Design Starck effect is a monkey puzzle

Explaining design to the non-initiated often falls to a few well-known industry figures. Philippe Starck attempted to clarify a few things for The Independent’s readers last week. He was asked if he could redesign the umbrella. ‘The umbrella can be very disobedient, non? My advice? Get a raincoat,’ he says. When trying to explain where design sits in the bigger picture: ‘I try to show that we burn crystal of mud, we become bacteria, we become fish, we become monkey, we become super-monkey and from super-monkey, we become what we are today.’ And so say all of us.