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Michael Graves Quotes

Powerful Michael Graves for Daily Growth

About Michael Graves

Michael Graves (June 9, 1934 - March 12, 2015) was an acclaimed American architect, designer, and academic who left an indelible mark on contemporary architecture and design. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Graves showed early artistic promise, winning a nationwide high school art competition while still in his teens. He studied architecture at the University of Cincinnati, where he was influenced by the modernist principles of Mies van der Rohe, yet he would eventually become known for his postmodern style that blended historical references with contemporary aesthetics. Graves began his professional career working for Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates in New York City before opening his own firm in 1964. His breakthrough project came in 1972, when he was commissioned to design the Portland Building in Oregon, a postmodern structure that became an icon of the movement. Throughout his career, Graves worked on a wide range of projects, from private residences and commercial buildings to product designs and furniture pieces. His design for Target Corporation's store fixtures in the 1990s is one of his most recognized works, demonstrating his ability to translate his architectural sensibilities into everyday items. Graves was also a prolific writer, contributing articles to architecture journals and authoring several books, including "The Architecture of Michael Graves" (1985) and "The End of Architecture as We Know It: Saving America's Cities" (1992). Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1960, Graves lived with the disease for over five decades, using a wheelchair for the last 35 years. His personal struggle inspired him to design more accessible and user-friendly spaces, making him an influential figure in the field of universal design. Graves passed away in 2015 at the age of 80, leaving behind a rich legacy that continues to influence architects and designers worldwide. His work serves as a testament to the power of artistry, ingenuity, and perseverance in the face of adversity.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Design is a series of choices - choose well."

Michael Graves' quote emphasizes that design, in essence, boils down to a sequence of decisions made at every stage. The key takeaway lies in the importance of making thoughtful and considered choices throughout this process. When we "choose well," it implies that we are not only selecting aesthetically pleasing options but also prioritizing usability, function, and durability. Good design, therefore, is the successful culmination of many deliberate and intelligent decisions made at every juncture.

"Good design is a matter of discipline. You should never be thinking about style - it should come through intuitively."

Michael Graves' quote emphasizes that good design is not just about aesthetics or personal style, but rather a disciplined approach to problem-solving. The focus should be on the functional requirements and solving problems efficiently, with style emerging naturally as an intuitive outcome of this process. In other words, a successful design does not seek style for its own sake; instead, it allows style to evolve organically from the thoughtful resolution of design challenges.

"I design for all and I design for myself."

Michael Graves' quote, "I design for all and I design for myself," indicates his commitment to creating functional and inclusive designs that cater to diverse user needs while also reflecting his personal aesthetic preferences. He believed that good design should be accessible and enjoyable for everyone, regardless of their abilities or circumstances. At the same time, he saw himself as a key stakeholder in the design process, ensuring his designs resonate with his own sensibilities.

"To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk."

This quote emphasizes that invention often requires creativity (good imagination) and practical resources (a pile of junk). It suggests that the process of invention isn't just about abstract ideas; it involves applying those ideas to real-world materials, experimenting, and refining until a new creation is born. In essence, it encourages us to think creatively and be resourceful when solving problems or creating something new.

"The only thing that's impossible is the impossible."

This quote emphasizes the limitless potential of human creativity, innovation, and determination. It suggests that when we believe something is possible, we can find ways to make it happen; conversely, if we perceive something as "impossible," it's only because we have not yet found a solution or strategy to achieve it. The quote encourages us to keep pushing boundaries, challenge the status quo, and strive for the seemingly impossible, as it may just be waiting for someone with determination and imagination to make it possible.

I grew up in a time when Eames and Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright and other architects were putting their furniture and objects on the market. You could buy some of those objects on the open market. Eames was a huge influence on all of us in school.

- Michael Graves

Some, Other, Frank, Huge Influence

I taught at Princeton for 39 years, and the school of architecture on the campus is the worst building on the campus.

- Michael Graves

School, Campus, Taught, Princeton

On the first day I got my wheelchair, I was also given all my clothes for the next day, a little pile on the chair. I was so proud of myself for getting it all on - the socks and everything. Dressing is a struggle, and it can take up to an hour and a half.

- Michael Graves

Next, Wheelchair, Half, Hour And A Half

We've taken on health care in a big way in our office, ever since nine years ago when I was paralyzed. I was in eight different hospitals, three different rehab centers, and all the rooms were dreadful. As an architect, designer, and patient, I can do something to help.

- Michael Graves

Big, Hospitals, Nine, Dreadful

The avant garde is so narcissistic.

- Michael Graves

Narcissistic

Someone once told me they didn't like taking the lid off the kettle because they'd just lose it in the kitchen, so we made a kettle with an attached lid that you slide. It was in response to that that we made one that did something different.

