>> rose: welcome to our program. we begin with one of the world's best-known architects, norman foster. >> i discovered architecture not knowing i was discovering architecture so i worked in the town hall from 16-18. i would make expeditioning at lunchtime. i would look at buildings, i would study them. i'd always been interested in buildings but i never made the connection that i could have been an architect. that was to happen later. so i was a late starter at university. i started university at 21. but at that point, i knew absolutely whattimented to do. >> rose: and we continue with the acknowledged master of design marc newson. >> i think, you know, the future is a little more sinister now than it was back then.

and so i like to introduce that sense of playfulness or wit or humor, sometimes, into my work because i don't like to take what i do that seriously. i don't know, i like people to look at it and like the idea that it would bring a smile to their face. >> rose: foster and newson, architecture and design next. captioning sponsored by

rose communications from our studios in new york city, this is charlie rose. s. >> rose: lord norman foft ser here. architecture critic paul kbober. often note forward their lightness and grarks his work includes the largest single building on the planet, the beijing airport the hurst airport here in new york. became the 21st prince of asturius award in 1999. this year he turned 75. a biography, "norman foster a life in architecture." there is a new documentary about his life in work. it is called, "how much does your building weigh, mr. foster?" here is a look at that

documentary. >> if you look at how norman looks, always dressed in a very particular kind of style, it reflects the qualities of his architecture very much. it has that sense of doing things precisely, carefully, consideredly. but you could also say that there's something about his architecture which is hard to read. how do you understand a building which is a black glass, curbed screen. you don't quite know what's going on inside, and maybe that's norman, also."

>> rose: i am pleased to have lord norman foster at this table for the first time. welcome. and it's about time. tell me about this project. angela is a great friend of mine. it's not where you expect to see norman foster doing something. here it is. roll tape. >> i'm angela westwater in front of the westwater gallery at 257 bauery. more specifically, i'm in norman foster's moving room where there's installed a work, a moving room 12 by 20 feet in size, and it was really conceived of as an exhibition space which is, obviously, what we're using it for now. it's moving between two floors, in this case between two and three, and from the facade of the building is this strong visual kind of beacon. the red, the color, you can see from across the street from a distance could be very

mysterious, very compelling. all in the lobby, when you walk into the gallery, and you look up at this moving room, sometimes it can be, let's say, unsettling. i remember the moment when we were up at foster and partner in the offices and looking at a model this space, and at a certain moment, norman stood up, took a pencil in his hand, and actually drew out this curve here on the second floor, and that was just an epic moment, an epic change in what we conceived of, or what he had conceived of hitherto, because it totally opened up the ground floor space so that the sense of volume was vastly increased, sense of drama also. what we wanted to come up with was not only more space but more intimate space which would provide a sequence of artistic

experiences. so there's a variety of spaces which can accommodate different kinds of work. obviously, the moving room is very particular with very special attributes. the big wall, which is 27 feet high, is another one. on three, there's our most traditional gallery, which is perfectly symmetrical, and which the painters absolutely loved. so i think it's some diversity of spaces which he's provided us with that we always hoped we would achieve. we want an audience that is excited, passionate, challenged in their own way in terms of thinking about what art is. at this time, we wanted it to be a space for the artists we show and for others maybe we would like to show in the future that it's inspiring, that it takes them to another place in terms of the creative process.

>> rose: what brings you to this project? >> if you look at the kross-section of what we do, it's a tremendous range of projects. but of course the attention, if you do something which is the largest project, the tallest of its kind, the viaduct, or whatever, those-- those kind of grab the headlines. but i can't think of anything as challenging as this project. it's not about size. it really is about the challenge. >> rose: what's the challenge of this project? >> well, the challenge on this project-- first of all, it's an extraordinary area. it's an area which is in transition, and you can see the way in which new things are come into an area, which is the an industrial area and has the bulk of industry. it is kind of cheek by jowl, the use, which is uplifting, and at the same time, if you live there i suspect a degree disturbing.

