15th Interview: John Howkins | Intellectual property in the Creative Economy

In London at the beautiful British Academy of Film and Television Arts I interviewed John Howkins about the key ideas of his book “creative economy” and one of his major interest, the use of intellectual property laws to support the creative economy. A real expert to talk to about copyrights, patents and trademarks and to answer the question: “what is left if you take creativity, innovation and design out of the economy?”- Probably not that much. His business career has been in TV, film, digital media and publishing, for which he worked in over 30 countries. Besides being an author he is Chairman of BOP Consultants and has advised global corporations, international organisations, governments, and individuals. Furthermore, he is Deputy Chairman of the British Screen Advisory Council (BSAC), Member of the United Nations UNDP Advisory Committee on the Creative Economy and Vice Dean of the Shanghai School of Creativity.

14th Interview: Thubtchen Wangchen | Buddhist Monk about personal change

Right before the end of the year I had the chance to interview Buddhist monk Thubtchen Wangchen in Barcelona to talk about personal change, how it is seen in the eastern world and specifically in Buddhism, where it is said that nothing is permanent and therefore always changing. Quite a credible person to talk with as he had to leave Tibet in 1959 and had to live in the streets of Kathmandu, Nepal, before he had the opportunity to study in India his own and other languages, culture, history, arte, and philosophy. Today he is the director of the Fundación Casa Tibet in Spain. We discussed also the concept of happiness and the immense interest in Buddhism, the leadership style of the Dalai Lama and the Brand Tibet. For me particularly interesting to see was that he was answering comments on his Facebook-page when I entered his office at Casa Tibet.

13th Interview: Tokujin Yoshioka | Design

On the 20th of November 2009 I was talking to Tokujin Yoshioka at his house in Daikanyama in Tokyo. His track record is really impressive, but I was even more impressed by his natural and sympathic appearance and his simple, pure and clearly intellectual understanding of the creation of new concepts like the „PANE chair“ or the „Kimono chair“ for Vitra. His ongoing partnership with Issey Miyake started over 20 years ago, and since he presented the paper chair „Honey-pop“ in 2001 he is recognized as an artist in most parts of the world. He was named „Designer of the year“ at Design Miami 2007 and won awards such as the „Wallpaper Design Awards“ (2008) and “BVLGARI Brilliant Dreams Awards“ (2008). Tokujin has collaborated with companies such as CARTIER, HERMES, LEXUS and KDDI, with some of his most important works being displayed all around the world in well known museums such as the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, the Centre National d´Art et de Culture Georges Pompidou, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and the Vitra Design Museum.

12th Interview: Dr. Satoshi Onuma | Japanese Fashion Design Education

In Tokyo I was talking to Dr. Satoshi Onuma, President of Bunka Fashion College, about Japanese history and culture of tailoring. Originally making kimonos, Bunka focuses nowadays on human skills in education to scope with today’s ever-changing professional environment. Bunka Fashion College, founded in 1919 in Tokyo, is the most prestigious Japanese fashion college specializing in the teaching of fashion design. Among its graduates are such prominent alumni as Kenzo and Yamamoto. Bunka offers exchange programs with Central Saint Martins in London and Parsons in New York. Personally, I was seriously impressed by the size of the school (more than 10.000 students only in Japan). The Campus Building in Shinjuku Tokyo is so huge that I couldn’t take a whole picture of it.

11th Interview: Rudi Plettinx I Creative Leadership Education

In Brussels I talked to Rudi Plettinx, Managing Director of The Center for Creative Leadership - EMEA about the meaning of creative leadership. The capacity to think and act beyond the bounderies that limit our effectiveness. The annual Financial Times' survey consistently ranks the Center among the world's top providers of executive education. The latest ranking — released May 11, 2009 — ranked CCL No. 6 overall worldwide.

10th Interview: Ján Figel´I European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Training and Youth

"The European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009 will help to unlock Europe's creative and innovative potential, a task that has become even more important in times of economic crisis," said Jan Fígel, European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Training and Youth. Under the slogan Imagine. Create. Innovate. the Year aims to promote creative and innovative approaches in different sectors of human activity, from education to enterprise, from arts to science. I saw this as the perfect opportunity to talk in Brussels to Jan Fígel about his point of view on creativity and innovation.

9th Interview: Amanda Spring I Creative Recruitment

In Milan I also had the chance to talk about the changing job market to Amanda Spring, MG and Partner of Janou Pakter, Inc., a global executive search and creative recruitment company with offices in New York, Paris, Milan and Los Angeles. Janou Pakter has been connecting business to creativity and recruiting talent for the world’s leading corporations, design consultancies, advertising and branding agencies, and fashion and luxury goods houses since 1985.