- Michael Graves

Me, Lid, Kettle, Kitchen

We use blue on the handle of the Alessi kettle. Blue is cool, so you're supposed to think that it's not hot. And the bird is red: you're supposed to think to be careful to remove the bird.

- Michael Graves

Think, Be Careful, Use, Kettle

Views are overrated; it's light that counts. I have an apartment in Miami's South Beach, and I get tired of looking at the ocean. Even that view gets old after a while. Sunlight streaming into a room - it never gets old.

- Michael Graves

South, Counts, While, Overrated

I see architecture not as Gropius did, as a moral venture, as truth, but as invention, in the same way that poetry or music or painting is invention.

- Michael Graves

Way, Venture, I See, Invention

I believe well-designed places and objects can actually improve healing, while poor design can inhibit it.

- Michael Graves

Believe, Objects, While, Inhibit

The cost is minimal, but one of the things that you want in a universal design is to make the plan as open as you can... and to still have walls around bedrooms and that sort of thing, and to keep the corridors wide enough so the wheelchair can do a 360 in the corridor.

- Michael Graves

Wheelchair, Around, Corridor, Bedrooms

I don't clean now, because I'm paralyzed. But let me tell you, I would clean. I cleaned, and I ironed. It's my inner femininity.

- Michael Graves

Clean, Tell, Inner, Paralyzed

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

- Michael Graves

Function, Symbolic, Any, Pragmatic

I used a kind of gray-green early on in my practice for painting steel, to make it look more like it had a kind of patina to it, like copper and bronze and so on. The color I used was a Benjamin Moore color called 2012. My then-young daughter started calling me 2012 - it was my nickname.

- Michael Graves

Color, Practice, Steel, Bronze

When you do what I do, there are a lot of institutions that give you awards. I've gotten maybe 20 medals. They're glorious, and there's a spirit behind them. But sometimes they give you this dreadful modern glass thing. I wish everyone could afford a loving cup.

- Michael Graves

Behind, Maybe, Gotten, Dreadful

When I started my own practice, I was criticized, not because I was doing product design but because, like Le Corbusier, I was insisting on paintings in all of my buildings. I would paint wall murals in the houses that I designed, just as he did in the '20s and '30s.

- Michael Graves

Practice, Doing, Own, Designed

As a child, I was obsessed with drawing things, like Mickey and Donald. And houses. My mother was worried I'd become an artist.

- Michael Graves

Like, Obsessed, Donald, Worried

Good design to me is both appearance and functionality together. It's the experience that makes it good design.

- Michael Graves

Me, Design, Appearance, Together

When I design a building, I'm making sure you and I can get to the front door, there's enough of a threshold for entry, and that the rooms are in a logical sequence.

- Michael Graves

Door, Making, Rooms, Sequence

We always correct people who say, 'You're trying to make this look better.' Well yes, we want it to look better, but that's easy. The look and the function are one and the same. They are not separate. It looks good because it functions beautifully. That message is very hard.

- Michael Graves

Very, Separate, Correct, Beautifully

You can never draw enough or read enough - reading about architecture, in other words.

- Michael Graves

Never, Other, Read, In Other Words

Form must never trump function. Some objects are made to look so smooth, you don't know where to pick them up or how to turn them on. If I'm designing a garlic press or cheese grater, I need my hand to fit comfortably on it. I like to know, instinctively, how to use it.

- Michael Graves

Some, Trump, Use, Smooth

For my first apartment, when I was first married, I went to the lumberyard and bought stuff and made couches. My then-wife made cushions. I was really very interested in furniture. I was in school for architecture, but I had to live, and making furniture was different from designing buildings, which I couldn't do for myself.

- Michael Graves

Furniture, Very, Had, Designing

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

Mind, Design, Feels, Designing

I had been designing for Alessi and Swid Powell and Steuben and high-end people, and people always complained, 'Michael, we'd love to buy your stuff, but it's too expensive.'

- Michael Graves

Love, Always, Been, Designing

Instead of using the machine as a metaphor for architecture, as Le Corbusier did, I use the human body. I want the public to know that it's them I'm designing for.

- Michael Graves

Human Body, Use, Using, Designing

The oldest book I have is a treatise on architecture from the 17th century.

- Michael Graves

Book, Century, Treatise, Oldest

Good design should be available to everyone - and I do mean everyone. What I spent on the wheelchair I'm in could buy a small Mercedes. It's not only unfair to me; it's unfair to someone who's indigent but has the same needs. My goal is to make all objects affordable.

- Michael Graves

Small, Wheelchair, Buy, Mercedes

I'm working on a school of architecture in China. It's rare that an architect gets to design a school of architecture, and here I get to do it. I'm so pleased that they asked me.

- Michael Graves

Here, Architect, Gets, Pleased

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

- Michael Graves

Negative, Making, Call, Labels

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