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Philippe Starck has turned into an educator. The infamous designer best known for his work from the 80s and early 90s, has his own reality show, Design for Life, on The BBC, where he takes unknown talent and puts them through the typical competitive twists and turns.

The winning prize, a 6 month internship at this Paris studio.

It's clear from the onset that Starck is not interested in the obvious and literal, he's searching for creative leaps and insight. Surprisingly, this appears to be lacking from many of the show's contestants.

Design for Life from design on Vimeo.

Posted by Ed Cotton Dwell has a great interview with Emily Pilloton, one of our speakers at next week's Influx Curated Conference.

Emily is the force behind the Project H initiative, which encourages designers to work for social good and the author of a new book on industrial design.


Posted by Ed Cotton The design world is under fire, for many its seen as frivolous and unsustainable.

This environment is tough for those involved in categories like furniture to respond.

However, the Finnish company, Artek had a brilliant response to the current environment delivered by Shigeru Ban.

At the furniture show in Milan, Ban unveiled his 10 unit modular furniture system.



There are three reasons why it's great.

1. It's made from sustainable material- UPM (made from wood and recycled plastic)

2. It's modular and allows the user to build it themselves

3. It's easily to disassemble for transportation


Posted by Ed Cotton Luxury brands have a big image problem on their hands and urgently need to re-position themselves to be relevant. They need to search deep within themselves to unlock the "truth" that set them apart.

At the recent furniture fair in Milan, Fendi made a step forward in the right direction.

It took over a space, brought in truck loads of scrap material and invited a dozen industrial designers to make objects live.



For the opinion leaders Milan attracts, it was a good way for Fendi to immerse itself in the craft of making and to push against the frivolity of its fashion image.

Expect to see more luxury brands getting to grips with the substance over style story in coming months.


Posted by Ed Cotton The Double Club in London is an exercise in the fusion of different forms of entertainment and culture around a single location.

The club is only open for a total of 6 months, but allows visitors to experience the Congo through its music, food (pigs trotters, goat stew and conger eels for example), and art.



To make the contrast even more striking, visitors can alternate between The Congo and more traditional/expected Western club, art and restaurant experiences.

Of course, this is to ingenious to be a truly commercial concern and instead is the result of a collaboration between Fondazione Prada and the artist Carsten Holler.


Posted by Ed Cotton Designed by The Company, for a writer and editor.


Posted by Ed Cotton