8th Interview: Maria Grazia Mazzocchi | Italien Design Education

If we talk about design, we need to talk about Italien design. In Via Watt 27 I talked to one of the responsable persons in developing and supporting this worldwide reputation of Italien design, Maria Grazia Mazzocchi. She founded in 1982 Domus Academy in Milan, the first post-graduate design and fashion school in Italy, and since then she is its president. Domus Academy is a cultural laboratory and one of the most prestigious Italien schools, a real point of connection between design, fashion and management culture.

Edward de Bono | Creative Thinking

Edward de Bono is regarded by many as the leading authority in the field of creative thinking, innovation and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill. This time I just enjoyed listening to the originator of the concept of lateral thinking and his presentation flow of amazing examples.

7th Interview: Marta Tantos | Innovation

LEGO, what a great Brand. And one of the few Brands who doesn´t have to invent a cause. It has meaning, always had. LEGO means “Play well”. And though conditions have changed, play hasn´t. I talked to Marta Tantos, responsible Design Manager of LEGO´s concept lab in Barcelona. In close collaboration with the other concept labs in LA, Tokyo, Munich and at the Danish Headquarter in Billund their main task is thinking ahead and identifying opportunities to deliver more radical products that redefine particular markets.

6th Interview: RitaSue Siegel | Recruitment

RitaSue Siegel gave me the chance to do an interview with her in her office in New York. RitaSue is President of RitaSue Siegel Resources (RSSR), an Aquent company, which is the premier retained search and advisory firm operating at the intersection of design, brand and business for over 30 years. She has conducted searches to find senior design and innovation leaders for companies like Nissan, HP, P&G, Microsoft, Cisco etc. RitaSue was one of three American lecturers selected to give the first course in design management in Japan. She has served as juror for design competitions such as IDEA, Communication Arts, ID Magazine and is a regular contributor to Communication Arts and Business Week magazines and has spoken at national and regional design conferences for AIGA, IDSA, and DMI in North America and Europe. She is also the author of several books, most notably American Graphic Design, Thirty Years of Imagery, published by McGraw Hill and the popular How to Get a Job in Industrial Design.

5th Interview: Marc Gobé | Branding

I had the chance to interview Marc Gobé at the place where he grew up in the Bretagne, France. Marc was CEO and executive creative director of Desgrippes Gobé and Associates, on of the world´s top ten branding companies. He developed Brand Strategies for Companies such as Coca-Cola, Victorias Secret, Air France and Club Med and myriad other. He is also author of the bestseller„emotional branding“, which is about the unique engagement of people with brands, a theme on which he now focuses 100%. We talked about Sao Paulo's revolutionary outdoor advertising ban „Cidade Limpa". A „conceptual provocateur“, combining high concept with high emotional touch.

4th Interview: Konstantin Grcic | Industrial Design

Probably one of the most insightful Industrial Designers to have a conversation with. A great combination of a lot of substance, style and a great sense of humour. He studied at the Royal School of Arts in London and worked at Jasper Morissons Studio. Many of his products have received international design awards and form part of the permanent collections of the world´s most prestigious museums.

3rd Interview: Oliver Bierhoff | Sport Management

That was a very cold day in October at Lake Starnberg in southern Bavaria, a popular recreation area for the nearby city of Munich. But an amazing view, at least mine. I just arrived at Oliver Bierhoffs new home, with an extra building for his office. The first impression is; modern style, minimalistic, very elegant and reduced to very few things. At the entrance the official World cup ball on a black designer chair, arranged or coincidence? Confirmed, he is for sure a slightly different football professional. His character, charisma, eloquence, his relaxed and confident behaviour makes him very special. I had a great conversation with him about his unique career and the importance of values.

2nd Interview: Jordi Labanda | Illustration

We were at Jordi Labandas Place in the Center of Barcelona, a beautiful 1900 building, renovated in a moderniz way while keeping the traditional structure of stone and wood with amazingly high ceilings. His studio is more like a Laboratory; full of books and his table is full of work. As he doesn’t like artificial light, he just opened the door to the backyard and turned off the light. The sun was shining through the orange trees in the backyard on the wooden floor and made his studio look like one of his surrealistic drawings, very aesthetic and in warm colours. We sat down on the floor and we started to talk. Famous for his aesthetic, elegant and ironic illustrations he did for magazines like Wallpaper, New York Times, Visionaire, Vogue, he is one of the few international illustrators who doesn’t use computers, but gouache on paper.

1st Interview: Ferran Adrià | Food Futurist

I had the honor to do the first interview for my book project "creative personal brands" with Ferran Adrià, famed creative head chef of "El Bulli" restaurant on the Costa Brava. It has 3 Michelin Stars and is regarded as the best restaurant in the world this year. We talked about the importance of creativity, reflected personal insights, talked about brands and, of course, about the invitation from the Documenta 12.