the idea of fractal technology further, take a membrane,

shrinking it down constantly like nature does --

that could be a seat for a chair.

It could be a sole for a sports shoe.

It could be a car blending into seats.

Wow. Let's go for it. That's the kind of stuff.

This is what exists in nature.

Observation now allows us to bring that natural process

into the design process every day.

That's what I do.

This is a show that's currently on in Tokyo.

It's called "Superliquidity." It's my sculptural investigation.

It's like 21st-century Henry Moore.

When you see a Henry Moore, still, your hair stands up.

There's some amazing spiritual connect.

If he was a car designer, phew, we'd all be driving one.

In his day, he was the highest taxpayer in Britain.

That is the power of organic design.

It contributes immensely to our --

sense of being,

our sense of relationships with things,

our sensuality and, you know, the sort of --

even the sort of socio-erotic side, which is very important.

This is my artwork. This is all my process.

These actually are sold as artwork. They're very big prints.

But this is how I get to that object.

Ironically, that object was made by the Killarney process,

which is a brand-new process here for the 21st century,

and I can hear Greg Lynn laughing his socks off as I say that.

I'll tell you about that later.

When I look into these data images,

I see new things.

It's self-inspired.

Diatomic structures, radiolaria,

the things that we couldn't see but we can do now --

these, again, are cored out.

They're made virtually from nothing. They're made from silica.

Why not structures from cars like that?

Coral, all these natural forces,

take away what they don't need and they deliver maximum beauty.

We need to be in that realm.

I want to do stuff like that.

This is a new chair which should come on the market in September.

It's for a company called Moroso in Italy. It's a gas-injected polymer chair.

Those holes you see there are very filtered-down,

watered-down versions of the extremity of the diatomic structures.

It goes with the flow of the polymer and you'll see --

there's an image coming up right now that shows the full thing.

It's great to have companies in Italy who support this way of dreaming.

If you see the shadows that come through that,

they're actually probably more important than the product,

but it's the minimum it takes.

The coring out of the back lets you breathe.

It takes away any material you don't need

and it actually garners flexure too.

I was going to break into a dance then.

This is some current work I'm doing.

I'm looking at single-surface structures

and how they stretch and flow.

It's based on furniture typologies, but that's not the end motivation.

It's made from aluminum ...

as opposed to aluminium, and it's grown.

It's grown in my mind,

and then it's grown in terms of the whole process that I go through.

This is two weeks ago in CCP in Coventry, who build parts for Bentleys and so on.

It's being built as we speak

and it will be on show in Phillips next year in New York.

I have a big show with Phillips Auctioneers.

When I see these animations, oh Jesus, I'm blown away.

This is what goes on in my studio everyday.

I walk -- I'm traveling. I come back.

Some guy's got that on a computer -- there's this like, oh my goodness.

So I try to create this energy of invention every day in my studio.

This kind of effervescent --

fully charged sense of soup that delivers ideas.

Single-surface products.

Furniture's a good one.

How you grow legs out of a surface.

I would love to build this one day

and perhaps I'd like to build it also out of flour, sugar,

polymer, wood chips -- I don't know, human hair.

I don't know. I'd love a go at that. I don't know. If I just got some time.

That's the weird side coming out again. A lot of companies don't understand that.

Three weeks ago I was with Sony in Tokyo.

They said, "Give us the dream. What is our dream? How do we beat Apple?"

I said, "You don't copy Apple, that's for sure.

You get into biopolymers."

They looked straight through me.

What a waste. Anyway.

(Laughter)

No, it's true. Fuck them. You know, I mean --

(Laughter)

I'm delivering; they're not taking.

I've had this image 20 years.

I've had this image of a water droplet for 20 years, sitting on a hot bed.

That is an image of a car for me.

That's the car of the future. It's a water droplet.

I've been banging on about this like I can't believe.

Cars are all wrong.

I'm going to show you something a bit weird now.

They laughed everywhere over the world I showed this.

The only place that didn't laugh was Moscow.

Cars are made from 30,000 components.

How ridiculous is that? Couldn't you make that from 300?

It's got a vacuum-formed, carbon-nylon pan.

Everything's holistically integrated. It opens and closes like a bread bin.

There is no engine. There's a solar panel on the back

and there are batteries in the wheels; they're fitted like Formula 1.

You take them off your wall, you plug them in. Off you go.

A three-wheeled car: slow, feminine,

transparent, so you can see the people in there.

You drive different.

You see that thing. You do. You do.

And not anesthetized, separated from life.