but in a way, that is the essence of new york. it's the drama, the energy, the change, the dynamic. and it's encapsulated. you can see that in process as distinct from, say, other quarters in new york, where the changes happen and it stabilizes. that's one drama. the next thing is, on the tiny side, it's for contemporary art. contemporary art is big. it's a tight site so it's on many levels-- not many levels but severally less. so you need need move big works of art, and you need a freight elevator and passenger elevators. my god, what have you got left? >> rose: one big elevator. >> that particular point is a kind of eureka moment when you've been sweating it. why don't we make one of the galleries to move slowly, and it could deliver the works of art, and it could also be a gallery in motion.

it's not a big elevator. it's actually a mug gallery-- moving gallery because it has everything for people, the fire suppression, the climate controls, the lighting. it hasn't been done before, but when you then draw that and then that becomes the dynamic of the facade, so you see this moving up and down. and literally enter, and that-- to enter under an elevator above your head, and to see the great pistons which drive it, that's also edgy. >> rose: so when you thought about this, when huthat eureka moment, did you know it could be done, the engineering you new would be possible? then the aesthetic you wanted to create. >> you know it at a logic level. you know enough. you don't pretend you're a specialist. you can't. you rely on many of the talented

engineers and the collaborators you work with to bring it to life. and of course you've got to convince yourself, convince your client, and then convince your colleagues. >> rose: immediately took it to the client, i assume or soon thereafter, and said this is what i think would be fantastic for this space and this place? >> yes. >> rose: and they responded immediately? >> yes. that part of the process-- and that's also, you were saying, i mean what, gives you the thrill? it's also working with people who share those wantives. so in that sense, a good client is more than just a good client. a client becomes a patron. >> rose: and do you have the opportunity to do that as much as you would like to when you're as large as you are and you have so many projects going on as you do? >> i think that one of my-- if you like the designs that i'm most proud of is the accident scene for the way in which we

work, the creation of small groups, the kind of design board which i chair, is a cross really between a school of architecture and the ivy league style. it's a replication, if you like, of my time at yale where i did a master's, where the studio is open 24 hours, seven days a week and you have distinguished jury over. so it's a cross between that and a kind of global consultant. it was a very strong emphasis on research. so coming back to your point, it is about keeping the essence of a very, very personal service because it is-- i mean, the creation of a building is very personal engagement. it's very much about chemistry between the key individuals concerned at the design stage. >> rose: you've always been fascinated for a long time with flight. you're a pilot. has it influencedly the architecture? >> oh, yes, yes.

you have a perspective from there. i mean, first of all there's the romance of flight. i mean, it is just aesthetically tangibly, so liberating, obviously gravity-defying. there's a deep spiritual dimension to it, especially if it's kross country soaring in a sail plane with, you know, only solar power. intentionally moving, a beautiful experience. but you have an aerial perspective. you see the bigger picture. some of the things which might be disturbing on the ground-- and you see all the components of a city or a community. it a different perspective. in some ways, it's close to that experience we were talking 3w using models, and experiencing models.

>> rose: i said that you'd been singled out for lightness and grace. do you like that idea? do you feel that idea? >> i'm immensely complimented by it, yes. i think that there is-- and it's not just lightness-- notwithstanding buckey's point about-- it's not just the physicality of lightness. it's also about light. it's about the poetic dimension of natural light. i don't know, how do you measure that? you don't measure it with a light meter. it's one of those judgments which is you can't. and lightness, how do you take a building like the reichsteig, from history, a time of dark, how do you lighten that? >> rose: how do you? >> by design. and the end result of that design is it has elements which were never asked for. so the idea that it would be a public plaza, that you would literally go around a spiral and

ascend, and the ecology, the thing that drives tabuilding without fossil fuel would be a celebratory space. it is bringing all those different things together. it is another part of the answer to, you know, what gives you, you know, what drives you as an architect. it's the potential to bring disparity things together and create one integrated, something totally unexpected. >> rose: do you think as much about function as you do form, you, you, you? >> i cannot-- they're totally interlocked. >> rose: are you as excited about how you deliver a function as you are create a form? >> absolute. >> rose: you are? >> i can't-- >> rose: in other words, the idea of where you're going to put the elevator and where you're going to put the heating and the air conditioning and all of that has as much challenge, stimulation, excitement as

