{"id":643287,"date":"2026-05-01T18:39:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T18:39:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/643287\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T18:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T18:39:26","slug":"philippe-starck-on-how-dreams-shape-his-creative-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/643287\/","title":{"rendered":"philippe starck on how dreams shape his creative process"},"content":{"rendered":"

philippe starck JOINS designboom\u2019s room for dreams IN MILAN<\/p>\n

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\u2018To speak frankly, when I go to bed, I say to my wife, I go to work,\u2019 Philippe Starck explains to designboom\u2019s Editor in Chief, Sofia Lekka Angelopoulou, when he joined us for a talk to kick off the social programming of ROOM FOR DREAMS<\/a> during Milan Design Week 2026<\/a>. The iconic French creator<\/a>, known for an eclectic portfolio that ranges from the revolutionary Juicy Salif lemon squeezer for Alessi<\/a> to the democratic luxury of the Ghost Chair for Kartell<\/a>, describes dreaming not as a passive state of rest, but as a rigorous, active method of creation. For Starck, sleep is an alternate dimension of production where the laws of physics and the constraints of the marketplace cease to apply, allowing for the birth of unfamiliar languages and inventions.<\/p>\n

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\u2018When I sleep, I go to some place which doesn\u2019t exist, with air which doesn\u2019t exist, with vibrations that don\u2019t exist, with people I don\u2019t know. They speak about things I cannot understand. I see incredible inventions. I see things I cannot imagine and I have never seen in my life. It\u2019s not a memory, it\u2019s something else. That\u2019s why, definitely, my dreams are more interesting than my life.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"'when
Philippe Starck at ROOM FOR DREAMS during Milan Design Week 2026 | image \u00a9 designboom, photography by Camilla Mansini with Giorgio Gagliano<\/p>\n

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A CONVERSATION ON DREAMS, INTUITION AND UTOPIAN THINKING<\/p>\n

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Under the talk\u2019s central theme, Utopia as Method: When the Conscious Mind Dares to Dream, Starck<\/a> reflects on how the subconscious has acted as the primary engine for a career defined by \u2018democratic design\u2019, the philosophy of improving quality while lowering prices to make excellence accessible to everyone. Despite his reliance on these nocturnal flashes of brilliance, Starck maintains a disciplined skepticism toward his own genius. \u2018Intuition is so well done, so perfect, it feels impossible,\u2019 he explains. \u2018It cannot be so easy. That\u2019s why I test it. I test my intuition. I test my work. It\u2019s not about having the idea. My real work at my desk is to check my intuition.\u2019<\/p>\n

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Through this analytical vetting process, Starck consistently finds that his initial instincts hold true. He posits that while the conscious mind is performative and prone to social curation, the dreaming mind is brutally honest. \u2018Intuition comes from the subconscious, and the subconscious doesn\u2019t lie. Consciousness lies. When I speak to you now, I lie to you. That means I try to be incredible, so that you will love me, have admiration for me. I lie. But when I dream, I cannot lie to myself.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Starck views his cognitive process as a dualistic machine: one half fluid and instinctive, the other structural and technical. \u2018My creation comes only from intuition. There are many parts of the brain. If I imagine a soft magma, like a liquid where all the ideas flow, the subconscious moves freely there. On the other side, I am an engineer. And I know how to structure my intuition, like I know how to drive my dreams. There is a part of sleep called semi-open, where you can drive your dreams. In that state, I am, wow, I am a Formula One pilot of a dream.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"'when
Philippe Starck and Sofia Lekka Angelopoulou at ROOM FOR DREAMS | image \u00a9 designboom, photography by Camilla Mansini with Giorgio Gagliano<\/p>\n

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\u2018Without permanent revolution, there is no utopia\u2019<\/p>\n

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When asked whether he still believes in the possibility of a Utopia, Starck\u2019s focus shifts toward the erosion of the concept itself. \u2018The biggest problem of our society today is that there is no more utopia,\u2019 he explains, suggesting that grand societal visions have been replaced by the shallow cycles of consumerism. \u2018The only utopia I hear around me is to have more money, to have a new dress, to know what to buy, to buy, to buy\u2014that\u2019s the only utopia. No, we have lost the idea.\u2019<\/p>\n

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For Starck, the failure of modern idealism is tied to a lack of sustained momentum. He links the survival of any visionary project to the necessity of constant, restless change. \u2018We have lost two concepts,\u2019 he continues. \u2018We have lost the concept of utopia\u2014to dream and to build a better world\u2014and the concept of permanent revolution. Without permanent revolution, there is no utopia.\u2019\u00a0He challenges the common perception that utopian projects are inherently destined to fail, placing the blame instead on human execution and social complacency. \u2018When people speak about utopia, it is always about a fantastic idea that has not worked,\u2019 Starck concludes. \u2018And it is not because the idea was bad, it is because we have developed it badly.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"'when
Juicy Salif Citrus-Squeezer, Philippe Starck for Alessi, 1990<\/p>\n

\"philippe
LA Almazara, Philippe Starck, Andalusia, Spain, 2024 (see more here<\/a>)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"philippe starck JOINS designboom\u2019s room for dreams IN MILAN \u00a0 \u2018To speak frankly, when I go to bed,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643288,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[449,458,459,64,63,460,61661,290247,134,232331,282806,307338],"class_list":["post-643287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-design","tag-design-interviews","tag-dreams-in-motion","tag-entertainment","tag-milan-design-week-2026","tag-philippe-starck","tag-room-for-dreams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}