BBC2 have recently commenced a six week series about design and through the programme they will be trying to discover the next young designer in Britain. It is ran on a similar format to that of The Apprentice; the prize to be obtained at the end is to be given the opportunity to work for Philippe Starck.
Philippe Starck is renowned for producing a vast range of products and he aspires to design objects that are beautiful, useful and sustainable and can be enjoyed by everyone. He also believes that produce design effects every moment of our lives because every object within our homes has been designed by someone. Through watching this programme I learnt that he dislikes intensely useless objects and he believes that everything should be created with a purpose in mind.
The first task given to the participants was to purchase two objects from a supermarket. Each participant was given 1 hour to complete this task and €100 to spend. The objects purchased had too fit under one of the three themes that had been given to them. They were Function – useful and useless, Ecology – sound and unsound and Genre – male and female. It was amazing to hear the interpretation many of the young designers put on these themes and then to here Starck himself talk about them. For that reason alone this programme is worth watching.
If you missed the first show make sure you catch up with it on BBC iplayer The next programme can be viewed on Monday at 9pm on BBC2.
Philippe Starck
Check out Philippe Starck’s website here
I watched this myself, and found it really interesting indeed! It was great to see one of the biggest names in product design take such an interest in these young designers, and also to give them a great opportunity of working at his firm for six months.
It was also great to see the philosophical approach he takes to his work, and the relaxed environment that he conducts his work in. Although product design isn’t really something I would know a lot about or take a lot of interest in other than to think “thats a good idea” or “this looks really cool”, I found the programme, and Phillipe Starck himself really entertaining.