somebody-- as how that building is going to look to someone from the street and as they walk in and the emotion they feel. >> i can't separate them. >> rose: really. >> of course i'm desperately concerned about how that building is going to look in the public domain. is it going to, as it finally does in a totally unexpected way in other words, the problem became the solution. so this gallery that moves up and down very, very slowly is almost the kind of physical representation of the dynamic happening in the neighborhood. it's also as a number of people, kind of industrial building. but think about it. some of the best galleries, you know, the sacchi gallery, industrial buildings. the same as 798 in beijing. the greatest spaces are industrial spaces. >> rose: why is that? is it simply because-- >> i think it's because they're

less self-conscious and they're letting the art be the protagonist for the space. >> rose: let me show a bit of this since we've been talking about it. this is the sparorks ne westwater gallery in new york. here is the exterior. we talked about it already. talk about it as we look at it. >> the bottom part before the setback of the galleries, and you enter under, and under the elevator shaft. and the elevator shaft, you can see, is really the gallery, is that red blob. imagine that is moving up and down slowly. the part above the setback, that's the administration, the library. so it's like extraordinary mixture of spaces in that building. >> rose: next there is a slide of the galleries. there you go. >> so imagine you've come in, you've got these great rooms, with the moving room above you descending slowly and you

explode into the space. >> rose: there has been, as you know, criticism in the past of certain architects and certain buildings saying they forgot that the purpose of this museum was to show art. and it doesn't serve that function well. we'raware of that. >> i think in that case, it's forgetting the primary purpose of the building. the building is about an environment to celebrate the works of art, to create the setting for that. >> rose: here comes the famous elevator shaft. there it is. >> imagine that descending towards you as you enter the building. >> rose: the next thing is an interior of the elevator. >> that's the installation-- >> rose: this is an argentine painter? >> yes. and extraordinary artist. i think he's responded beautifully to the opening. when you're in there, imagine this is moving very, very slowly and the acoustic environment,

because they're mattressed, it's about all the senses. >> rose: we'll talk first about museum of fine arts in boston. we have this exterior view-- there we go. a wonderful building. >> that project's been running for a long time, 10 years. courtyard, 54 galleries. >> rose: the art of the american design. an aerial view of that, an interior view. a second interior. what's this? >> that's the little building opposite the mason carrier, one of the oldest surviving roman temples. there's as much of the new building below ground as above. it's about the arts, the visual arts, performing arts. it's been an incredibly popular project. >> rose: is there oning about in the world that does something to

you more than anything else? >> i think that-- i'm-- i'm moved by great architecture, but not just great architecture in the accepted sense of architecture, high architecture. in other words, a guy called rudolphsky mounted an exhibition called architecture without architects and that was about many of the sold humble ordinary buildings, the great barnes of the past, traditional houses of the past. i love traditional architecture, which i think would come as a surprise-- >> rose:... mrpdism. >> i think we have to learn from the past. if you're looking at doing a zero carbon, zero-waste building in the desert, which is one project at that point we talk about-- the desert is a very,

very hostile climate. so really the starting point is to learn how in the past people created comfortable environments outside and inside when they had no cheap energy, no refrigeration , and they did that by creating shade, cross-ventilation, courtyards, foliage, water. and we really, i believe, have to relearn a lot of those lessons so that we can do more with less, do more with less energy. and also improve the quality of life. >> rose: how long has what been a reality for to you think seriously about energy conservation? >> those early buildings, the sainsbury center, all low energy buildings at a time when nobody was talking about those issues. the public awareness, the client awareness. what was interesting is the, is

ai, in ry center, as a gallery, because of its low energy survived all the university cutbacks because it didn't have the conventional refrigeration. it was really working with the elements. had a lot of insulation. rchlths let's take a look at this. this is the i have duct we talked about. >> this is close to flight, actually. that gets lost in the clouds. >> rose: the next slide, we talked about the are, eichsteig. >> there is the cupola, the spiral going up to the public viewing-- >> rose: built on top. >> on top of the art deco. >> rose: what was the challenge there? >> it was to demonstrate that you could sympathetically integrate a historic building with a new tower and create something really interesting at the base of that. it's almost like the town square.

