“Over the years, I have learned that design and business are two sides of the same coin. When I was younger, I was more naive, but experience has shown me that design is not the center of the world, but a crucial part of business. Design thinks in new and long-term ways, while business often thinks in the short term, e.g., how to pay salaries next quarter. The tension between these two poles generates creative energy, and the challenge is to drive long-term change while keeping the business running.
Numbers, analyses, and insights are important, but they are historical. They show what has worked, not what is needed going forward. Change requires someone who communicates, sets the direction, and takes responsibility. Driving processes is hard work, and it may seem more attractive to just design. But in the long run, that doesn't work. You have to think both short and long term: What sells now, and what will create future growth? The same applies to sustainability.
A product can be as sustainable as you like, but if it is too expensive or unusable, it will not bring about the desired change. I enjoy working in the tension between creativity and business.”

– Michael König, design manager and independent consultant

“An enthusiasm for and fascination with the extravagant and exclusive, combined with the playful, humorous, and devil-may-care. The grand, the beautiful, the lovely, and the magnificent—but also the dangerous, secret, daring, and forbidden. Creating something that can transport us to the more sublime, adventurous, wild, and abstract. The grace and rich diversity of nature, with its organic forms and insects, has influenced me, along with the expressive and dramatic universe of theater. Like a magical mixture of fantasy and dreams. An aesthetic language with a great love of materials, craftsmanship, and beauty. Wanting to create something that you think is missing. A desire and a fire: an inspiration that burns and must be released and tamed by intuition.”

– Zarah Voigt, jewelry artist

“How creative ideas arise is, fortunately, still one of life’s mysteries, and I think we are best off leaving it that way. An idea is a conscious thought about something, and for that thought to become a good idea, I believe it must be a recognition of a need. That need then begins to search my knowledge or experience for possible solutions. The conscious thought thus seeks ways or methods to materialize the idea.
I clearly experience that ideas arise when there is room for them. This happens when I consciously take breaks from outside impressions. During these breaks, when my thoughts are simply listening, the ideas are heard. A break does not have to be long or take place far from civilization, but is more of a state of being where I am present without obligation. It can be the half hour from when I wake up until I start interacting with the world, a walk in the woods, or time without radio, phone, or appointments. I live in the countryside and sometimes end up in traffic jams or at a small train station, and I have learned to see that waiting time as little free breaks where I am just present and let my thoughts drift, instead of making a call or arranging an appointment."

– Pil Bredahl, designer, curator, and design communicator

“One of the amazing things about film is that it’s always a team effort. You can’t make a film on your own. No matter how strong my ideas are, the result only becomes interesting when it meets other people’s thoughts, skills, and creative vision. That’s why collaboration with the director, editor, composer, and my own sound team is so crucial. On the sound side alone, there can be anywhere from five to fifteen, sometimes twenty people involved. This means that there are many of us developing and shaping the sound universe, and I love it. I get input that I would never have thought of myself. The others open up new avenues that I could not have found on my own. That's also what makes the work so inspiring: that you are constantly challenged and moved by other people's ideas. That said, there are also parts of the process where I work completely alone. Small and closed tasks require calm and full focus—a concentration where I can dive into details and experiment. That phase is important to me, but at the same time, I find that the creative forces really come into play when there are several of us working on the task. It is the balance between the two states that creates the whole: immersion alone and energy in the community.”

– Peter Albrechtsen, sound designer