For the Love of a Toothbrush.(Philippe Starck, designer)(Brief Article)(Interview)

Designer Philippe Starck hit the worldstage in the 1980s, introducing his gleaming minimalist decors. With his bad-boy swagger, his braggadocio and his shameless pursuit of stardom, Starck quickly teed off the staid design community. But he also accomplished his primary goal: to make "designer" furniture affordable to the middle class. He then teamed up with Ian Schrager, the former founding partner of Studio 54, to help create a string of impossibly hip hotels--including the Delano in Miami and the Mondrian in Los Angeles--for the mod set. Now the flamboyant Frenchman has moved into the "lifestyle" market, designing from concept to content an organic-food line and a restaurant in Paris called Bon. The second Bon will open in early April near the Paris Bourse, and ever-confident Starck says it will be "tres tres bon." Recently NEWSWEEK's Dana Thomas went to Starck's sprawling new studio in an old depot in northeast Paris to find out what the 53-year- old enfant terrible is plotting next. Excerpts:

THOMAS: What's your latest project?

STARCK: My new project is to do projects, not products. I am trying to free myself from the cycle of producing material goods and respond to market demands differently.

How so?

By saying "no." We've always been strict, but now we are even more so. We have never worked for arms companies, spirits, tobacco, games, religion, and now for oil companies--with all the wars over oil--and companies that launder money. It's an enormous loss of income. But that's OK. We don't need that much money.

Why did you decide to eliminate so many potential clients?

Design first caught our attention with Raymond Loewy, the designer of locomotives, Coca-Cola. In the 1950s he declared, "Ugly is not a good sell." So he reinvented design to buff up products. But now that vision is totally absurd. The problem isn't selling--we don't have the ability to buy more. We need to see the problem from another point of view: Do we really need it? If yes, can we find a way to give this service by delivering more than material goods? One way is ethics.