it's hollowed out. and that's the community space. and a major work by richard long and other artists are also in the building. it's also about the integration of the arts. >> rose: you can see that building. if you're in central park, it just stands there. i don't know, you can see across the trees. >> by new york standards, it's quite a small tower, 46 stories. >> rose: still, if you're in central park, it's very obvious. the commerce bank is next. >> first green tall building, using a lot of natural ventilation, mixed mode, with gardens, which spiral up. you can see on that view. >> rose: the next one is nasdar. >> this is a zero-carbon, zero-waste. and the first phase of that has just been finished and is totally autonomous. zero carbon, zero waste. >> rose: the next one is the great court and british museum. >> very much a kind of urban

space, and for the first time, you can enter all the galleries around the edge-- >> rose: what were you thinking about when you put that there? >> how you made the experience of the british museum. just a better experience because before to get from one gallery to another, you had to kind of push your way through one to the next. so it was an unpleasant experience. what we discovered originally there had been a courtyard that had been filled in, but if you go back historically, that's the point they make about maybe sometimes to learn about the future you have to look backwards, and discovering a courtyard was at the heart, that was the inspiration. >> rose: point well taken. next is the beijing airport, which is the largest building, i guess, ever built. >> it is. >> rose: it's unbelievable. >> and it's cutting edge technology. it's the most advanced of its kind, also. but you're in no doubt when you arrive there, you really feel you've arrived in china.

there are a lot of rernss, whether it's the colors, the forms, particularly the way in which the color merges across the lens from the imperial red through orange to the kbold expukz it. >> rose: it seems to me looking at it from a laymand's standpoint, great architects now are very much looking at airports, train stations, place where's transportation takes place, exit and entrance to a great country or city. >> and housing. i mean, housing in-- not necessarily in terms of established economies, but emerging economies. >> rose: how much a responsibility do you feel and should you feel to take those resources and help deal with the enormous questions of shelter for the poor? >> it's a major research project in the practice of the moment,

which is looking at mass housing how you raise the standard of housing, how you create housing for that huge segment of the world population, which is not-- not served. >> rose: create public housing that has the quality of life about it and it is, therefore, a breeding ground for crime. >> absolutely. or schools. one project we're doing is a school in sierra leone. the practice is funding the design as a family, we are funding the building. that building is a self-built project. so part of the design is the machine for making the bricks out of the local clay, which involves the community. it's also how you use, in a sophisticated way, cross-ventilation. but the materials are bisquely-- so, it will be a community-built

project. the idea hopefully is that, that will be a model for a larger program of schools. and to grow that program, the key architect, young architect, went out and taught in a school, in sierra leone, for three weeks and came back then with real knowledge, not, you know, removed. of course that project involves other charities. it involves two charities as well. >> rose: when you design a building, do you think of it as having a lifespan? >> yes. i mean, you're designing for now. but really, you're trying to think of the building which will be adaptable beyond that. willy faber, for example, was designed for type writers. those are kind of wonderful antiques now. i mean, my children don't know what a type writer looks like, i

suspect, nine and 12. those buildings are adapted because ahead of the time it had a hollow floor. so it adapted to the agent of the computer. so i-- the ultimate sustainable building is capable of being recycled over time. because the only constant is change. that's the only thing we know is--. >> rose: why did you become an architect? there was nothing about the way you grew up-- >> i left school very early because it was-- it was a background which was not about university, not about higher education. so i had to find that for myself. and i discovered architecture, not knowing that i was discovering architecture. so for two years i worked in the town hall from the age of 16 to 18. i would make expeditioning at

lunchtime. i would look at buildings. i would study them. i'd always been interested in buildings but i never made the connection that i could have been an architect. that was to happen later. so i was a late starter at university. i started university at 21. but at that point, i knew absolutely what i wanted to do. >> rose: did a talent for drawing have anything to do with that? >> i think so. yes. i think that drawing is i think is extraordinarily helpful in terms of communicateing and she it's still something we place a very, very high value on as a practice. we attract young graduates. the age of the practice is 32. it's the same age as when i started it. >> rose: this is a clip from the documentary, "how much does your building weigh, mr. foster?" there's a clip here about habit of drawing.

