Philippe Starck has a mission and a vision: creation, whatever shape it takes, must make life better for the largest number of people possible. Starck believes this highly poetic, political, rebellious, benevolent and pragmatic duty must be borne by all, and he enacts it with the humour that has always accompanied his approach: 'no one is obliged to be a genius, but everyone has to take part.'

Starck was born in France in 1949, his father an aeronautics engineer who made 'Invention a duty'. He studied at the École Camondo in Paris before launching a career that has included more than 10,000 designs, ranging in scale from a lemon juicer to entire hotel buildings.