Latest interviews on Dezeen include Björk, Christo and Stella McCartney
Dezeen interviews the biggest names in architecture and design. Kengo Kuma, Olafur Eliasson and Margaret Howell are just some of the leading figures that have appeared on the site in recent weeks.
Icelandic pop icon and Dezeen fan Björk explained how she develops her "magically utopian" sets and costumes in an exclusive interview ahead of her Utopia world tour.
She said her aim was to create "an opium-like trance in a utopian garden".
Speaking to Dezeen at the launch of his floating London Mastaba installation in London, Italian artist Christo said creating his artworks was as challenging as building a large-scale architecture project.
"We face identical problems to people building a highway, or a skyscraper or a bridge," he said.
Fashion designer Stella McCartney set out her environmental mission in an interview with Dezeen. She said a movement towards sustainable materials is necessary across the industry.
"If everyone in the design world created a more sustainable product with more mindfulness, then it wouldn't even be a conversation," she said. "But they're not."
At the unveiling of his V&A Dundee museum, Japanese architect Kengo Kuma reflected on the relationship between his building and the sea.
"We tried to show the uniqueness of this location by designing a sea cliff, between the water and the land, which is the result of a conversation between nature and artefact," he said.
Jan Boelen, curator of the Istanbul Design Biennial 2018, called for designers to start using bioplastics, rather than recycled plastic, if they want to reduce pollution.
"I really, really think it's bullshit," he told Dezeen. "It's doing nothing. It's not changing the fundamental problem we have."
Ahead of London Fashion Week, Margaret Howell revealed she hates being called a fashion designer.
"I don't feel I am a fashion designer at all," she said. "I'm rather embarrassed when people describe me as such, because I'm not."
Architectural historian Beatriz Colomina spoke to Dezeen about how the changing role of the bed – as a place of work leisure, as well as sleep – will affect the way we design cities in the future.
"We should think very seriously about what a bed is today, and what kind of city will actually accommodate our new ways of living and working," she said.
A new generation of home-grown talent is emerging in China, according to the founders of Shanghai studio Neri&Hu. They told Dezeen that, as a result, designers in China are no longer copying the west.
"The design scene in Shanghai is changing, extremely fast," said Hu. "Customers are learning really fast and the market is shifting."
In an exclusive interview, the newly appointed director of the Architectural Association explained her vision for the influential school and her views on the problems facing architecture.
"We need to become better at explaining the power of architecture in addressing, unveiling, and sometimes even resolving some of the most pressing issues that society faces," she said.
After unveiling his first building, a castle-like office in a fjord in Denmark, artist Olafur Eliasson spoke out against the way governments are using culture as a promotional tool and ignoring its social value.
"The cultural ministry has become an extension of the export ministry and has failed to maintain culture," Eliasson said. "It is now used just to promote."