here it is. >> norman never stops drawing. he communicates in the most effective way through a sharp pencil and a beautiful block of paper. fresh note pads and freshly sharpened pencils just in case something comes to him. upon he's always drawing, drawing, drawing, drawing. it's the way he thinks. it's the way he argues points. you k see the buildings take shape. his lines are very spare but very expressive in a very economical way, just like norman. the view he had went right past his window at eye level, and

high would be out there looking at these big, black steam engines rushing past, throwing out smoke and cinders. under the track, there's ray passageway that goes from norman's street which is humble and poor. you can smell the damp. but you go through this tunnel, under the railway, and you find yourself suddenly in a middle-class suburb with trees on the streets and attached villas. and you realize, of course, that norman was on the wrong side of the traction. >> rose: what questions do you ask about potential client that you know going in you might very well be be interested in? >> if it's. your home, i want to know your tastes. i want to know how you live. i want to know what your ideal

home would be. i want to see how you live now. i want to know as much as i can. if you're heading an organization, i'd like to know what drives that organization. what its values are. how it works. it's the same as the part of a building. i want to know how the pieces go together, how they're made. i want to learn about the process. i need knowledge. i need information. not necessarily the things that you quantify. some of them you won't be able to. i want to know what makes you tick. i want to feel i can ask you the right questions. i want your preconceptions, and it may be that you've worked out to perfection what you need, and all i am is just the servant making it possible to execute it. but there's a chance that the more i learn, i can surprise

you. i can perhaps for your budget, for your site, i can give you something you never dreamed of. now, there's a dialogue, there's a chemistry, and we talk drawing. in the middle of a conversation i might say, "how would you feel if it looked like this?" later on in the process, a team would have done the computer presentation, the models. so it's about-- there's a huge amount of research. but it's a response to the tangibles of the site. if you like eating out of doors, then can i work a microclimate that will be out of doors but protected from the weather. it's about many things that you can measure and a lot of things that you cannot measure. >> rose: so at some point, you're trying to go to heaven-- let's assume you believe in some

afterlife-- and you arrive at the doorstep... ( laughs ) so what did you do, lord foster? and you say, "well, i was an architect." "well, tell me what did you beyond the quality of your life that merits you entering here? we've got some very famous architects here, and what merits you joining them?" what would you say? >> i think i'd i'd say i tried to do my best. >> rose: and how much does your building weigh, mr. foster? where did that come from. ( laughing ) >> that was this extraordinary question when i took buckminister fuller. that was an extraordinary exchange, in at the end, i said, "how much does it weigh norman? how much does your building weigh?" and i said, "i don't know. but i'll find out and i'll tell

you." within a week he got the letter with the breakdown, and also with what i'd learned from the question because-- >> rose: and what had you learned from the question? >> i'd learned that most of the weight was in the darkest, deepest recesses of the building below ground, a necessary basement, but the joy was, in other words, more was being done with less in the celebratory part of the building. and, of course, in buckey's world, if you were looking to solve some of those bigger social issues, like housing on the scale that we were talking about, then some of that would be shipping things over distances. and weight would start to come into that equation. >> rose: thank you for coming. it's a pleasure to have you on the program at long last. >> thank you.

>> rose: lord norman foster. the book is, "a life in architecture." the film," how much does your building weigh, mr. foster?" the life is his own. marc newson is here. he's an astralian designer. he works across a wide range of disciplines from furniture and product design to cars, airplanes, and spacecraft. he is one of the few to have brong the barrier between art and design. his style is called biomorphic form. his new show is marc newson transport at the gre gogian gal rear he in new york. i am pleased to have him here for the first time at this table. welcome. >> thank you very much. >> rose: are you surprised at all larry gegogz, who is probably the largest art dealer

in the world, is doing this, that what you do has now become art? did you always believe that? >> i-- interestingly, i never studied design. i think typically i'd probably be classified as an sfrael designer. if you asked me to describe what i do, i guess i'd call myself an industrial designer, but i do find myself in different sort of contexts, one of which is the gregisian gallery, which is an art gallery. i'm not sure, really, where it leaves me. does that make me more of an artist than a designer? i don't know. and all of the pieces in this current exhibition, only one of the pees-- pieces is actually for sale. it's more of a museum show, really. >> rose: highway did you come to do this?

