Alberto Alessi had asked a dozen architects to design a sterling silver tea service - with a teapot, a coffee pot, sugar, creamer, a spoon, and a tray. Our brief was that it didn't matter if it didn't work and cost wasn't the issue. It was a promotional project, not a commercial enterprise, and was going to be showcased in museums. And the coffee and tea piazza, as mine was called, received a great response. It was wonderful to walk into the Whitney museum and see all these objects on the first floor.

If I have a style, I am not aware of it.

I wouldn't have been a health care nut if it hadn't been for my paralysis, so something good came from this.

I don't care what people call me, labels have the negative value of making smaller boundaries for people.

I have architects write to me and ask me: How do you - and what do you do to - design the magic thing? I answer that very carefully. It's not necessarily about what you do, but the clients you do it for. You should write to Target, not me.

The Alessi relationship and the Target one has broadened the role of architects in society and broadened the concept that design belongs to everyone.

In designing hardware to be used every day, it was important to keep both the human aspects and the machine in mind. What looks good also often feels good