Marcel Wanders

People like their handbag more than their sofa, and I hate it.

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

Beauty is very important, but it's not the most important thing in the world.

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

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.

I think what makes me different is that... I am comfortable with expressing my vulnerability. I think designers often want to just put the loveable ideas out there. Ones that are imaginative but not very introspective. It is more rare for a designer to explore his or her disappointments and moments of disillusion and doubt.

I'm not the type of person who feels bad about things before. I choose what to do at the moment, and I have a very good reason for it; otherwise, I don't do it. If later my feelings change, I should celebrate now by being more wise, not feel bad about before.

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

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

If you acquire things, you have to let them go.

I like transparency. I love to have views throughout the house.

Humor has the tendency to be funny once. If I tell you a joke, we're going to have a big laugh. But the second time I tell the joke, it's going to be a bit strange, and the third time you're going to ask if there's something wrong with me. So I am very cautious with jokes, but there is a lightness in my work.

I think architects design outside in. Or they design basically outside. They don't get in the building anymore.

When you look at the work you do every day, you do see things. But if you look at the work you did for 25 years, suddenly you start to get a more complete picture.

I've turned into something of a health nut.

Luxury is not about the things that you own. It is about something that reflects your personal values, something that shows the choices that you have made in your life.

When I was a student, my first luxury purchase was a drafting table. It may not seem like a major purchase, but for me, it was the most important thing I could think of to spend my money on.

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

To transfer food into a bowl from a pan that you've just cooked in, it's a loss of energy; it's wasteful. People think it's very sophisticated, I don't think it's so smart.