Deyan Sudjic

Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum London and a London native, gave up his childhood dream of being an architect as a young man. “I realized it was my patriotic duty never to build anything,” he joked. Sudjic, author of The Language of Things: Understanding the World of Desirable Objects, went from working as a writer and editor to being a curator. “Running a museum is like running a theater,” he said. “You can see instant feedback when people enjoy things. And if they don’t, of course, they’re not there, which is a problem.” Read more about Sudjic below.

Q. What do you wake up to?
A. Anxiety.

Q. What music have you listened to today?
A. None.

Q. What is your favorite word?
A. Possibly.

Q. What do you find beautiful?
A. Sunshine.

Q. How would you describe yourself in five words or fewer?
A. Impatient.

Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A. An architect.

Q. What is your favorite cocktail?
A. Martini, with vodka and a twist.

Q. What is your greatest extravagance?
A. Books.

Q. If you could only take one more journey, where would you go?
A. I wouldn’t want to know it’s my last one.

Q. What profession would you like to practice in your next life?
A. Full-time writer.

Q. What is your favorite holiday?
A. Every summer, two to three families that I know always share a house in Tuscany, and it is – though predictable, though cliché – fantastic.

Q. What is your fondest childhood memory?
A. My first bicycle.

Q. What is your most prized material possession?
A. My father’s manual typewriter, which no longer works.

Q. What promise do you make to yourself that you break the most often?
A. Not to take on too much.

Q. What should you throw away but haven’t been able to part with?
A. Everything.

To read about Sudjic’s lecture, click here.

*Photo by Aaron Salcido.