>> well, reeva is a boat brand that i have been aware of since i was a boy. i don't know, when you mention the word speed boat, i think of reeva, and it conjures up all sorts of romantic and iconic images. and we were introduced to each other, and the idea was kind of hatched that i should redesign or perhaps more accurately reinterpret one of the classic boat designs that they have in production. >> rose: so what's the challenge of doing that? >> for me, i don't know, i'm-- i'm brought in to work with companies. i'm like a troubleshooter. i don't know, i solve problems for people. i don't know, a company like reeva has a huge history. as i say, it's a very iconic brand and it has a very distinctive dna, let's say.

so challenge for somebody like me is not to try to reinvent the wheel in that case. i've got to be conscious of the fact that it's a very recognizable product. and what i have to do is enhan that. it's not a question of changing it to the point where it's unrecognizeably reeva anymore. you have to see this thing on the water a hundred yards away and go, "this is a reeva," still. >> rose: how did you go about it? >> it's really a question of firstly trying to identify what makes that brand so recognizable, and once you've ascertained that. and i guess in the case of the reeva, i guess it's essentially the form of the boat itself. the shape of the boat in plan 2-- it's a very particular cape shaip and anyone who knows anything about boat will immediately understand what i'm talking about. but after that i could kind of

start dissecting it and use all all of the details-- there are millions of details on boat and cars and products like that. it's a bit like designing, you know, 100 din projects and putting them all together on to this recognizable shapes. >> rose: one of the questions is form and function. function dictates form to a degree. form may restrict function to a degree. what was the dynamic of that? >> well, there's always a balance, obviously, sometimes form can be a little more important than function, and sometimes function can be more important than form. in the case of the reef ait's a very specific purpose. it's a pleasure boat. it's not designed to be the fastest boat out there but it's designed to be a good-looking boat and typically a boat someone might use for a few months-- a few weeks, probably other a year.

so the function is fairly specific in that sense. if it was a motor bike it would be referred to as a cafe racer, i guess. that's a little bit easier. i do a lot of work in the aviation industry which is at the other end of the spectrum, where function is all important. with the reeva i had a little more freedom to express myself. >> rose: what's the hardest thing about design? >> well, the hardest thing is sometimes also the easiest thing, and i guess it's the fact that you have to work within certain parameters. i don't know, you're given an envelope in which to work. it's very different from being an artist. artists, i think, have some of the ultimate freedom. designers have to work to-- thaech got all kinds of different people within organizations that they have to deal with, from the management to marketing, even advertising. >> rose: what's brought you greatest satisfaction.

>> it's not necessarily a particular product that has brought me the greatest satisfaction, but i think it's the ability, or opportunity that i have to work across such a broad range of fields. i'm designing everything from aircraft interiors, to boats, to jewelry, to cars. >> rose: cars, furniture. >> wristwatches, clocks-- you name it. i've kind of-- >> rose: so this is a bit hard for you to but i want you to try. what do you think has distinguished your work so that you have emerged where you have is probably the most distinguished designer, industrial designer, over a wide range of products. >> i guess if i were to think about it, there are some fundamental things i always intend to do. i love geometry and symmetry and i love simplicity. >> rose: you love color, pale

groan. >> i'm not afraid to use color. absolutely. >> rose: tell me about influences, what, when you think about it, has influenced the way you look. >> it's popular culture in general. i think any designer has to be aware of those things to be a good designer or a relevant designer. but i think more than anything it's the fact that i've traveled so much. i've lived in a lot of different countries. i'm from australia and i live in england but i've lived in france i've lived in japan. i've met lots of different people from all over the world, and i think that's given me an interesting insight. and know who of the things about designers it's a truly international business, unlike, say, the food industry or the music industry or the fashion industry which can be so geographic ifly specific.

