Thomas Heatherwick Quotes

If you want to think new thoughts that are different, then do what creative people do - get the problem reasonably clear and then refuse to look at any answers until you've thought the problem through carefully how you would do it, how you could slightly change the problem to be the correct one.

If you criticise something then you have to have an alternative, but we do have to try and improve things.

People can come to me, and no matter how expert they are, I can virtually always see a way of doing something better.

It's not an easy job to think creatively and then also have to think logistically.

Innovation comes from, one, acknowledging yourself; two, studying and understanding the problem; and three, finding a solution.

I always try to find better ways to do things. Whether it's a game plan, a practice, a meeting, an interview, whatever it is. I'm going to find a way to find a way to analyze it and find a better way to do it. That's my mindset. I've never been satisfied with anything. That's just my mindset. I'm always trying to find a better way to do things.

I see a problem and I invent some sort of solution to it.

You read something and you know it's not there yet. There's a little section here that... this part's good but that is a little not, it doesn't quite work. That doesn't quite work. That's easy. To say, "OK, now, this is what I think will fix it." That's harder. And most people can tell you what's wrong with something. Very few people can say what they would do to fix it.

No problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking.

I'll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there's evidence of any thinking going on inside it.

I believe that when you find problems, you should also find solutions.

I was just taught very early that if I didn't solve problems, I was headed for a very dark path. Problems were everywhere. Now, even if there are no problems, I look for problems. I'm like, 'You know what? I don't like the way this spoon works. I want to design a new spoon.'

I like working intensely, then going away and thinking about it, working out why it didn't work and then coming back to it. It makes the work richer, I think.

When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.

There's a way to do it better - find it.

To invent is to discern, to choose.

To recognize negativism as a force of creation is to give up the creative standpoint altogether.

I guess some people are brilliant enough to be brilliant on their own and never doubt anything and come up with fabulous things. But I think it's good to get into arguments with people and have them say, 'That sucks' or 'You're crazy' or 'That's cheesy' or 'What do you think of this?'

There's no possibility that foresight work will ruin my creativity. It goes to a different area than the creative wellspring of SF.

Creating something is all about problem-solving.

I have had my results for a long time: but I do not yet know how I am to arrive at them.

I am not comfortable with putting out problems without solutions.

I find that quite enjoyable, trying to see the downsides of someone.

Often the most important moment in the design process is figuring out what the right question is.

I believe that the ability to innovate and to be creative are teachable processes. There are ways by which people can systematically innovate or systematically become creative.