When I met my designs in the market of a remote village in the West Indies, or in the airport restaurant in Zurich, I felt like the mother of many well-behaved children.

The playful search for beauty.

I don't call myself an 'industrial designer,' because I'm other things. Industrial designers want to make novel things. Novelty is a concept of commerce, not an aesthetic concept.

Everything I do is a direct creation of my hands, whether it is made in wood, plaster or clay.

I never wanted to do something grotesque. I never wanted to shock. I wanted my audience to be happy, to be kind.

Beautiful things make people happy.

My designs are meant to attract the hand as well as the eye.

I think with my hands. I design things to be touched-not for a museum. A piece is ready when it has the shape of something to cherish.

If you think of beautiful things, you’re not sad.

When you have clay in your hands, it's hard to avoid making birds.

When you begin your work, nothing exists. When it is finished it looks as if it just happened, spontaneously, effortlessly, convincingly. It looks as though it had been there all along.

The flame of fire burns within.

When I realize I made someone's day, it makes my day.

My friends and I were wild and we liked to joy-ride.

Be an artist of consciousness. Your picture of reality is your most important creation. Make it powerfully profoundly beautiful.

Rock stars against drugs--that's what we want, isn't it? Government-approved rock-n-roll? Woo! We're partying now!

To be understanding is more important than to be right.

I didn't want to make the same mistake my parents made. I didn't want my love to fade away one day like an old scar. I wanted it to burn forever.

I love Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams, Flannery O'Connor. I read a lot of American writers.

I'm just at the beginning of my dream. At 78, I'm finally at the place now for myself where I feel my true voice has a potential of being expressed out in the world.

The speech of one who knows what he is talking about and means what he says-it is thought on fire.