there's no difference. you design something and it can be sold in china, it can be sold in the u.s., it can be sold in australia. there's very little difference in that sense. >> rose: it's been said by those who look at your work and comment on it that japan hay major influence on it. >> that's absolutely true. i love japanese cullure for that very season. >> rose: you love it for what reason? >> that they have a cerebral and deep understanding of what we refer to as design. i don't think they refer to it as design because it's almost part of their religion, i think, in a way, and i love the fact that in japanese culture, so many things are so kind of coherent. you can relate the food religion to flower arranging, to architecture, to buildings, to crafts, and all of these things seem to be kind of related to

one another. and i think that gives japanese people a very sophisticated understanding of things like detail and style, things that i love. but i feel like in a sense they've had a bit of a head start culturally. ( laughs ) >> rose: they've been there a while. >> somehow, yeah. >> rose: is there a designer? is there an artist? is there someone who when you worship at the shrine of creativity. >> it's a very tough question. there are so many people whose work i admire and respect but i don't think there's any one person who i can kin kind of look towards. because i'm work across such a very broad range of disciplines. i mean there are people like pramd lowey,ig ious is one of the obvious names. that springs to mind because from an historical point of view he was pretty groundbreaking, i think. but, you know, i love artists. i love the work of other designers.

people like jonathan-- >> rose: talk about that for a moment. design gives you a sense of modernity. >> it's about the future. it's about being contemporary. >> rose: tell me about the kelvin 40 aircraft. >> i've had a long fascination with the aviation industry, and i do a lot of work in that business, actually. one of my largest client is a company called qantas, so i design all of their aircraft interiors. but since a kid i've been obsessed with aviation. for the longest time i had the idea to design a small, kind of personal yet, like sport of a sports car really, but it's a sports jet. a jet as opposed to a sort of propeller-driven aircraft. this is really sort of a fantasy project i concocted six or seven

years ago. and i was able to build. >> rose: the body jet, speaking of locomotion, what's that? >> that's a small-- a contraption that you essentially strap yourself into. >> rose: and fly away. >> and fly away. >> rose: what was the genesis of that? >> it's a french start-up company that is already in the business of aerospace. you can hop into this thing and take off vertically and land and it has a few hours of autonomy. and they feel that there's a market for this thing, both civilian and i guess in the military. >> rose: i used the word "biomorchic" forp which has been identified with you. what does that mean? >> i think when people describe my work it's the use of curves, actually. not that much of my work is hard edged. i wouldn't necessarily call them

organic because it conjures up something slightly chaotic. there's always a very rigid sense of form, although it's soft. people have called it feminine. i'm not is quite sure how i'd classify it, but it's part of my style of designing things, and it just happened to be kind of defined that way. i guess that stuck. >> rose: people have always said when they look at things you have condition, there has the-- the words that come to mind are "fun" and "playful. of cow see that? >> i do, yes, because a lot of what i do is inspired and formed by my childhood. i grew up in a period of time--. >> rose: this was in sydney, correct? >> it was in sydney, australia, yeah. i like to say when i was growing up the future is futuristic. i don't think the future is futuristic-- >> rose: because the future is here. >> and a lot of the things i thought we would be doing in the 60s and 70s we're not doing.

for instance, nobody has been back on the moon which if you told someone in the 70s they wouldn't have believed you. in some sense i have to think the murt is not as optimistic as it was. i think the future is a little more sinister now than it was back then. and so i like to introduce that sense of playfulness or wit or humor sometimes into my work because i don't like to take what i do that seriously. i don't know i like people to look at it and they like the idea that it would bring a smile to their face. >> rose: do you spend most of your time on paper or do you do this by computer or how do you do it? >> i'm very much old school in the way that i work and i draw. i have sketch books they're kind of sketching in.

