Even as exuberant as my style is and as over the top as I may be, I can appreciate a classic when it's really well done.
Fashion only seems to make sense if it's rooted in some dimension of history or if it feels like a continuation of an idea.
They used to tease me at the 'Oprah' show, 'Are you really going to do another white Shaker kitchen, with white subway tile and stainless steel appliances?' And my answer is, 'I can vary it a bit, but I'm never going to err from classic materials.'
There are some things that are never out of fashion because they just look good. But if you want classic style these days you have to get it made.
I don't think it's worth discussing new directions in the context of Chinese art - there were no old directions, either. Chinese art has never had any clear orientation.
Of all the lessons most relevant to architecture today, Japanese flexibility is the greatest.
I'm obsessed with old rotary phones.
I want my buildings to take root and look as if they've always been there. It isn't about pastiche or adapting what's already there. It's about trying to blend the future and the past.
Style, no matter how outrageous it is, is still an expression of someone's personality. And my personality is somewhere stuck in the classics.
My own style is pretty classic; I much prefer to design for others.
In many respects, designing heirloom products means saying no to designing consumer crap that you know will not last very long.
I don't think German films have to be heavy or intellectual the way they sometimes used to be.
