Michael Graves Quotes

• My favorite project is always the next one.

  Michael Graves

  Work, Design, Next

  58 Copy quote

• Architecture is not all about the design of the building and nothing else, it is also about the cultural setting and the ambience, the whole affair.

  Michael Graves

  Design, Architecture, Affair

  44 Copy quote

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

  Michael Graves

  Style, Architecture, Ifs

  39 Copy quote

• In any architecture, there is an equity between the pragmatic function and the symbolic function.

  Michael Graves

  Architecture, Function, Equity

  23 Copy quote

• Architectural and product designs have a narrative capacity - you can start to tell a story about them and imagine a lot of things.

  Michael Graves

  Design, Stories, Narrative

  20 Copy quote

• The design of the building addresses the public nature of both the urban context and the internal program. In order to reinforce the building's associative or mimetic qualities, the facades are organized in a classical three-part division of base, middle or body, and attic or head.

  Michael Graves

  Order, Design, Quality

  22 Copy quote

• I have no requirements for a style of architecture.

  Michael Graves

  Style, Requirements, Architecture

  20 Copy quote

• I once got a postcard from a French poet who wrote - "you don't know me but I'm always very grumpy when I get up in morning. But when I get up now I put the tea kettle on, and when it starts to sing it makes me smile - goddamn you!" That's what happened when we first designed it - we got a lot of mail.

  Michael Graves

  Morning, Tea, Mail

  23 Copy quote

• I've always believed that what can make a domestic setting truly home is the infusion of a cultural dimension.

  Michael Graves

  Home, Dimensions, Infusion

  16 Copy quote

• I stayed true to what I thought was good design no matter who it was for.

  Michael Graves

  Design, Matter, Good Design

  Source: www.bloomberg.com

  9 Copy quote

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

  Michael Graves

  People, Negative, Labels

  13 Copy quote

• I learned in architecture that you have to have a real plan. You have to have a client, they have to have distribution, start-up money, and have a vision of where it's going to go. All this has to be settled before you start, or else your work is just a story.

  Michael Graves

  Real, Vision, Stories

  16 Copy quote

• 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

  Michael Graves

  Good Day, Design, Feel Good

  88 Copy quote

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

  Michael Graves

  Health, Nuts, Care

  18 Copy quote

• I don't believe in morality in architecture.

  Michael Graves

  Believe, Morality, Architecture

  11 Copy quote

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

  Michael Graves

  Design, Roles, Target

  10 Copy quote

• It was always my goal to 'up the ante' on good design and rye devoted much of my career to this

  Michael Graves

  Careers, Goal, Design

  12 Copy quote

• Architects love to rethink a project - that's what we do. If something is successful, like a house or a kettle, in this case, it's a great compliment when someone wants another one.

  Michael Graves

  Successful, House, Want

  9 Copy quote

• My favorite is the garlic press. I think it's beautiful as an object. But the awkward part of it all is that I don't use it much because I'm allergic to garlic.

  Michael Graves

  Beautiful, Thinking, Awkward

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• 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.

  Michael Graves

  Writing, Design, Magic

  10 Copy quote

• In America, writers are afforded the freedom to express themselves in unlimited manners. Creative liberty is a privilege.

  Michael Graves

  America, Creative, Liberty

  10 Copy quote

• The dialogue of architecture has been centered too long around the idea of truth.

  Michael Graves

  Ideas, Long, Architecture

  9 Copy quote

• I know that's not something that people like to do - identify a favorite. But I do.

  Michael Graves

  People, Knows

  4 Copy quote

• 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.

  Michael Graves

  Coffee, Issues, Museums

  6 Copy quote

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