“The actual tragedies of life bear no relation to one's preconceived id...” — Jean Cocteau Quote

The actual tragedies of life bear no relation to one's preconceived ideas. In the event, one is always bewildered by their simplicity, their grandeur of design, and by that element of the bizarre which seems inherent in them.

Style is a simple way of saying complicated things.

The Louvre is a morgue; you go there to identify your friends.

The poet doesn't invent. He listens.

There are too many souls of wood not to love those wooden characters who do indeed have a soul.

It may sound ambitious, but I really hope that modern design will spread all around the globe.

There are usually three sections of people who like my work. There are those who like them aesthetically. They see beauty in the images. Second, there are those who like the horror aspect, which is by design, and I like that. Third, there are those who are moved by the historical or political nature of them. They want to talk about them.

I specialise in taking teams of designers, psychologists, usability experts, sociologists and ethnographers into the field. It's called 'corporate anthropology,' but personally I'm more comfortable with 'design research,' because I'm not an anthropologist by training.

I didn't want to be an actor. I wanted to design historical movies like 'Ben-Hur'. I saw this as my life.