Frei Otto Quotes

There is no better designer then nature

It must be a balance in everything we do, not too much of everything, keep it simple, not complicated.

My philosophy? Simplicity plus variety.

I'm often guilty of overcooking and too much arrangement and throwing too much at it. But I think as I get older, I'm learning better when to be empty and when to be full.

Designing a game can be like a Japanese garden. It's not what you put in but how much you take away.

Sometimes I think albums are so ambitious, they don't stand as bodies of work because you try to achieve so much, and sometimes we need to do less. Say less.

There is no better designer than nature

Simplicity is an exact mediumbetween too little and too much.

Architects cannot teach nature anything.

Less is more.

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, One clover, and a bee, And revery. The revery alone will do, If bees are few.

No architecture is so haughty as that which is simple.

Human subtlety will never devise an invention more beautiful, more simple or more direct than does nature because in her inventions nothing is lacking, and nothing is superfluous.

In Japanese art, space assumed a dominant role and its position was strengthened by Zen concepts.

Form must have a content, and that content must be linked with nature.

Extreme complication is contrary to art.

Every dish doesn't have to be showy, and every dish doesn't have to slap you in the face with technique.

There are only 3 colors, 10 digits, and 7 notes; its what we do with them that's important.

Everything in excess is opposed to nature.

Nothing they design ever gets in the way of a work of art.

There's design, and there's art. Good design is total harmony. There's no better designer than nature - if you look at a branch or a leaf, it's perfect. It's all function. Art is different. It's about emotion. It's about suffering and beauty - but mostly suffering!

Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance.

Everything I do, whether it's producing or signing an artist, always starts with the songs. When I'm listening, I'm looking for a balance that you could see in anything. Whether it's a great painting or a building or a sunset.

Its all about finding the right note at the right place and knowing when to leave well enough alone. And that's a lifelong quest.

I want to keep everything balanced. That's why it's important not to have too much fanfare.