There's a hole at the front and there's a reason for that.

It's a city car. You drive along. You get out.

You drive on to a proboscis. You get out.

It lifts you up.

It presents the solar panel to the sun, and at night, it's a street lamp.

(Applause)

That's what happens if you get inspired by the street lamp first,

and do the car second.

I can see these bubbles with these hydrogen packages,

floating around on the ground, driven by AI.

When I showed this in South Africa,

everybody afterwards was going, "Hey, car on a stick. Like this."

Can you imagine? A car on a stick.

(Laughter)

If you put it next to contemporary architecture,

it feels totally natural to me.

And that's what I do with my furniture.

I'm not putting Charles Eames' furniture in buildings anymore.

I'm trying to build furniture which fits architecture.

I'm trying to build transportation systems.

I work on aircraft for Airbus,

I do all this sort of stuff

trying to force these natural, inspired-by-nature dreams home.

I'm going to finish on two things.

This is the stereolithography of a staircase.

It's a little bit of a dedication to James, James Watson.

I built this thing for my studio.

It cost me 250,000 dollars to build this.

Most people go and buy the Aston Martin.

I built this.

This is the data that goes with that. Incredibly complex.

Took about two years, because I'm looking for fat-free design.

Lean, efficient things. Healthy products.

This is built by composites.

It's a single element which rotates around to create a holistic element,

and this is a carbon-fiber handrail which is only supported in two places.

Modern materials allow us to do modern things.

This is a shot in the studio.

This is how it looks pretty much every day.

You wouldn't want to have a fear of heights coming down it.

There is virtually no handrail. It doesn't pass any standards.

(Laughter)

Who cares?

(Laughter)

And it has an internal handrail which gives it its strength.

It's this holistic integration. That's my studio. It's subterranean.

It's in Notting Hill, next to all the crap --

the prostitutes and all that stuff.

It's next to David Hockney's original studio.

It has a lighting system that changes throughout the day.

My guys go out for lunch. The door's open. They come back in,

because it's normally raining and they prefer to stay in.

This is my studio.

Elephant skull from Oxford University, 1988.

I bought that last year. They're very difficult to find.

If anybody's got a whale skeleton they want to sell me,

I'll put it in the studio.

So I'm just going to interject a little bit

with some of the things that you'll see in the video.

It's a homemade video, made it myself at three o'clock in the morning

just to show you how my real world is.

You never see that.

You never see architects or designers showing you their real world.

This is called a "Plasnet."

It's a new bio-polycarbonate chair I'm doing in Italy.

World's first bamboo bike with folding handlebars.

We should all be riding one of these.

As China buys all these crappy cars, we should be riding things like this.

Counterbalance.

Like I say, it's a cross

between Natural History Museum and a NASA laboratory.

It's full of prototypes and objects.

It's self-inspirational, again.

I mean, the rare times when I'm there,

I do enjoy it.

And I get lots and lots of kids coming.

I'm a contaminator for all those children of investment bankers -- wankers.

Sorry.

(Laughter)

That's a solar seed. It's a concept for new architecture.

That thing on the top is the world's first solar-powered garden lamp --

the first produced.

Giles Revell should be talking here today --

amazing photography of things you can't see.

The first sculptural model I made for that thing in Tokyo.

Lots of stuff. There's a little leaf chair --

that golden looking thing is called "Leaf."

It's made from Kevlar.

On the wall is my book called "Supernatural,"

which allows me to remember what I've done, because I forget.

There's an aerated brick I did in Limoges last year,

in Concepts for New Ceramics in Architecture.

Gernot Oberfell, working at three o'clock in the morning --

and I don't pay overtime.

Overtime is the passion of design,

so join the club or don't.

(Laughter)

No, it's true. People like Tom and Greg --

we're traveling like you can't -- we fit it all in.

I don't know how we do it.

Next week I'm at Electrolux in Sweden, then I'm in Beijing on Friday.

You work that one out.

And when I see Ed's photographs, I think, why the hell am I going to China?

It's true. It's true.

Because there's a soul in this whole thing.

We need to have a new instinct for the 21st century.

We need to combine all this stuff.

If all the people who were talking over this period

worked on a car together,

it would be a joy, absolute joy.

So there's a new X-light system I'm doing in Japan.

There's Tuareg shoes from North Africa. There's a Kifwebe mask.

These are my sculptures.

A copper jelly mold.

(Laughter)

It sounds like some quiz show or something, doesn't it?

So, it's going to end.

Thank you, James, for your great inspiration.

Thank you very much.

(Applause)