Marcel Wanders

In tech, people want an object for what's inside it, what it does. You need to make a defensive design that people won't walk away from. A chair is aggressive - you want a customer to choose it from many others.

I like my products to be smart in a technical way but to show the time invested in their creation, too.

I think design is the expression of its time and culture.

When I wrote my book about Amsterdam, the main objective was to talk about the city's creativity rather than just its design.

A lot of companies are able to do without design. A few companies are able to do without creativity. A very few. Creativity is crucial to your business.

Amsterdam is a breeding ground for new creative pursuits in many areas fueled by a tolerance and openness to ideas unlike any world city I've been to. There is something for everyone here, especially when you dare to go off the beaten path.

Amsterdam lives and breathes creativity. One moment you walk into a building from the 17th century, and the next you find yourself in a hub of creative start-up companies.

Food has always been at the frontier of creativity.

I want to create a body of work that is really, deeply important to people. One of the vehicles I use is business.

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.

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

In my studio, I forbid people to work if they have a down day.