What I love about this Philippe Starck interview is that it flies completely in the face of the modern idea that good ideas come out of endless networking, brainstorming, and improv-like collaboration that yields unexpected stochastic combinations of ideas:

I don’t use my energy on other people. I just work and read. I live with myself in front of my white page.… I’m like Dr. Faust. I signed a contract with the devil to sell my life for creativity.

It sounds as if you don’t like working with others.

I never collaborate—not because I don’t like other people but because I am not able to do it. I’m one of the fastest organic computers on the market, but I need to be alone.

Do you ever talk to customers or end users?

No. I don’t read architecture or design magazines. I never go into the shops that sell my things or to fairs. I don’t speak to other designers or architects. I am a lonely guy—earnest, rigorous, an incredible worker—and I just make what I can, how I can, when I can.

Beautiful.