Philippe Starck (French pronunciation: [filip staʁk]; born 18, January 1949) is a French industrial architect and designer known for his wide range of designs, including interior design, architecture, household objects, furniture, boats and other vehicles. His most popular pieces were made in the 1980s and the 1990s. He is considered one of the pioneers of democratic design, aiming to offer the best possible service while using the minimum of materials, in order to improve the life of the user.
According to an interview published in Business Traveller in May 2026, Starck claims to have undertaken over 10,000 projects, including 220 architectural projects and 43 hotels.
Starck was born on 18, January 1949 in Paris. He is the son of André Starck, who was an aeronautics engineer. He says that his father often inspired him because he was an engineer, who made invention a "duty". His family is originally from, and lived in, the Alsace region, before his grandfather moved to Paris. He studied at the École Nissim de Camondo in Paris.
While working for Adidas, Starck set up his first industrial design company, Starck Product, which he later renamed Ubik after Philip K. Dick's novel. For this company, he built relationships with manufacturers across Europe including: Driade, Alessi, and Kartell, in Italy, Drimmer in Austria, Vitra in Switzerland, and Disform and Andreu World in Spain.
In 1983, then-French President François Mitterrand, on the recommendation of his Minister of Culture, Jack Lang, chose Starck to refurbish the president's private apartments at the Élysée. The following year he designed the Café Costes. One of his best-known creations is the Juicy Salif for Alessi in 1987 and the Louis Ghost Chair for Kartell (2000), which sold over two million copies.
After this, Starck's output expanded to include furniture, decoration, architecture, street furniture, industry (wind turbines, photo booths), bathroom fittings, kitchens, floor, and wall coverings, lighting, domestic appliances, office equipment such as staplers, utensils, tableware, clothing, accessories, toys, glassware, graphic design and publishing, food, and vehicles for land, sea, air and space.
The buildings Starck designed in Japan, starting in 1989, went against the grain of traditional forms. The first, Nani Nani, in Tokyo, was described as a biomorphic shed. A year later he designed the Asahi Beer Hall in Tokyo, a building topped with a golden flame. This was followed in 1992 by Le Baron Vert office complex in Osaka.
In France, with Luc Arsène-Henry, Starck designed the extension of the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs (ENSAD) in Paris (1998).
In 1991, Starck designed one of the pavilions for the new Groninger Museum.
In 2006, Phillippe Starck partnered with the luxury hospitality company SBE (founded by Sam Nazarian) and sushi chef Katsuya Uechi to launch "Katsuya" in Brentwood, California. The Katsuya brand expanded and opened locations in Hollywood, Las Vegas, Miami, and across the Middle East.
At the 2024 Italian F1 Grand Prix in Monza, Alpine and Philippe Starck unveil the new motorhome for the French Alpine F1 Team.
In October 2024, LA Almazara, entirely imagined by Philippe Starck, opened in Ronda in Andalusia. The project is the first olive oil mill designed by an internationally renowned designer. It features an oil press, museum, and restaurant. It is present in the list of the World's Greatest Places of 2025 by the Times magazine.
Since the late 1980s, Starck has designed several hotels in different countries, these include the Royalton Hotel (1988) and the lobby of the Paramount Hotel (1990) in New York City, the Delano in Miami, the Hudson Hotel, the Mondrian Hotel in West Hollywood, the Sanderson, the Saint Martin's Lane in London, Le Meurice renovations in 2016, the Royal Monceau (2010) and, more recently, the Hotel Brach (2018) and the Hotel 9Confidentiel (2018), in Paris. Also in France, in the South West, Philippe Starck designed La Co(o)rniche and Ha(a)itza hotels, both in Arcachon, near the Dune of Pilat. In 2019, Starck created the Lily of the Valley Hotel on the French Riviera and in 2020, opened La Réserve Eden au Lac Zurich.
In 2022 Philippe Starck was appointed artistic director of the TOO Hotel, which opened its doors at the top of one of Jean Nouvel's DUO Towers in Paris. In the same year, he collaborated once again with architect Jean Nouvel to design the Rosewood Sao Paulo, a hotel in which most of the materials used were locally sourced and inspired by Brazilian culture. Also in 2022, Cyril Aouizerate, Michel Reybier and Philippe Starck joined forces to open the MOB House hotel and restaurant in Saint-Ouen, a concept designed for longer stays.
In 2023, Philippe Starck was appointed artistic director of Mondrian Bordeaux les Carmes, a hotel in the heart of Bordeaux's Chartrons district, inspired by Japanese culture and featuring typical Bordeaux architecture.
Starck has designed several restaurants, including in the early years, the Café Costes (1984) in Paris, Manin (1985) in Tokyo, Theatron (1985) in Mexico City, Teatriz (1990) in Madrid, and, more recently, several restaurants with the Alajmo brothers in Paris, Venice and Milan: Caffe Stern (2014), Amo (2016), Gran Caffe Quadri (2018) and Amor (2019), La Réserve à la Plage in Saint Tropez, with Michel Reybier Hospitality, and The Avenue at Saks in New York in 2019.
The Alhondiga, a 43,000 square-meter culture and leisure venue in Bilbao designed by Starck, opened in 2010.
Starck also designed affordable and adjustable pre-fabricated P.A.T.H. houses.