The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.
Sustainability can't be like some sort of a moral sacrifice or political dilemma or a philanthropical cause. It has to be a design challenge.
You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world. But it takes people to make the dream a reality.
As an architect, you design for the present, with an awareness of the past, for a future which is essentially unknown.
A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
Tesla is changing the paradigm. We're going to turn the world on its ear and create high demand through design.
A part of my kind of design and inspiration ethos is that I carry around a leather notebook and I sketch in it, doodle in it, write notes in it, and I put pictures in it.
I have an all-Japanese design team, and none of them speak English. So it's often funny and surprising how my ideas end up lost in translation.
Everyone wants an iPhone, but it would be impossible to design an iPhone in China because it's not a product; it's an understanding of human nature.
A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous.
Good design is making something intelligible and memorable. Great design is making something memorable and meaningful.
Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much as they need bread or a place to sleep.
If you don't design your own life plan, chances are you'll fall into someone else's plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.
Successful design is not the achievement of perfection but the minimization and accommodation of imperfection.
