Marti Guixé: Creativity without culture and knowledge is just spam

The playful Catalonian designer gets serious about culture and creativity.
Design Indaba Q&A: Marti Guixé. Image: living.corriere.it.
Design Indaba Q&A: Marti Guixé. Image: living.corriere.it.

Marti Guixé’s unconventional vision and wide-ranging interests in design make him very hard to pigeonhole. He is equal parts playful (he designed a hands-free lollipop and pasta you can eat with your hands) and serious (his dream commission would be to redesign political movements). He has applied his design skills to public sculptures and interiors for some of the world’s leading retail stores. 

After studying interior design at the Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, the Catalonian designer went on to study industrial design at Scuola Politecnica di Design in Milan.

He now spends a third of his time in Barcelona, a third in Berlin and the remainder travelling across the globe. We pinned him down to understand what motivates and moves him.

What is your design mission?

To create cultural value through design.

When did you realise that you wanted a career in design?

When I went to university I was deciding between architecture and design, and finally I chose design. 

Do you have a favourite design? If so, which one and why?

The solar kitchen is a very simple, effective and revolutionary object. It allows for a different way of cooking and a different range of tastes and textures emerge.

Can you tell us what your main design focus is? And why?

Actually I am a generalist designer.

Can you explain your creative process? How do you go from conception to final product?

I just think, and then my team does the rest.

Describe your workspace…

A screen and the internet.

What is the most rewarding part about being a designer?

That you can read in every object the ideology and culture of the person who created it or designed it.

Do you believe in a better world through creativity? How can this be achieved?

Creativity without culture and knowledge is just SPAM. 

If you could redesign anything in the world, what would it be and why?

I would redesign socio-political movements, because until now they have been very ineffective.

What do you think the future of design holds?

Dematerialisation of resulting products.

What are you currently working on?

An exhibition about the First World War and wars in general for the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Trento and Rovereto in Italy. Also, a Camper shop in Paris. 

Watch the Talk with Martí Guixé