and i like my own personal diaries. so i always like to design on paper but i use computers extensively afterwards. i think everyone does. >> rose: is there a place you want to go in terms of pursuit of a virgin territory for you? >> i've always been fascinated with aerospace and space, actually, so i'd love to have the tint to design in an environment that wouldn't exist in space, so to say, an environment that wasn't-- >> rose: do you have the time to make those kinds of connection. i assume most of that is coming from one government or the other right now. increasing, private individuals are getting involved in the idea of space transportation. >> absolutely. >> rose: whether it's branson or baos from amazon. >> and i did in the exhibition, there's a full-size mock-up of a suborbital spacecraft which i was designed in designing the

interior and exterior as well. >> rose: we have a picture of that. take a look. there it is. >> so i came up with quite an innovative way of-- >> rose: now, does all this say that you, as i am, growing up in north carolina have this great love of speed. do you? do you like fast cars? >> to a degree-- >> rose: motorcycles? speed boat? >> well, i like beautiful cars. i don't know, i like the idea of cars as sort of iconic objects of designer, which they often are, and boats as well for that matter. i'm not so much interested in spade as much as the object-- the beauty of the upon object itself. rnjts you, for example other a huge formula one fan? >> i'm not a huge formula one fan. i'm aware of it. i'm more interested in the mechanics of how those things work, in what makes them go fast.

i'm interested in quality and performance. >> rose: a bit of engineering? >> very much engineering. a lot of what i do is engineering. i think a lot of people have a conception that designers like me do thumbnail stechs on napkins. you have to have a really thorough understanding of how it works and at the end of the day, that's how i get out of-- >> rose: as i remember, your father left home army. >> yeah, very early. >> rose: you were like two. >> even less, less than a year old. i grew up with my mother and, you know, my sort of extended family. >> rose: you would think that because you're known around world that they might have reached out to find. would you like that? >> i guess only at some point in the future. now that i have children-- a child of my own and another one on the way, that, yes, at some point, i'd like to think that it would be inevitable. >> rose: you'll get a call...

>> yeah, i know. i'm not-- i'm not exactly dridding the day, but it will be slightly uncomfortable when it happens. >> rose: i mean, the question, i would assume, if it was me, willing to say why haven't you called me before would be the first question? >> yeah. >> rose: and then what-- >> why wait until now? >> rose: what do you want? >> i'm just interested in seeing how much harp he want. >> rose: are you interested in heredity. >> yes, see what i look like in 30 years' time. >> rose: your mother had a hung influence. >> yes. >> rose: gave you a certain independence that allowed you to go out and create for yourself. gave you, as i, have the sense of having to be invented because you had a lot of time. >> absolutely, and also where i grew up. i grew up in austral yark in sydney, and it's not exactly a backwater but sdibd sdooin wasn't a part of people's lives. >> rose: until the opera house

came along. >> absolutely. and it's still one of the most iconic things there, so to a large degree i was sort of forced to create my own world and that's kind of where the design came from, i guess. >> rose: when did you know this is what i might want to do? when did it come to you this is a profession, make you started off with jewelry. >> towards the ended of my days at art school. i cannot study design. it was too much an academic. i was not much of gowan academic. the i was much more interested in doing something like art, which would give me the freedom to be able to think about, you know, where i'd go. and it was at that point, i think, towards the end of my days at art school they identified design as a way of,

you know, the possible sort of choice of career, i guess, for wont of a better-- >> rose: you live in london. you live around the world, essentially, you live in london, but you live across the world. i'm surprised you did not live in italy because italy has such a sense of home of design and certainly innovative design. >> yes, italy is definitely the sort of the historical birth place of design as we know it. after the second world war is when things really started to kick off there. if i'd been doing what i'm doing say, 30 years ago, i might well have been living initily. but now design is really too much of an international business. and italy is just a little to eye don't want to say prokal, but it's a little too regional." >> rose: can you argue all great

design somehow finds a fundamental simplicity? >> uhm... i think probably, yes, a gone gooddesign because there are a lot of bad designs out there as well. simplicitiy is very, very hard to achieve. it's one of the most complicated things, knowing when to stop. simplicity is one of the unsimplest things to achieve. it's really very complex. >> rose: it was great to meade you. you're at the gegosian gallery here in new york until october something? >> yes, until-- around the 20th of october i think the show is on until. thank you for coming. >> thanks again, yeah. h@@@@@@@@