“There are other priorities now. Perhaps in 30 years it will be interesting to come back and speak about the beauty of a chair or a lamp, but today that seems a bit obscene. Even during the time it takes to do this interview, people will die from a lack of water… everyone talks about ecology, but we need to make it happen, not speak about it.”

“I hope the current economic crisis will lead to people looking for longevity. In an average house I see an enormous turn-a-round of stuff. There are plenty of homes where nothing is more than five years old. What happened to the things that preceded them? What happened to the possessions of previous generations? It’s almost like people had no parents or grand parents. Nothing has been passed on.”

Philippe Starck, Sir Terence Conran and Kirstie Allsopp discuss the future of design in midst of a recession, and an interesting yet generous response by Andrew Smith.

1. Caroline Roux, The Guardian.