Quotes from Marcel Wanders

Modernism is an outmoded way of thinking about design: it just doesn't reflect the way we live now. It always puts forward this idea that the past is irrelevant to tomorrow - and tomorrow is all that matters. But the past is part of who we are.

So much in design is presented as a big miracle when it's just a repetition of what's been happening for 80 years.

When I make chairs, they have legs; they can go anywhere in the world. Interiors are a different responsibility. A house is a representation of where you are, and it has to be right for the place.

For me, true kitsch has nothing to do with irony. It's very honest. It represents what people like, their dreams.

A good gift celebrates the relationship between the giver and the receiver. When you open that box, you feel like, 'Wow, you really understood me.' At the same time, you think this gift could come only from that person.

Why would you spend your life and your time doing something that's insignificant?

I'm 100 percent sure the love and energy we give to a project will end up inside of it. I think it's important that when we work on something, we do it with positive intentions, because this energy will be sensed in the design.

Some people have a concept of design: that it should be without the maker. I have been educated in this way, the traditional way. But I am not naive. I know that we make my things, and that people want them. I am signing them - and I am winking at them.

Philosophy is not one truth, but thousands of truths. You don't have to believe in just one thing. When you chose one idea, you close yourself to the rest.

An honest lie is better than a boring truth.

I have 60 people working for me in my studio. That's luxury if you ask me. I just dream. Tell those people that I want a certain thing. Those people will then invest days, and sometimes months, in bringing that idea to life. What more could you ask for? That's luxury for me.

If we want a world that is truly sustainable, we have to realize that something old can also be perfect. Otherwise, we'll just throw away our yesterday.

Design, by definition, is an eco-friendly activity, as its aim is to create objects which are meaningful and durable. Trends always cost resources, but a true designer creates wares which will remain relevant forever.

I'm not a person who regrets - it doesn't make me smarter to regret something.

Whatever you put around yourself, you will be the mirror of it. Surround yourself with things you love.

I don't just want to create products. I want to reach into people's hearts and minds. I want to create memories.

I collect memories. I look for opportunities to try new things, go to new places, and meet new people all the time.

My mom and dad had a store, and sometimes people would return broken stuff. I'd take it apart and reassemble it. At 16, I really understood the architecture of things.

When I had just finished my degree show, I wrote down the 10 companies that I most wanted to work with, and B&B Italia was on the top of the list.

I love Milano. Historically, the city is the biggest intellectual design thinking container. It is the cradle of design as well as the hometown of the mothers of its important heroes.

If I have any basic motivation, it's to inspire people to make their life a masterpiece.

A lot of my work is intelligent, a lot of the work is beautiful, but I make ugly things, too.

Being open to the unexpected allows me to bring so much to my craft.

If I look at my own growth, I started in product design. And we grew and created new products, and we were also able to change the idea of design a few times.