Founding director of multidisciplinary design studio Priestmangoode, Paul Priestman has designed some of the most iconic products in the world today. His designs range from the smallest hi-tech products to the interiors of the world’s largest aircraft and the recent prototype for the Mercury High Speed Train. Priestman’s design philosophy is centred around the belief that “design should not be just about styling but about making products and services better”.
1. What items would you put into a time capsule? Drinking water.
2. If you were told that you had to live inside a work of art, which would you choose? El Cristo de Rio de Janeiro, it would have a fantastic view.
3. What would you like to have written in your obituary? Design can make a difference.
4. How do you define creative success? Making things better.
5. What makes you laugh out loud? Hiccups.
6. Are there certain characteristics that all creatives possess? Dyslexia.
7. Do you have (m)any unrealised projects? Spelling.
8. What is the question you ask yourself the most? Did I achieve the most out of today?
9. What is something that you have learnt in the past five years? To sail across the Atlantic.
10. In your subjective view, what makes a piece of design good? It is better than before.
11. What one thing that you have not done would you really like to do? Design the environmental alternative to the car.
12. What are you the most grateful for? Optimism.
13. What's your happiest childhood memory? Lego.
14. What do you do on Sundays? Create.
15. Who in the world, dead or alive, would you most like to have a drink with? Who's buying?
16. Do you have a creative/business muse? Design is more than just styling.
17. What's the best design advice you've ever received? Do it again, but even better.
18. What has been your favourite project to date? The Mercury High Speed Train Project.
19. Do you recycle? Yes, as much as I can.
20. Can design save the world? I'm an optimist.
Watch the Talk with Paul Priestman
