Philippe Starck

" Subversive, ethical, visionary, political, humorous, poetic: that's how I see my duty as a creator. " Philippe Starck

A career rich in 10,000 creations – completed or in progress, international renown and tireless, multifaceted inventiveness should not make us forget the essential point: Philippe Starck has a mission, a vision: that creation, whatever form it takes, should make life better for the greatest number.

This eminently political and poetic, rebellious and benevolent, pragmatic and subversive duty, Starck strongly affirms should be shared by all and summarizes it with the humor that has accompanied his approach since its beginnings: "No one is obliged to be a genius, but everyone is obliged to participate."

"Working with Emeco allowed me to use recycled material and transform it into something that never needs to be thrown away."

Philippe Starck was one of the first designers to take the Navy chair out of its original context and place it in modern, design-driven environments. When Gregg Buchbinder had just taken over Emeco in 1999, he bumped into Starck in a corridor of the ICFF trade show in New York. Gregg said to him, "Mr. Starck, thank you for using our chairs at the Paramount Hotel." After a moment's thought, Starck asked, "The Navy Chair? You own the company? I thought it belonged to a group of old military men! I'd like to design a chair for Emeco." Thus began a close, lasting, and prolific relationship between Emeco and Philippe Starck—a relationship that propelled Emeco's transformation from a supplier to the U.S. Navy into one of the world's leading designer furniture brands.