It's a very strange thing for a designer to say, but one of the things that really irritates me in products is when I'm aware of designers wagging their tails in my face.

People's interest is in the product, not in its authorship.

Designing and developing anything of consequence is incredibly challenging.

I am keenly aware that I benefit from a wonderful tradition in the UK of designing and making.

I discovered at an early age that all I've ever wanted to do is design.

The thing with focus is that it's not this thing you aspire to, like, 'Oh, on Monday I'm going to be focused.' It's every single minute: 'Why are we talking about this when we're supposed to be talking about this?'

Unless we understand a certain material - metal or resin and plastic - understanding the processes that turn it from ore, for example - we can never develop and define form that's appropriate.

I think that we're on a path that Apple was determined to be on since the '70s, which was to try and make technology relevant and personal.

True simplicity is, well, you just keep on going and going until you get to the point where you go, 'Yeah, well, of course.' Where there's no rational alternative.

Growing up, I enjoyed drawing, but it was always in the service of an idea. I drew all the time, and I enjoyed making.

It is sad that so many designers don't know how to make. CAD software can make a bad design look palatable! It is sad that four years can be spent on a 3D design course without making anything! People who are great at designing and making have a great advantage.

I left London in 1992, but I'm there 3-4 times a year, and love visiting.

I get an incredible thrill and satisfaction from seeing somebody with Apple's tell-tale white earbuds. But I'm constantly haunted by thoughts of, is it good enough? Is there any way we could have made it better?

There was a 'Wired' cover that had a big Apple logo with a crown of barbed wire as thorns, and underneath it just said, 'Pray.' I remember this because of how upsetting it was. Basically saying either it's going to just go out of business or be bought.

We shouldn't be afraid to fail- if we are not failing we are not pushing. 80% of the stuff in the studio is not going to work. If something is not good enough, stop doing it.

It's difficult to do something radically new, unless you are at the heart of a company.

Making the solution seem so completely inevitable and obvious, so uncontrived and natural - it's so hard!

My focus is incredibly narrow. I can't talk with any authority other than design and development of product.

Once, even the simple metal needle challenged the conventional thinking of a time.

You cannot disconnect the form from the material - the material informs the form.

I like to work in a small team. There is only 18 of us on the design team. Nobody has ever left.

All I've ever wanted to do is design and make; it's what I love doing.

When you do everything to make the very best product, it also means you're very focused on just a few products.

To design something really new and innovative you have to reject reason.